G.R. Penny
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As universities confront the growing urgency of addressing complex societal challenges such as climate change, equitable health systems, and sustainable urban development, the limitations of traditional disciplinary education become increasingly evident.
These challenges are often described as wicked problems: multifaceted, uncertain, and shaped by diverse stakeholder perspectives and in need of more disciplinary insights than any given discipline can provide on its own. This requires future professionals to develop competencies that are in line with more transdisciplinary (TD) perspectives. In response, TD education is increasingly viewed as an appropriate model for addressing this.
Despite growing support for TD approaches in policy discourse, a critical gap remains in understanding how to embed them effectively within institutional structures, in balance with maintaining somewhat of a disciplinary anchoring. Drawing on principles from organisational change theory, this paper explores how TD education can be embedded structurally, using Delft University of Technology as a case study. Beyond course-level innovation, it considers the broader organisational and cultural changes needed to sustain such approaches.
The research analyses qualitative data from semi-structured interviews with staff involved in multi-, inter-, and transdisciplinary initiatives. The analysis explores middle management roles, such as directors of education and programme directors, as key enablers of systemic change. Participants were selected from a range of faculties and programmes, offering insight into how institutional priorities, operational constraints, and individual motivations interact. The insights from this research aim to inform educational policies, guidelines and practices at Delft University of Technology and provide lessons for other institutions pursuing TD education. ...
These challenges are often described as wicked problems: multifaceted, uncertain, and shaped by diverse stakeholder perspectives and in need of more disciplinary insights than any given discipline can provide on its own. This requires future professionals to develop competencies that are in line with more transdisciplinary (TD) perspectives. In response, TD education is increasingly viewed as an appropriate model for addressing this.
Despite growing support for TD approaches in policy discourse, a critical gap remains in understanding how to embed them effectively within institutional structures, in balance with maintaining somewhat of a disciplinary anchoring. Drawing on principles from organisational change theory, this paper explores how TD education can be embedded structurally, using Delft University of Technology as a case study. Beyond course-level innovation, it considers the broader organisational and cultural changes needed to sustain such approaches.
The research analyses qualitative data from semi-structured interviews with staff involved in multi-, inter-, and transdisciplinary initiatives. The analysis explores middle management roles, such as directors of education and programme directors, as key enablers of systemic change. Participants were selected from a range of faculties and programmes, offering insight into how institutional priorities, operational constraints, and individual motivations interact. The insights from this research aim to inform educational policies, guidelines and practices at Delft University of Technology and provide lessons for other institutions pursuing TD education. ...
As universities confront the growing urgency of addressing complex societal challenges such as climate change, equitable health systems, and sustainable urban development, the limitations of traditional disciplinary education become increasingly evident.
These challenges are often described as wicked problems: multifaceted, uncertain, and shaped by diverse stakeholder perspectives and in need of more disciplinary insights than any given discipline can provide on its own. This requires future professionals to develop competencies that are in line with more transdisciplinary (TD) perspectives. In response, TD education is increasingly viewed as an appropriate model for addressing this.
Despite growing support for TD approaches in policy discourse, a critical gap remains in understanding how to embed them effectively within institutional structures, in balance with maintaining somewhat of a disciplinary anchoring. Drawing on principles from organisational change theory, this paper explores how TD education can be embedded structurally, using Delft University of Technology as a case study. Beyond course-level innovation, it considers the broader organisational and cultural changes needed to sustain such approaches.
The research analyses qualitative data from semi-structured interviews with staff involved in multi-, inter-, and transdisciplinary initiatives. The analysis explores middle management roles, such as directors of education and programme directors, as key enablers of systemic change. Participants were selected from a range of faculties and programmes, offering insight into how institutional priorities, operational constraints, and individual motivations interact. The insights from this research aim to inform educational policies, guidelines and practices at Delft University of Technology and provide lessons for other institutions pursuing TD education.
These challenges are often described as wicked problems: multifaceted, uncertain, and shaped by diverse stakeholder perspectives and in need of more disciplinary insights than any given discipline can provide on its own. This requires future professionals to develop competencies that are in line with more transdisciplinary (TD) perspectives. In response, TD education is increasingly viewed as an appropriate model for addressing this.
Despite growing support for TD approaches in policy discourse, a critical gap remains in understanding how to embed them effectively within institutional structures, in balance with maintaining somewhat of a disciplinary anchoring. Drawing on principles from organisational change theory, this paper explores how TD education can be embedded structurally, using Delft University of Technology as a case study. Beyond course-level innovation, it considers the broader organisational and cultural changes needed to sustain such approaches.
The research analyses qualitative data from semi-structured interviews with staff involved in multi-, inter-, and transdisciplinary initiatives. The analysis explores middle management roles, such as directors of education and programme directors, as key enablers of systemic change. Participants were selected from a range of faculties and programmes, offering insight into how institutional priorities, operational constraints, and individual motivations interact. The insights from this research aim to inform educational policies, guidelines and practices at Delft University of Technology and provide lessons for other institutions pursuing TD education.
