Integrative Curricula: A Multi-Dimensional Approach to Pedagogy: Volume 50

The concept of integrating curriculum is being advocated in many institutions of higher education to solve problems that present-day curriculum development is facing. Several models of integrating curriculum can be found in the world of academia. However, there is little consensus among academics as to how we can define the concept and what would be the correct approach to implement integrative curricula. The concept ranges from traditional lecturer-driven discipline-based content to object-driven interest-based student exploration of the pedagogy. In the global context, curriculum needs to be sustainable in nature that would replace the rote method of learning and enhance the problem-solving and critical thinking skills of the students. There is a need to differentiate between reliable and relevant information and suggest alternative facts to create innovative thinkers in a world that offers open access to knowledge. Education in the present century is profoundly impacted by technology and globalization and students need all the skills to navigate through a challenging and ever-changing environment. Yet, concerns remain as to how to implement teaching–learning methods that address the multidimensional needs of the students and at the same time maintain a quality standard. Educators are now determined to impart knowledge that is exploratory, relevant, integrative and meaningful, and are anchoring content across disciplines. The approach is more focused on integrating students’ experiences across teaching and learning activities of academic programs, construction of knowledge, and a range of competencies and capabilities in a meaningful and student-centered manner. This book volume will speak about interventions and case studies that are transforming learning from simple classroom learning to learning that can impact the sustainable development of society with a human dimension and creating a caring culture.

Integrative curriculum is sometimes understood in terms of utilizing two or more disciplines to explore and inquire into ideas to achieve certain tasks and learning outcomes. “Integrative” as an educational and curricular term, concept, and set of processes is more concerned with integrating students’ experiences across the teaching and learning activities of their academic program, constructing their knowledge and a range of competencies and capabilities in a meaningful and student-centered manner. This chapter approaches integrative curriculum in higher education through peer teaching and learning. The chapter presents and analyzes the case study of Phoenicia University, Lebanon, where one of the approaches to emphasizing integrative curriculum is through the “Peer Support Program” (PSP). In the PSP, excelling students (mentors) across various courses (e.g., calculus, English, etc.) mentor and tutor their marginal peers (mentees) who are underperforming in their studies. This study analyzed the attitudes, perceptions, and confidence levels of both the mentors and mentees in the PSP across freshman calculus courses. The chapter found that the PSP revealed reciprocity and mutual benefit for both the mentors and mentees in terms of academic gain, self-satisfaction, and personal growth. Some of the identified concerns about the program were that mentees seemed to be too dependent on the mentors and majorly driven by studying for the mark. The program was a win-win combination for the mentors, mentees, and the institution itself, serving as an effective integrative curriculum avenue, where students’ experiences, commitment, and ownership in the teaching and learning process are actively integrated into a meaningful, connected, and student-centered university environment.

Key challenges currently facing Higher Education (HE) in the UK are the continuing dominance of curricula by West-centric knowledge traditions which reinforce normative Whiteness and undergird racism, and glaring disparities in student outcomes. Seeking to address these challenges and promote fair access and educational opportunities aimed at enabling a more equitable, just and life-enhancing society, London Metropolitan University has launched its Education for Social Justice Framework (ESJF) (2020) as an integrative framework for inclusive curriculum redesign.

This chapter explores the context and moral imperative of the ESJF, its integrative elements, its pedagogical challenges and its transformative potential, through critically reviewing its application during a pilot phase of implementation in 2020–2021, based on the perspectives of six academics involved as course leaders of the participating programs from various disciplines, as well as the authors. Data from individual interviews with the course leaders are used to throw light on key themes concerning the importance and character of the ESJF, challenges and enabling factors in implementing the ESJF, resulting course changes, and the role of students in curriculum development. This chapter concludes with some general implications of adopting an ambitious, integrative approach to curriculum and pedagogical transformation.

L. Dee Fink proposes that different and more significant kinds of learning should be created in higher education to transition student outcomes from simply “learning” to “significant learning,” and these new types of learning should be situated within significant learning experiences (Fink, 2003). Fink also identified a taxonomy of significant learning that included six components: integration, foundational knowledge, application, human dimension, caring, and learning how to learn. Using Fink’s Taxonomy of Significant Learning as a framework, the authors will share the development of a course on navigating the US Healthcare System that resulted in significant learning outcomes for students completing the first semester of a four-year Doctor of Pharmacy curriculum. Each learning experience will link to a component of the taxonomy and will serve as the mechanism for the authors to share the development and implementation associated with each aspect of the semester-long course. The assessment structure of the course is described in detail. The authors present one or more learning experiences to illustrate each component of Fink’s Taxonomy. Finally, lessons learned from the development and implementation of the course are presented to guide programs considering implementation of a similar significant learning experience.

