Immersing Undergraduates in Interdisciplinary Course Collaborations

To address today's complex problems, professionals must work with people with domain expertise in a variety of disciplines and from different backgrounds. Undergraduates in computing programs have opportunities to work on team projects in courses, where typically, all students have similar expertise in the course content. However, they do not gain much experience in working on projects where team members are required to apply domain knowledge from different disciplinary backgrounds to effectively address complex societal problems. In the past four years, 176 students in a software engineering course at a public, primarily undergraduate institution, have collaborated on teams with students enrolled in business, statistics, and criminology courses to address issues identified by community partners. In evaluating their experience, students appreciated the interdisciplinary collaborative opportunities, despite the challenges and frustrations that come from perceptions of inequality in workload, and inconsistencies in team dynamics. Additionally, they consistently rated their own learning of course content higher at the end of the semester on multiple quantitative measures; this is corroborated by the students' grades on course assignments. The authors conclude that mentored and supportive environments, where professors offer explicit guidance on collaborating with people from diverse backgrounds and disciplines, and opportunities to practice, and sometimes fail, help prepare students for the problem-solving challenges they will encounter in the workplace. This poster reflects on the coursework, grading practices, students' learning outcomes, pedagogy, and guidance on developing interdisciplinary team skills.