Interdisciplinary project types in engineering education

Figures & data

Figure 1. Multi-, inter-, and transdisciplinarity based on Keestra and Menken (2016).

Figure 2. Action research methods applied in this project.

Table 1. Overview of data collected from spring 2020-spring 2022.

Year	Project	Data collected	Number of students	Semester	Interdisciplinary constellation	Data processing methods
Iteration 1
2019	AAU Megaprojects	Semi-structured focus group interviews Observations	3 students 27 students	3. Semester 5. Semester 7. Semester	Broad interdisciplinary clusters of teams	Exploratory, data-driven coding on interviews highlighting experiences and issues of concern Observation sheets focused on processes and interaction
Feedback to organisers on format, alignment and assessment based on experiences from students
2020	AAU Megaprojects	Semi-structured focus group interviews Observations	18 students 5 supervisors 3 facilitators 25 students	4. Semester 6. Semester 8. Semester 10. Semester	Broad interdisciplinary clusters of teams	Exploratory, data-driven coding on interviews highlighting experiences and issues of concern Observation sheets focused on processes and interaction
Feedback to organisers on format, problem types, collaboration issues, project management and transformation of knowledge from both students, supervisors and facilitators. (periodic informal follow-up meetings with organisers during the semester)
2020	AAU Megaprojects	Observations	20 students	5. Semester 7. Semester	Broad interdisciplinary clusters of teams	Observation sheets focused on processes and interaction
Feedback on format, collaboration and issues of concern based on observations. (periodic informal follow-up meetings with organisers during the semester)
Iteration 2
2021	leadENG	Semi-structured focus group interviews Observations	15 students 35 students	2. Semester	Narrow interdisciplinary clusters of teams	Exploratory, data-driven coding on interviews highlighting experiences and issues of concern Observation sheets focused on processes and interaction
2021	Hackathon	Observations and feedback from students	8 students	6. Semester 7. Semester 8. Semester 9. Semester 10. Semester	Broad interdisciplinary teams of individuals	Observation protocol (focused on processes, collaboration and project management among the members in the group)
Feedback to organisers on format, alignment and difficulties based on experiences from students. Introduction slides on PBL competencies in interdisciplinary settings for students in spring 2022.
2022	leadENG	Semi-structured focus group interviews Observations	27 students 55 students	2. Semester 6. Semester	Narrow interdisciplinary clusters of teams	Exploratory, data-driven coding on interviews highlighting experiences and issues of concern Observation sheets focused on processes and interaction

Table 2. Interview guide used in both iteration 1 and 2 across the different cases.

Preliminary questions

Try and tell us about your participation in the _____ project? What did you work with?

Why did you choose to participate in the _____ project?

What did you expect of the process before you started?

Experiences being part of an interdisciplinary project setting

How were your experiences participating in the ______ project? (What functioned well/what did not?)

How was the project structured? (What functioned well/what did not?)

How did you experience the interdisciplinary collaboration among the teams? (Degree of collaboration)

How did you manage the collaboration among the teams? (How many meetings/timing)

What type of knowledge have you shared among the teams? (Difficulties in understanding each other)

Can you try and tell us how (and if) the process has been different from your ordinary semester projects?

Retrospective reflections of their participation

What have you learned being part of _____?

Have you gained a better understanding of your own disciplinary contributions?

What do you think should be done to improve ______ further?

Table 3. Interactions with practice.

Project	Type of interaction with practice
Iteration 1
Megaprojects	Feedback on how to improve the structure and progression of the concept in making it more clear for both students, facilitators and supervisors. Written feedback on guidelines and deliverables with suggestions for improving the guidelines. Oral feedback through informal meetings for how to secure more reflection and assessment in regard to the competences gained through the students’ participation.
Iteration 2
leadENG	Oral feedback through informal meetings with supervisors on how to improve weekly meetings and seminars with students. Slideshow with main results from interviews with previous participants to support students’ collaboration and project management.
Hackathon	Structural and conceptual changes with organisers from the participating company on how to improve the concept in regard to degree of structure, improvement of collaboration between company and students, involvement of company etc.

