Tracking transdisciplinary skills in the design of online courses: A design-based research study

This design-based research (DBR) study was conducted to identify the type of learning activities and assessments that are responsible for fostering transdisciplinary skills (t-skills) in higher education online courses. T-skills are transferable skills that apply across the disciplines and that have been identified as needed for life and career success in the 21st century. The study addressed two major research questions: (1) “To what extent does the intervention - a new outcomes table - aid in tracking transdisciplinary skills in the design of online courses?” and (2) “What design principles guide the development of learning activities and assessments that foster t-skills?” To address the first question, the researchers developed a design intervention, an outcomes mapping protocol, that was used to map t-skills in 75 unique online courses and deployed the learning outcomes feature of the learning management system to generate learning outcomes analytics on t-skills. The new mapping process captured not only the intended disciplinary goals (what was taught) but also the competencies fostered by the learning design (how the curriculum was taught). To address the second question, the researchers asked learners in these 75 courses to select the top skill resulting from the online course they had just completed and to reflect in writing how the learning activities or assessments in that online course had helped them foster the t-skill they selected. We then coded the learners’ feedback into design principles. The theoretical outcomes of this DBR study constitute refined active learning design principles that tie the development of t-skills to active learning methods. The practical outcome of this DBR provides a new instructional design process for instructors, designers, and administrators to effectively map t-skills across any semester-based curriculum.