Initial Publication Date: November 25, 2020

Symbiotic Course Development Questionnaire

Kavitha Chandra, University of Massachusetts-Lowell, Christopher Hansen, University of Massachusetts-Lowell, Yanfen Li, University of Massachusetts-Lowell, David Willis, University of Massachusetts-Lowell

Our team developed a questionnaire to guide a symbiotic course-pair design to help facilitate faculty implementation of this transformational change. Symbiotic courses are those in which an engineering course and an allied discipline course are integrated and have students from both disciplines enrolled in both courses enrolled simultaneously.Back to Program Description »

We include here a reference to a publication describing a similar concept through an Olin College implementation: Pedagogical Fusion: Integration, student direction, and project-based learning in a Materials Science-History of Technology course block, J Stolk, R Martello - International Journal of Engineering Education, 2006

Questions to Guide the Development of Symbiotic Course Pair

The following questionnaire should be filled out by the instructor pair contemplating the development of a symbiotic course effort. The outcome of this process will be a decision on whether a course pair will be worth transitioning to the implementation stage.

  • Questions related to university structural issues:
    • Determine Scheduling Approach: Does the university scheduling system have the flexibility to deliver 6-credit courses? If not, can 2 x 3-credit courses be "hard" (i.e., required) co-requisites?
      • 6-credit course: These courses represent a complete merging of the learning experience -- and are expected to by design implement the integrated knowledge experience. The course is co-taught by faculty from each discipline -- with the intent that faculty will also have a valuable learning experience and increase cross-disciplinary confidence. The fully merged format provides instructors the freedom and flexibility to develop the course schedule as needed -- allowing intense periods of focus within the course. The merged course also promotes greater integration due to removal of artificial "credit" or "course" boundaries. This approach may be more complicated to divide the disciplinary credits for accreditation purposes. This approach may also increase potential for conflict around course credit allocation between faculty as well as between departments.
      • 2 x 3-credit symbiotic courses: This implementation allows faculty to explore this concept without committing to a substantial structural redesign -- independently scheduled courses and times maintain meeting times through the week. While the course delivery is discretely divided between the two disciplines, the expectation is that faculty will integrate the learning experience as completely as possible. The scheduling structure provides instructors less flexibility to creatively develop the course schedule to focus on topics in one discipline or another in blocks through the semester due to rigid schedules. This may also, inadvertently result in more siloed courses. This approach, however, also reduces challenges associated with assigning credit to faculty/programs/accreditation as well as determining fair distribution of content and time devoted to it.
      • Future thought: if this model were to take hold, then consideration of courses with flexible/alternative course credit compositions might become possible. For example, a 5-credit course comprised of 3 credits of humanistic knowledge and 2 credits of engineering knowledge. This sub-course credit level allocation would require breaking through additional barriers in the traditional higher ed environment.
    • Addressing increased time investment & effort with respect to development & teaching
      • Acknowledgement: Faculty should acknowledge that symbiotic courses by nature will require a greater faculty time-investment, especially during the design and development phases; however, there are intrinsic benefits to both students and faculty that may offset this. Faculty may want to also consult with their mentor/department head/dean to inform their intent and to determine whether this additional time investment will be supported and recognized.
      • Course personnel resources: Can the University provide additional personnel (learning assistants, teaching assistants, research assistants to pull in best-practices/study outcomes, etc.) to offset the increased workload related to initial development/design of symbiotic courses. Does the university offer course reductions for novel course development opportunities?
      • Course funding: Does the course require funds for materials and supplies or other resources? If so, can the faculty team/departments/colleges identify a source?

 

  • Questions related to managing cross-disciplinary relationships
    • What is the proposed distribution of teaching & departmental credit?
      • Do departmental/college/university academic leadership agree on the credit (re)distribution
      • Recognize that this may increase engineering  "service-course" contributions to the university.
    • How might the allocation and distribution of faculty and financial resources impact inter-departmental/college relationships? Are there imbalances to be aware of?
    • Are there any prior inter-departmental/college relationships that need to be treated with care?
    • Is there a possible departmental cultural power dynamic/imbalance (e.g., does one discipline have the perception of greater institutional power/influence in the relationship)
    • Are there clear processes in place for dispute resolution across departmental/college boundaries? If not, how could the development of a who/how to resolve disputes be pioneered?
    • Physical location of classes: Are there potential challenges with where and when classes are held -- i.e., different parts/locations on campus? How does this impact the balance of the relationship?
  • Questions related to enhancing the student experience
    • What are the processes for students to resolve team conflict? Particularly important is teaming across disparate disciplines.
    • Fostering inclusivity around disciplinary culture differences:
      • The faculty team should identify and discuss the different student cultures and ways of thinking in each discipline to promote an inclusive and positive learning environment.
      • Can the faculty team develop a shared vocabulary to facilitate teammate communication
    • How will assignments be developed to account for student work expectations of different disciplines?
      • Homework expectations (reading vs. problem solving)
      • Active participation in class activity
    • Consider identifying areas of mutual student interest
  • Questions related to pedagogical design of a symbiotic, convergent course
    • Content coverage and depth
      • Before starting to design learning activities, there should be clear student outcomes and level of depth reached in both disciplines
    • Alignment of course learning outcomes with learning activities
      • Consider using a backward design process to develop aligned learning activities and assessments.
    • Norms of learning: Instructors should be aware of, and incorporate, elements of norms of learning from both disciplines.
      • Examples: An engineering student may expect learning activities to include problem sets, binary outcome questions; whereas, a humanities student may expect learning activities to include readings and discussions.
    • Disparate underlying foundational knowledge in each discipline
      • Faculty should identify likely pre-requisite knowledge of students entering the course from different disciplines and consider strategies for student growth in their allied discipline.
    • Have the instructors discussed their preferred teaching styles and instructional strategies?
      • How will the course be developed to account for both instructors' styles?
      • How will instructors discuss these strategies on an ongoing basis during the semester?
    • Have the instructors discussed their preferred assessment styles and strategies?
      • How will the course be assessed to account for both instructors' styles?
    • Evaluation challenges: have the instructors considered a diverse and inclusive approach to evaluating student progress? This could include provision of opportunities to choose from multiple evaluation options associated with an assignment.
  • Questions related to effective instructor teaming 

 

Questions to Guide the Implementation of Symbiotic Course Pair

A future guide will be created for the instructor pair to fill out if, after the development questions are answered, they decide to implement a symbiotic course effort. The outcome of this process will be to implement the concrete steps necessary to create a course pair.Back to Program Description »