Figure 3. First model of project types (Kolmos et al., 2020).

Table 4. Examples of students’ experiences from leadENG 2021.

Motivation	‘It has been motivating to know that more teams have been part of this project together, and it has also made the group work more interesting … ’(2nd semester student in leadENG2021).
Different mental models	‘Definitely, that with project management and collaboration across disciplines, it's definitely something to think about. They do not know exactly the same as you. They know something you do not know, and you know something they do not know. There you just have to be a little more aware of how. Maybe you should have a start-up meeting where you just agree on what things and how to calculate them, and what competencies they have, and what they really want here. Before you just get started, there will also be a collaboration over time’. (2nd semester student in leadENG2021).
Synergy	‘It is about how much we can gain from a project by using each other in this way. You can do so much more. You can quickly get an overview of the system … We have used one another and gained a lot of knowledge from each other’. (2nd semester student in leadENG2021).
Linked to real life practice	‘The interdisciplinary way of working has been great. Experiencing talking to other teams, who do not do the same as you, gives you a picture of what happens in the real world, which I find extremely cool’. (2nd semester student in leadENG2021).
Peer learning	‘When we have different competencies across the two lines [disciplines], I think it becomes clear that we really have something to contribute and that we can teach others something. And when we pass on knowledge to others, we understand the elements better ourselves as well’. (2nd semester student in leadENG2021).
Boundary objects	‘It is a bit different, we will never be able to make the whole car without the other teams. At least not the whole car. We could have resigned a battery and an engine to a fictional car, where it would probably have employed it just some standard. By some random also it had been the car then, also focused on our electric part of cars. But it would be just as realistic or just as good as what we do now. We also get to make a car out of it, as a prototype, which we would not have been able to do ourselves in relation to a lot of different things there, which would have been unrealistic here in the first semester’. (2nd semester student in leadENG2021).

Table 5. Examples of increased focus on broad interdisciplinarity in leadENG 2022.

Motivation	‘I think it could get really, really interesting at some point if you were to work with fields of study that were not engineering. Then I think it could be fun. And see how it was supposed to go. We certainly have different views on many things’. (2nd semester student in leadENG2022).
Narrow versus broad interdisciplinarity	‘But now, for example, Energy and Machinery and Production, we kind of resemble each other anyway. It will be something completely different if I suddenly have to go out and communicate something, if I now have some sales managers. And my sales manager does not understand mechanics at all. So, I just have to give some terms that the person understands. And it is clearly a challenge’. (6^th semester student in leadENG2022). ‘I think there may also be something in the fact that we are all studying to be engineers, so I think there has been a big difference, if you had also had some humanists, then it could have gone completely awry. Just that we all sit with an engineering language in one or another way’. (2nd semester student in leadENG2022).
Increased competencies	‘So, one thing that works well about it is that you get an insight into what others are doing, so you gain, what can one say, knowledge and perhaps competencies in addition to your own specific field of expertise when you sit and discuss it with other teams and things like that. It just gives a little more’ (2nd semester student in leadENG2022).

Table 6. Examples of students’ experiences from Hackathons.

Common ground and reflectivity	‘It showed me how I work in interdisciplinary teams, where none actually knows each other beforehand. I also learned the importance of questioning my choices and not agreeing to everything that is brought up in the discussion’. (Student in Hackathon 2021).
Discipline versus profession	‘I experienced a new environment, where I found a new professional part of me. I have learned a lot about myself, and working together with people I don't know’. (Student in Hackathon 2021).

Figure 4. Elaborated model of project types based on Kolmos et al. (2020).

Keestra, M., and S. Menken. 2016. An Introduction to Interdisciplinary Research: Theory and Practice. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press.

 Google Scholar

Kolmos, A., L. B. Bertel, J. E. Holgaard, and H. W. Routhe. 2020. “Project Types and Complex Problem-Solving Competencies: Towards a Conceptual Framework.” In Educate for the Future: PBL, Sustainability and Digitalisation 2020, 56–65. Aalborg: Aalborg Universitetsforlag.

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