Teaching against the grain: multi‐disciplinary teamwork effectively delivers a successful undergraduate unit in sustainable development

Abstract

A team‐taught interdisciplinary undergraduate unit in Sustainable Development has been developed and run over the past two years at the University of Bristol. This has been a unique initiative for this university to take. As in most other research‐intensive higher education institutions, teaching generally follows rather traditional disciplinary conventions, operating within departmental bounds. The initiative was unusual – and indeed ambitious – enough to gain the Higher Education Environmental Performance Improvement (HEEPI) Green Gown Award in teaching for 2007 (HEEPI is a project supported by the Higher Education Founding Council for England; http://www.heepi.org.uk/green_gown_awards.htm). There are both challenges and pleasures in designing and delivering a team‐taught unit in a traditional university setting. This experience is outlined and evaluated here, giving consideration to both the practical and the more fundamentally philosophical issues encountered in the process.

Keywords:

• multi‐disciplinarity
• team‐teaching curriculum development

Acknowledgements

Siobhan Harris administered the unit from its inception. The authors are very grateful for her efficiency in recording, archiving and accessing the data and documentation of the UNIV10001 experience and for her unflagging graciousness.