Student's experiences in an interdisciplinary module: “It's like travelling to a foreign country”

Abstract

This exploratory qualitative study examines the experiences of Bachelor's students in an extracurricular interdisciplinary module alongside their disciplinary Bachelor’s programme. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 15 second-year Bachelor’s students from a large research university to systematically analyse 1) the challenging and motivational factors they experience during their participation in the module, and 2) the learning outcomes they perceive to have attained in the module. The analyses of the interview data reveal that students are motivated by acquiring new theories and skills from other academic disciplines. However, they face difficulties in mastering the new academic jargon. Making connections with prior knowledge is stimulating. Repetition and lack of connection to pre-existing disciplinary knowledge hinder motivation. The perceived attained learning outcomes include gaining insights into other academic disciplines, engaging with different terminology and theories of disciplines, and understanding different disciplinary perspectives. Students report to have improved communication skills and recognised the value of interdisciplinary collaboration. As a practical implication, we suggest three guidelines for interdisciplinary teaching: establishing a common ground, actively contrasting disciplines, and adopting a gradual integration approach. It is recommended that future research includes lecturer experiences and curricular interdisciplinary programmes.