Method of continuous improvement of multidisciplinary programs and outreach activities

Abstract

The growth of the global photonics market and technology investment creates a need for skilled professionals with multidisciplinary knowledge. The development of a successful multidisciplinary training for these professionals requires special attention to the implemented educational approaches. Current methods of multidisciplinary teaching and learning include tutoring by a team of experts of different backgrounds and development of projects among multidisciplinary teams of students. In these cases, a detailed feedback is needed from students and teachers in order to improve the course and keep a consistent alignment among the learning outcomes, teaching strategy, and evaluation methods. In this study, we describe the implementation of a method based on continuous improvement of multidisciplinary outreach activities and undergraduate programs. We illustrate the results of this implementation by showing samples of the feedback we received from students and teachers. The overall quality of the teaching and the content of the subject matter was perceived as good by students. Teachers' evaluation showed students' knowledge and behavior was satisfactory and the learning outcomes were achieved. Based on this, we believe our educational approach could improve the development and implementation of multidisciplinary activities.