Engineering problems are not naturally restricted to artificial discipline-oriented boundaries (Ertas et al. 2003). To solve such complex problems, future engineers need to collaborate with both (academic) experts and non-academic stakeholders from different fields and backgrounds and take various perspectives into account. Societal stakeholders can contribute valuable input to support the creation of engineering solutions. Addressing big challenges (as the 14 grand engineering challenges formulated by the National Academy of Engineering) demands a joint effort of diverse teams, different disciplines, different companies, people viewing and tackling the problems from different perspectives and angles. The students we are educating now are likely to be part of such teams, which are not separated from the economic, societal and political aspects of our society. One of the main questions that we thus need to ask, whether we are educating students now to be part of such inter- and transdisciplinary teams and whether they can navigate in the societal trends.
As a result, in any engineering development, future engineers must consistently be aware of the size and extent of the impact. The fact that this comes with major uncertainties implies that future engineers should not only be educated in the “hard” technique and management of stakeholders but also in how to deal with uncertainty. Technical and social systems in society have become complex or wicked; consequently, a planned and control-focused approach will invariably fail. Even when not designing them themselves, engineers need skills to cope with unanticipated events, values and stakeholder positions.
This requires students to learn how to anticipate the social, technical, societal and environmental impact of their actions. For this, they need skills that transcend the ‘hard’ scientific and technical skills related to disciplinary education and focus also on e.g. transdisciplinary skills. Tan et al. (2019) listed systems thinking, metacognition, empathy, and open-mindedness as essential for reaching transdisciplinarity.
Much has been written about the necessity of such skills, but less about how these could be translated to effective learning and teaching strategies for specific, dedicated and desired learning outcomes fitting to the development level (1st to 5th year students) of the students within their respective programs (BSc, Minor, Master) that are also assessable in an educational context.
In this session, we will briefly discuss the necessity of an approach to dissecting transdisciplinary tools into their basic concepts, collecting already existing pedagogical methods, and designing new ways to practice these skills. Then, we will ask the audience to participate in a quick brainstorm session to generate ideas for how systems thinking, metacognition, empathy, or open-mindedness could be incorporated in educational programmes. After sharing the results of the brainstorming, our panel will discuss some important aspects of transdisciplinary education we came across during or university-wide research on teaching practices, led by statements and dilemmas. ...
As a result, in any engineering development, future engineers must consistently be aware of the size and extent of the impact. The fact that this comes with major uncertainties implies that future engineers should not only be educated in the “hard” technique and management of stakeholders but also in how to deal with uncertainty. Technical and social systems in society have become complex or wicked; consequently, a planned and control-focused approach will invariably fail. Even when not designing them themselves, engineers need skills to cope with unanticipated events, values and stakeholder positions.
This requires students to learn how to anticipate the social, technical, societal and environmental impact of their actions. For this, they need skills that transcend the ‘hard’ scientific and technical skills related to disciplinary education and focus also on e.g. transdisciplinary skills. Tan et al. (2019) listed systems thinking, metacognition, empathy, and open-mindedness as essential for reaching transdisciplinarity.
Much has been written about the necessity of such skills, but less about how these could be translated to effective learning and teaching strategies for specific, dedicated and desired learning outcomes fitting to the development level (1st to 5th year students) of the students within their respective programs (BSc, Minor, Master) that are also assessable in an educational context.
In this session, we will briefly discuss the necessity of an approach to dissecting transdisciplinary tools into their basic concepts, collecting already existing pedagogical methods, and designing new ways to practice these skills. Then, we will ask the audience to participate in a quick brainstorm session to generate ideas for how systems thinking, metacognition, empathy, or open-mindedness could be incorporated in educational programmes. After sharing the results of the brainstorming, our panel will discuss some important aspects of transdisciplinary education we came across during or university-wide research on teaching practices, led by statements and dilemmas. ...
Engineering problems are not naturally restricted to artificial discipline-oriented boundaries (Ertas et al. 2003). To solve such complex problems, future engineers need to collaborate with both (academic) experts and non-academic stakeholders from different fields and backgrounds and take various perspectives into account. Societal stakeholders can contribute valuable input to support the creation of engineering solutions. Addressing big challenges (as the 14 grand engineering challenges formulated by the National Academy of Engineering) demands a joint effort of diverse teams, different disciplines, different companies, people viewing and tackling the problems from different perspectives and angles. The students we are educating now are likely to be part of such teams, which are not separated from the economic, societal and political aspects of our society. One of the main questions that we thus need to ask, whether we are educating students now to be part of such inter- and transdisciplinary teams and whether they can navigate in the societal trends.
As a result, in any engineering development, future engineers must consistently be aware of the size and extent of the impact. The fact that this comes with major uncertainties implies that future engineers should not only be educated in the “hard” technique and management of stakeholders but also in how to deal with uncertainty. Technical and social systems in society have become complex or wicked; consequently, a planned and control-focused approach will invariably fail. Even when not designing them themselves, engineers need skills to cope with unanticipated events, values and stakeholder positions.
