Teaching and Learning Together: Understanding Faculty Motivation to Interdisciplinary Course Cocreation as a Response to a Global Pandemic

Abstract

While higher education plays a critical role in society, little is known about the motivation of faculty members within such institutions. In this paper, we explore the faculty motivation to voluntarily cocreate an interdisciplinary course as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The results of our qualitative, phenomenological study highlight sensemaking for both students and faculty, being peer-driven, ability to collaboratively innovate, desire for student engagement, being able to leverage existing expertise, and concern for institutional welfare as motivational drivers for faculty. The shared experience of creating and teaching the course subsequently impacts faculty in a number of different ways. A crisis-based faculty motivation model for interdisciplinary course cocreation is presented.

Keywords:

• COVID-19
• faculty motivation
• interdisciplinary teaching
• phenomenological study