Multidisciplinary Educational Design Framework to Facilitate Cross-Boundary Educational Design: Closing Gaps Between Disciplines

Background

Multiple domains are often required for the solution of complex societal issues, because they rarely occur in isolation. There is often an interdependency between the different domains. These are often at the boundaries between the different domains and a reflection of the differences that exist in higher education and in the professional field (Bakker et al., 2015). A systems approach can be used to cross the boundaries between domains (Caris et al., n.d.). There are interdependencies between the different systems that are not always visible. These interdependencies must be identified and made explicit in order to subsequently transform action-oriented knowledge in such a way that the interdependencies can be explored and eventually gaps can be jointly bridged by the various professionals. Thus, multidisciplinary problem solving can be improved. Transformation, based on boundary crossing, leads to changes and the creation of intermediate or sometimes new action-oriented knowledge. In this way, better solutions for complex societal issues may be achieved, because they are approached integrally from the various domains (Wenger, 1998).