This requires students to learn how to anticipate the social, technical, societal and environmental impact of their actions. For this, they need skills that transcend the ‘hard’ scientific and technical skills related to disciplinary education and focus also on e.g. transdisciplinary skills. Tan et al. (2019) listed systems thinking, metacognition, empathy, and open-mindedness as essential for reaching transdisciplinarity.
Much has been written about the necessity of such skills, but less about how these could be translated to effective learning and teaching strategies for specific, dedicated and desired learning outcomes fitting to the development level (1st to 5th year students) of the students within their respective programs (BSc, Minor, Master) that are also assessable in an educational context.
In this session, we will briefly discuss the necessity of an approach to dissecting transdisciplinary tools into their basic concepts, collecting already existing pedagogical methods, and designing new ways to practice these skills. Then, we will ask the audience to participate in a quick brainstorm session to generate ideas for how systems thinking, metacognition, empathy, or open-mindedness could be incorporated in educational programmes. After sharing the results of the brainstorming, our panel will discuss some important aspects of transdisciplinary education we came across during or university-wide research on teaching practices, led by statements and dilemmas.
As a result, in any engineering development, future engineers must consistently be aware of the size and extent of the impact. The fact that this comes with major uncertainties implies that future engineers should not only be educated in the “hard” technique and management of stakeholders but also in how to deal with uncertainty. Technical and social systems in society have become complex or wicked; consequently, a planned and control-focused approach will invariably fail. Even when not designing them themselves, engineers need skills to cope with unanticipated events, values and stakeholder positions.
This requires students to learn how to anticipate the social, technical, societal and environmental impact of their actions. For this, they need skills that transcend the ‘hard’ scientific and technical skills related to disciplinary education and focus also on e.g. transdisciplinary skills. Tan et al. (2019) listed systems thinking, metacognition, empathy, and open-mindedness as essential for reaching transdisciplinarity.
Much has been written about the necessity of such skills, but less about how these could be translated to effective learning and teaching strategies for specific, dedicated and desired learning outcomes fitting to the development level (1st to 5th year students) of the students within their respective programs (BSc, Minor, Master) that are also assessable in an educational context.
In this session, we will briefly discuss the necessity of an approach to dissecting transdisciplinary tools into their basic concepts, collecting already existing pedagogical methods, and designing new ways to practice these skills. Then, we will ask the audience to participate in a quick brainstorm session to generate ideas for how systems thinking, metacognition, empathy, or open-mindedness could be incorporated in educational programmes. After sharing the results of the brainstorming, our panel will discuss some important aspects of transdisciplinary education we came across during or university-wide research on teaching practices, led by statements and dilemmas.
As part of the Delft University of Technology's (TU Delft) bachelor programmes, mechanics courses are provided across 7 out of its 8 faculties by more than 70 mechanics lecturers. Yet, mechanics is considered a difficult subject to teach, with lecturers reporting that they have limited time and resources to assess and improve their teaching practice. Moreover, these lecturers are seldom connected. The lack of collaboration and exchange between the mechanics lecturers has resulted in limited peer-to-peer support and hindered the development of shared mechanics teaching competence. To tackle these challenges, the PRogramme for Innovation in MECHanics education (PRIMECH) was launched at TU Delft in 2021. In this paper, PRIMECH's solution is discussed: the introduction of the Mechanics Teachers Social Club, an inter-faculty Community of Practice (CoP), built around the shared domain of interest of teaching mechanics and improving students' conceptual understanding. The CoP aims to enhance lecturers' awareness of best teaching practices and foster collaboration on new educational projects. Within this CoP, lecturers are encouraged to share teaching materials, discuss pedagogical approaches, and share advice towards achieving this goal.
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As part of the Delft University of Technology's (TU Delft) bachelor programmes, mechanics courses are provided across 7 out of its 8 faculties by more than 70 mechanics lecturers. Yet, mechanics is considered a difficult subject to teach, with lecturers reporting that they have limited time and resources to assess and improve their teaching practice. Moreover, these lecturers are seldom connected. The lack of collaboration and exchange between the mechanics lecturers has resulted in limited peer-to-peer support and hindered the development of shared mechanics teaching competence. To tackle these challenges, the PRogramme for Innovation in MECHanics education (PRIMECH) was launched at TU Delft in 2021. In this paper, PRIMECH's solution is discussed: the introduction of the Mechanics Teachers Social Club, an inter-faculty Community of Practice (CoP), built around the shared domain of interest of teaching mechanics and improving students' conceptual understanding. The CoP aims to enhance lecturers' awareness of best teaching practices and foster collaboration on new educational projects. Within this CoP, lecturers are encouraged to share teaching materials, discuss pedagogical approaches, and share advice towards achieving this goal.