Postgraduate Course: Interrogating Interdisciplinary Practice (EFIE11558)
Course Outline
| School | Edinburgh Futures Institute |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Availability | Not available to visiting students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | *EFI Skills and Methods Suite*
Please Note:
This course is only available to students enrolled on one of Edinburgh Futures Institute's postgraduate programmes.
This course adopts an experiential, reflective and applied learning design, with explicit emphasis on interactional analysis as a transferable interdisciplinary skill for learning and teaching, research and professional contexts.
It aims to examine how interdisciplinarity is enacted in practice, with particular focus on processes of interaction and integration in collaborative settings.
Key topics include concepts and approaches to interdisciplinarity; norms and cultures of interdisciplinary engagement; forms and tensions of interdisciplinary integration; analytical tools for examining interaction; and emerging mediating influences such as AI-supported tools. |
| Course description |
What does successful interdisciplinary interaction look like in practice? While there is substantial research on collaboration and interdisciplinary initiatives, comparatively less attention has been given to examining the interactional processes through which interdisciplinarity is enacted in practice. This course addresses that gap by focusing on interdisciplinarity in action.
Delivered as a shared core Skills and Methods course, this course adopts an experiential, analytical and reflective approach to examining how interdisciplinary collaboration unfolds in real-world educational, research and professional setting. Students engage in structured collaborative activities throughout the course, using interactional data drawn from their own group work and selected empirical materials to explore how interdisciplinary practices are shaped, negotiated and sustained.
The course provides students with conceptual frameworks, analytical tools and reflective strategies for examining interactional dynamics such as leadership, decision-making, integration, disagreement and coordination. Emphasis is placed on recognising disciplinary norms, communicative practices and power relations, and on developing adaptive capacities for working productively across disciplinary and professional boundaries. They will learn to analyse interactional patterns in order to understand the dynamics of collaborative teamwork and identify how these patterns shape our present and future interdisciplinary engagement.
Learning and teaching activities are structured around five core thematic strands, which are introduced and revisited iteratively across the course:
1) Concepts and approaches to interdisciplinarity: definitions and approaches.
2) Norms, challenges and cultures of interdisciplinary engagement (focusing primarily but not exclusively on Higher Education).
3) Interdisciplinary integration theories, practices and values: forms, processes and tensions (including cognitive, social, epistemic, practical integration and the role of mediating tools such as AI).
4) Systematic and guided approached to examining interactional data and mapping dynamic patterns of interdisciplinary collaboration (including interactional and discourse-informed analysis, thematic pattern identification and visual mapping techniques).
5) Characteristics, complexities and futures of interdisciplinary interaction.
Together, these themes support students in examining how interdisciplinary integration is enacted, negotiated and supported or constrained through interaction. Drawing on students' prior disciplinary, professional and interdisciplinary experiences, alongside knowledge and perspectives developed in Semester 1 courses, the course enables students to analyse patterns of interaction in order to understand how interdisciplinary collaboration succeeds, stalls or transform over time. The course supports students in developing critical awareness of their own interactional practices and provides a foundation for more effective interdisciplinary engagement in future research, educational and professional contexts.
The course is distinctive in its use of interactional data and visualisation techniques to examine interdisciplinary practice as it unfolds, and in its emphasis on reflective skill development for interdisciplinary leadership and collaboration. It also encourages critical examination of emerging mediating influences on interdisciplinary interaction, including the role of AI-supported tools in shaping collaborative practices, processes of integration and epistemic authority.
Ethical and Academic Integrity Considerations (AI):
Students are expected to engage critically and transparently with any AI-supported tools used in collaborative or individual work, in line with University guidance on academic integrity. The course does not require the use of AI; where such tools are used, their role should be acknowledged and analysed rather than treated as neutral or authoritative.
Edinburgh Futures Institute (EFI) - Hybrid Course Delivery Information:
The Edinburgh Futures Institute delivers many of its courses in hybrid mode. This means that you may have some online students joining sessions for this course. To enable this, the course will use technologies to record and live-stream student and staff participation during their teaching and learning activities.
Students should be aware that:
- Classrooms used in this course will have additional technology in place: in some cases, students might not be able to sit in areas away from microphones or outside the field of view of all cameras.
