Teaching-research nexus with cross-disciplinary, cross-cultural team teaching

Design · All designs
Evidence · 4 claims (3 for, 1 mixed) · 2 studies (2 qualitative), q2 · 0 of 2 report an effect size · 4 claims rest on one study

Description

Woolyungah's academics span several disciplines and use a team-teaching approach so students encounter a range of approaches to disciplinary and cross-disciplinary research. Staff research — on teacher education, Aboriginal Studies curricula, community arts, life writing, intercultural performance, cultural studies and Indigenous environmental management — is included in teaching to demonstrate the viability and integrity of Indigenous knowledges alongside Western knowledges, linking theory with real-world outcomes in an environment where competitiveness is not the primary focus.

Design Implications

Context

Requirements

• Academics from multiple disciplines willing to collaborate across Indigenous and non-Indigenous standpoints and with students

Constraints

• The paper notes the academy produces academics according to Western ways of knowing that demand adherence to the ethos of the individual, which collaboration must work against

Target Learners

• Undergraduate Indigenous Studies students across the University's satellite campuses

Target Goals

• Understanding Indigenous knowledges as multifaceted and always in process; critical and cross-disciplinary research skills

Claims

• Interdisciplinary studio collaboration deepened students' disciplinary skills while exposing them to cross-disciplinary skills [+M]
• Interdisciplinary studio collaboration produced challenges including uneven workloads, vocabulary barriers, and difficulty giving cross-disciplinary feedback [~W]
• Students believed interdisciplinary studio experiences would ease their transition into the workforce [+W]
• Staff at one university Indigenous centre report that many students, Indigenous and non-Indigenous, show keen interest in local Indigenous culture and take part avidly when it is taught [+W]

Related Patterns

Examples

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Key Sources

• McGloin, C., Marshall, A. & Adams, M. (2009). Leading the Way: Indigenous knowledge and collaboration at the Woolyungah Indigenous Centre. Journal of University Teaching and Learning Practice, 6(2), 38–53. https://ro.uow.edu.au/jutlp/ doi:10.53761/1.6.2.4

Page metadata

Field	Value
type	design
id	cross-disciplinary-team-teaching-research-nexus
title	Teaching-research nexus with cross-disciplinary, cross-cultural team teaching
description	Woolyungah's academics span several disciplines and use a team-teaching approach so students encounter a range of approaches to disciplinary and cross-disciplinary research.
status	review
generated	by process:wiki-ingest on 2026-09-26
trust	unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content
sources	1 — mcgloin-2009

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