EXPANDING THE EXPERIENCE OF INTERDISCIPLINARY TEACHING/LEARNING: DEVELOPING, DELIVERING AND ASSESSING AN UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH COURSE ON THE AGING POPULATION

Abstract

Today's fast-paced, increasingly diverse global society demandsinnovative approaches in pedagogies and curriculum development at theundergraduate level. Calls have been made for addressing issuesincluding student engagement, undergraduate research, integratedlearning and community-based experience (Chen, Kuh, and Gonyea, 2008).There is now strong support for integrating learning across disciplinesand settings in the effort to encourage students to connect skills andknowledge from multiple sources, apply practices in settings outside ofthe classroom, utilize diverse or contradictory points of view, andunderstand issues and positions contextually (Huber, Hutchings and Gale,2005). In response to these international concerns, faculty from thedisciplines of Nursing and Sociology have collaborated in thedevelopment, teaching and assessment of ``Reminiscing: The Art and theScience{''}, an interdisciplinary, team-taught course that examines thetherapeutic intervention of reminiscing utilizing theories in Nursingand Sociology as well as research and critical thinking. As noted in thescholarship on the impact of interdisciplinary curriculum, a wide rangeof desirable student learning outcomes include: an appreciation forperspectives other than one's own, an ability to evaluate testimony ofexperts, tolerance for ambiguity, ability to synthesize and integrateknowledge, and sensitivity to disciplinary, political or religious bias(Newell, 2006). In the newly designed Reminiscence course, studentsconduct qualitative research via semester-long open-ended interviewswith well elders utilizing reminiscence therapy to recall past events,feelings, and thoughts through narratives. Students examine the datathrough socio-cultural, developmental, and clinical lenses. Courseobjectives are based on the societal necessity to support positiveexperiences in the care of older adults and to facilitate intentionalencounters between students and elders. This paper describes thedevelopment process of this type of interdisciplinary course includingpedagogical choices and community involvement, and identifies the veryreal challenges of implementation on the ground level. An instructor andstudent assessment plan for the course is also included.