Transdisciplinary Learning Experience Criteria

All transdisciplinary course offerings at University of Auckland | Waipapa Taumata Rau must meet learning criteria that ensures the student experience is transdisciplinary. 

Following a comprehensive review of the scholarship on transdisciplinarity, extensive discussion with academics who research and teach transdisciplinarity, CFT faculty representatives, and interested faculty members during consultation, it was agreed by the Pro Vice Chancellor Education in consultation with PDDC that all transdisciplinary course offerings at University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau must:

• Be framed around a complex societal issue;
• Include a mixed cohort of learners with diverse disciplinary interests from different faculties;
• Be co-taught by a team with relevant and diverse disciplinary expertise, preferably interfaculty;
• Explore the multiple relevant dimensions of the issue’s complexity through a diverse and broad set of scholarship and perspectives;
• Engage learners with the appropriate expertise and knowledge systems that bridge academic and community perspectives through experiential or case-based learning;
• Engage learners in collaborative group-work and/or team-based learning; and
• Embody relational learning.

The development and delivery of transdisciplinary courses will almost always incorporate staff from across different faculties. However, in exceptional cases, it may be possible for an academic team from only one faculty to demonstrate the breadth of relevant expertise, disciplines, and perspectives necessary to address the complex societal issue examined in the course, thereby satisfying the transdisciplinary learning criteria.

In addition to satisfying these criteria, foundational Transdisciplinary 15-point Requirement Courses will also ensure achievement of foundational Transdisciplinary 15-point Requirement learning outcomes.