This paper will describe a research project that examines the implications of multidisciplinary student cohorts on teaching and learning within undergraduate and postgraduate units in higher education. Whist students generally specialise in one discipline, it is also common that, at some point during their degree, they will choose to undertake subjects that are outside their specialist area. Students may choose a multidisciplinary learning experience either out of interest or because the subject is seen as complementary to their core discipline. This project’s theoretical framework is grounded in the research underpinning identity and disciplinarity. It has been suggested that identity is a social construction and hence is flexible and open to change (Winberg, 2008) and that the construction of identity may be influenced by disciplinarity (Becher & Trowler, 2001). What is pertinent to higher education, is that disciplinary communities can be identified and constructed through particular forms of knowledge, retained values and beliefs (Becher & Trowler, 2001) or by teaching practices (Neumann, 2001; Neumann, Parry & Becher, 2002). This clearly suggests a close relationship between identity and discipline, but does not explain when this relationship impacts upon teaching and learning. It has been suggested by Light and Cox (2001) that Traditional teaching has generally suffered from separating off the lecture and seminar room from the social dialogue and engagements of a concrete world; where human intellect functions within the rich and substantial context of social relationships and personal conceptions of who we are and what we want to be. These broader issues of personal and occupational identity can dramatically affect our learning in all contexts … they frequently become the most important and relevant components to student success. (p.81). When the lens of identity is applied to the multi-disciplinary cohorts in undergraduate and postgraduate units, it assists in identifying their learning needs. The nature of disciplinarity, and the impact it has on students’ academic identity, presents challenges to both students and teachers when they engage in teaching and learning, impacting on curriculum design, assessment practices and teaching delivery strategies (Winberg, 2008). This project aims to identify the barriers that exist to effective teaching and learning in units that have multidisciplinary student cohorts. It will identify the particular needs of students in multidisciplinary student cohorts and determine a teaching and learning model that meets the needs of such cohorts.

This qualitative project has been designed as a comparative case study. The participants are all students enrolled in undergraduate or postgraduate studies at the Queensland University of Technology, Australia. The students were enrolled in units from three faculties; Law, Education and Science. They presented as a mixed cohort, from a variety of discipline backgrounds, stage of progression in their studies and anticipated post-studies pathways. Three faculties were selected as it had been observed that these disciplines were populated with student cohorts that matched the definition of multi-disciplinary cohorts informing this study and would enable the development of three case studies. It was felt that this combination would provide rich data and a wider perspective on issues identified in the literature review. Data was collected via a survey tool and whilst this phase of the project is currently underway, the potential participant pool was N=1260.

It is anticipated that the outcomes of this project will be both timely and relevant to the field of Higher Education research. It is anticipated that the results of the analysis will inform the design of a teaching and learning model that can be implemented within multi-disciplinary units. The focus of the model will be upon identifying best practice teaching, design and assessment strategies that ensure that the benefits of multi-disciplinary teaching and learning can be optimally enjoyed by both teachers and students. The model will also assist teachers in familiarising students with the language, discourse, concepts and principles of other disciplines, taking into account the fact that one of the challenges of teaching to a multi-disciplinary cohort is the varied knowledge, backgrounds, life experiences and assumptions that students bring to the classroom.