A Goldilocks approach to transdisciplinary learning

On fostering transformative experiences through transdisciplinary honour’s courses.

Abstract

In today’s world, education is increasingly being called upon to do more. Beyond transmitting knowledge, we need to cultivate both capability and agency in learners to navigate the complexity and uncertainty of our time. When combining knowledge and capability in training, students become ‘T-shaped’ (Kueffer et al., 2012): people with deep expertise (vertical bar) and the ability to collaborate across fields with experts in other areas and apply their expertise in other domains than their own (horizontal bar). I follow professor Kueffer, his colleagues, and other researchers (e.g. Cornell et al., 2013) and argue that transdisciplinary courses in higher education can develop both knowledge and capability, address demands for societally robust knowledge production, and instigate transformative learning outcomes. However, we must be attentive to how we challenge students to maximise the learning potential.