International students, specifically students who study English for Academic Purposes (EAP), are an increasingly important and large part of the makeup of Canadian post-secondary institutions. As these students have diverse learning needs and goals, institutions need to properly support these learners to be successful in academic settings. A review of the literature explores the increasing need to support this particular student population; approaches to the teaching, learning, and programming of EAP courses and programs; and strategies in and beyond the classroom to support these learners. This chapter offers design considerations and suggests that EAP curricula be integrative in nature. This can be achieved through choosing relevant topics, incorporating experiential learning opportunities, designing collaborative learning tasks, discussing issues of culture, and planning purposeful community connections. Approaching the development of EAP curricula through an integrative lens will ensure learners who are ready for post-secondary studies in academic fields. Classroom examples from the author’s professional experience are offered. Discussion of how to achieve integrative EAP curricula in virtual learning environments is also included.

Team teaching in higher education requires a great deal of coordination and commitment from both the professors teaching together, as well as administrators coordinating courses. Given the difficulties in logistics, it is not surprising that many teams give up on team teaching after only one or two semesters. The literature and lived experience by the authors verify the benefits that come from team teaching: multiple perspectives on the course material, more than one-course delivery method, greater attention from students used to just one instructor, and a greater level of energy in the room and on-line when more than one presenter shares the lecture time. Team teaching (or co-teaching as it is also referred to), in the Service Management Specialization at the Gustavson School of Business in Victoria, Canada, is sharing a cohort of students across three classes, and while each professor is responsible for separate course topics, each makes the time to integrate topics and share time in the classroom together multiple times during the semester.

The authors have been part of a team delivering curriculum this way for over 20 years, and this chapter examines how the material is organized and delivered to team teaching success. Critical elements include funding to support team teaching, commitment from professors to coordinate together, willingness to share materials, and building bridges from class to class to enable students to follow and integrate learnings. Team teaching has resulted in greater cohesiveness among faculty teaching in the program, higher teaching evaluations than professors experienced in solo teaching, and students who feel better prepared to tackle complex business problems that cross the interdisciplinary boundaries of marketing, operations, and talent management.

The Bologna Process (BP) remains a key international framework for guiding higher education development in the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) until 2030. This chapter traces integrative curriculum ideas in the BP post-2020 and explains why they are symbolic policies. Prior research into curricula in the BP does not explicitly refer to integrative curriculum ideas and does not explore them in the post-2020 context. 2020 marked the deadline for the achievement of a fully functioning EHEA and for setting up new priorities for 2030. This study is informed by the theoretical ideas of soft governance and symbolic policies in the Open Method of Coordination. This chapter addresses the aforementioned gap in the scholarship by relying on a thematic analysis of the first EHEA communique that set the agenda for the post-2020 period – Rome Ministerial Communique (2020) with its three annexes. The findings highlight the following main areas of the integrative curriculum agenda as symbolic policies after 2020: student-centeredness, research-based learning, and the interconnectedness between learning and wider society. This analysis is significant for our understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the international policy rhetoric about the integrative curriculum which, in turn, defines the effectiveness of the implementation of these ideas in practice.

Universities must build curricula that prepare students for the fourth industrial revolution (4IR). However, given the pace of change, we cannot be certain of the attributes necessary to navigate the fourth industrial age (4IA). This chapter argues we can prepare graduates for this unknowable future through integrative, competence-based curricula, outlines how we conceptualize, design, teach and assess competence-based HE, and invest in those involved in teaching and learning at the University of Hull, UK.

To be competent is to have the necessary experience, knowledge and self-awareness to do something successfully. Competencies are “taught in practice and assessed in application” (Lawrence et al., 2020). Students learn by applying disciplinary knowledge to professional practice, where possible attending to live briefs or authentic teaching and assessment relevant to study, work and life. This has the potential to benefit the local region and students as they build educational, cultural and social capital.

To sustain the currency of competence-based HE, we work with the learning community (student sponsors, prospective, and current students, employers, and providers of voluntary and other services) in designing our programs of study. We facilitate mutual learning to design and deliver integrative curricula that are meaningful and relevant to all.

This longitudinal study reports on the development of an integrative curriculum for Medical English courses, which arose as a need on March 11, 2020, when the World Health Organization (WHO) made the assessment that COVID-19 was characterized as a pandemic and its effects became apparent on nursing students in the Department of Nursing at a State University in Turkey. The curriculum was designed using content and language-integrated learning (CLIL) by the ESP practitioner after observing the nursing students’ unexpected reactions to the onset of COVID-19 because of the unfiltered information about COVID-19, as Chiolero (2020) concisely described, “unprecedented in human history” (p. 1). Curriculum development included four stages in this study: preparation, curriculum design, implementation and evaluation. Data were collected using observation of the nursing students and self-reflective reports through triangulation of time and methods and analyzed using thematic analysis. The salient themes in the data analysis included increased awareness, increased confidence, contribution to professional development, the positive effect on mood and feelings, critical thinking, note-taking (because of new scientific information and new term), and ESP practitioner’s positive effects on students (n = 59).