- All presentations, and whole class discussions will be recorded (see the Lecture Recording and Virtual Classroom policies for more details).
You will need access to a personal computing device for this course. Most activities will take place in a web browser, unless otherwise stated. We recommend using a device with a screen, a physical keyboard, and internet access.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2026/27, Not available to visiting students (SS1)
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Quota: 40 |
| Course Start |
Semester 2 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Lecture Hours 8,
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 8,
Supervised Practical/Workshop/Studio Hours 4,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
176 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
The course will be assessed by means of the following assessment component:
1) Analytical, Reflective and Visual Report (100%)
Students will produce a 3,000 - 4,000 word independent analytical and reflective report based on a collaboratively explored area of interdisciplinary interaction examined during the course.
Students work in groups to explore and analyse interactional data during the course, the summative assessment is completed individually and must demonstrate independent critical engagement.
Learning Outcomes Assessed by Component: 1, 2, 3, 4 |
| Feedback |
Feedback on any formative assessment may be provided in various formats, for example, to include written, oral, video, face-to-face, whole class, or individual. The Course Organiser will decide which format is most appropriate in relation to the nature of the assessment.
Feedback on both formative and summative in-course assessed work will be provided in time to be of use in subsequent assessments within the course.
Feedback on the summative assessment(s) will be provided in written form via Learn, the University of Edinburgh's Virtual Learning Environment (VLE).
Formative Feedback Opportunity:
Formative feedback is ongoing feedback which monitors learning and is intended to improve performance in the same course, in future courses, and also beyond study.
Formative feedback and feedforward is provided on potential areas of focus for the summative assessment during the teaching activities.
This course is characterised by ongoing and timely feedback from staff and peers. This includes the use of discussion spaces alongside the dialogue that takes place throughout the course. |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Demonstrate critical understanding of interdisciplinarity as a process, including different forms of interdisciplinary integration.
- Explore, analyse and reflect with others on the evidence-based and experiential learning process of interdisciplinarity in various contexts, using appropriate conceptual, analytical and visual tools.
- Critically reflect on individual and group interactional practices, recognising their own communicative and collaborative tendencies and evaluating their implications for interdisciplinary integration.
- Evaluate the complexities and challenges of interdisciplinary engagement and integration, drawing on interactional analysis to propose informed strategies for future interdisciplinary practice.
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Reading List
Essential Reading:
Choi, S., & Richards, K. (2017). Interdisciplinary Discourse: communication across disciplines. Palgrave McMillan.
Hall, K.L., Vogel, A., & Croyle, R. (Eds). 2020. Strategies for Team Science Success. Handbook of Evidence based principles for cross-disciplinary science and practical lessons learned from Health Researchers. Springer.
Holbook, J. B. (2013). What is interdisciplinary communication? Reflections on the very idea of disciplinary integration. Synthese, 190, 1865-1879.
Klein, J. T. (1990). Interdisciplinarity: History, theory and practice. Detroit: Wayne State University Press.
Larsen, B. (2025). Integrative Topologies: Customizable Models for Cross Disciplinary Knowledge Integration Issues in Interdisciplinary Studies, Vol. 42 (1-2), pp. 105-132.
Perignat, E. et. Al (2023). Practices for high performing Interdisciplinary Faculty Teams. College Teaching, 71/1, 18-27.
Van Der Tuin, I. (Eds). (2025). Key Texts on Interdisciplinary Higher Education. Bristol University Press.
Vienni Baptista, B., Fletcher, I. and Lyall, C. (Editors) (2023), Foundations of Interdisciplinary and Transdisciplinary Research: A Reader, Bristol: Bristol University Press.
Villemeuve, D. et.al (2020). What is interdisciplinarity in Practice? Critical Reflections on Doing Mobility Research in an Intended Interdisciplinary Doctoral Research Group. Sustainability, 12, 197; doi:10.3390/su12010197
Recommended Reading:
Amey, M. J., & Brown, D. F. (2005). Interdisciplinary collaboration and academic work: A case study of a university partnership. New Directions for Teaching and Learning, 102, 23-35.
Aldrich, J. H. (2014). Interdisciplinarity. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Bammer, G. (2013). Disciplining interdisciplinarity: Integration and implementation sciences for researching complex real-world problems. Canberra: Australian National University E Press.
Bridle, H., Vrieling, A., Cardillo, M., Araya, Y., & Hinojosa, L. (2013). Preparing for an interdisciplinary future: A perspective from early-career researchers. Futures, 53, 22-32.
Bromme, R. (2000). Beyond one's own perspective: The psychology of cognitive interdisciplinarity. In P. Weingart &
N. Stehr (Eds.), Practising interdisciplinarity (pp. 115-133). Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
Choi, S., & Schnurr, S. (2014). Exploring distributed leadership: Solving disagreements and negotiating consensus in a 'leaderless' team. Discourse Studies, 16(1), 3-24.
Donnellon, A. (1996). Team talk: The power of language in team dynamics. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.
Drew, P., & Heritage, J. (1992). Introduction. In P. Drew & J. Heritage (Eds.), Talk at work (pp. 3-65). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Creamer, E. G. (2005). Insight from multiple disciplinary angles: A case study of an interdisciplinary research team. New Directions in Teaching and Learning, 102, 37-44.
Frodeman, Robert (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Interdisciplinarity, 2nd edn, Oxford Handbooks (2017; online edn, Oxford Academic, 6 Mar. 2017), https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198733522.001.0001
Hemmings, A., Beckett, G., Kennerly, S. & Yap, T. (2013). Building a community of research practice: Intragroup team social dynamics in interdisciplinary mixed methods. Journal of Mixed Methods Research, 7(3), 261-273.
Housley, W. (2000). Category work and knowledgeability within multidisciplinary team meetings. Text, 20(1), 83-107.
Imafuku, R., Kataoka, R. , Mayahara, M. , Suzuki, H. , & Saiki, T. (2014). Students' Experiences in Interdisciplinary Problem-based Learning: A Discourse Analysis of Group Interaction. Interdisciplinary Journal of Problem-Based Learning, 8(2). DOI: 10.7771/1541-5015.1388
Lattuca, L. R. (2001). Creating interdisciplinarity: Interdisciplinary research and teaching among college and university faculty. Nashville: Vanderbilt University Press.
Lau, L., & Pasquani, M. (2008). 'Jack of all trades'? The negotiation of interdisciplinarity within geography. Geoforum, 39, 552-560.
McCalli, A. (2007). Interdisciplinary teamwork: is the influence of emotional intelligence fully appreciated? Journal of Nursing Management, 15, 386-391
Leigh Winowiecki, Sean Smukler, Kenneth Shirley, Roseline Remans, Gretchen Peltier, Erin Lothes, Elisabeth King, Liza Comita, Sandra Baptista & Leontine Alkema (2011) Tools for enhancing interdisciplinary communication, Sustainability: Science, Practice and Policy, 7:1, 74-80, DOI: 10.1080/15487733.2011.11908067
Further Reading:
Hepburn, A., & Wiggins, S. (2007). Discursive research: Themes and debates. In A. Hepburn & S. Wiggins (Eds.), Discursive research in practice: New approaches to psychology and interaction (pp. 1-28). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Lyall, C. (2019) Being An Interdisciplinary Academic: How Institutions Shape University Careers, London: Palgrave Pivot.
Richards, K. (2005). Introduction. In K. Richards & P. Seedhouse (Eds.), Applying conversation analysis (pp. 1-15). Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan.
Schegloff, E. A. (1991). Reflections on talk and social structure. In D. Boden & D. H. Zimmerman (Eds.), Studies in ethnomethodology and conversation analysis (pp. 44-70). London: Polity Press.
Van Dijk, T. A. (2006). Discourse, context and cognition. Discourse Studies, 8(1), 159-177.
Woods, C. (2007). Researching and developing interdisciplinary teaching: Towards a conceptual framework for classroom communication. Higher Education, 54, 853-866.
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Not entered |
| Keywords | collaborative knowledge production,AI-mediated collaboration,reflective practice,group work |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Seongsook Choi
Tel: (0131 6)51 6539
Email: S.Choi@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Miss Abby Gleave
Tel: (0131 6)51 1337
Email: abby.gleave@ed.ac.uk |
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