Crossing Departmental Boundaries: Evaluating Jointly-delivered Modules In Year 1

Presenters: Ann Brantingham, Seth Hartigan, Debra Jones (LC), Nick Cope (ECC)

 Key words: Joint Delivery Module Year One

This presentation focuses on the role of cooperative, multidisciplinary teaching and learning when Language Center (LC) faculty and Departmental faculty jointly deliver modules to Year 1 students at XJTLU. It will highlight and review teaching practice, especially in developing critical thinking and active learning skills, using several case studies (ECC modules COM001 and ENG003, and UPD/ECC/LC module FOM002). In jointly delivered modules, LC faculty instruct students in the language and study skills needed to engage with departmental content material. Students may benefit from the differing instructional perspectives of LC and departmental faculty, allowing them to gain insight by understanding the world through the fields of language, communication and culture.

LC presenters will address different aspects of their teaching practice in co-delivery of modules between the LC, ECC and UPD, including:

COM001 Introduction to Communication, which gave students an overview of media formats, from traditional books and printing to radio and television, up to the many options available in global digital media.  Students were encouraged to consider how media platforms have converged, particularly with the advancement of digital technology.   As the ECC department presented the lectures and module content, the LC contributed to helping students form links with the concepts and the course textbook. 

ENG003 How Language Works gave students an introduction to the scientific study of language by surveying core areas in general and applied linguistics. Students were exposed to a number of multicultural linguistic topics, including “Global Englishes,” cross-cultural pragmatics, language and gender and sociolinguistics. LC faculty contributed guidance on how to engage with the challenging content material, how to study effectively and how to manage the process of academic writing.

FOM002 Imagining the City, as an interdisciplinary as well as a co-delivery module, exposed students to a range of seemingly disparate themes and encouraged them to make connections and understand the inter-relationship among different disciplines which is an essential part of higher education in a globalized world. Through a collaborative and interactive learning environment, students applied concepts learned in class to their own experience of cities thereby making links between learning and the wider world.

Departmental faculty who taught on these three modules will be present to comment on the benefits and challenges they faced in jointly delivering first-year modules.  The modules themselves will be critiqued in terms of their wider relevance and the future application of these models of content delivery as the number of jointly delivered modules expands at XJTLU. The participants will also look forward and invite a discussion on possible joint delivery options across the University for students in their subsequent years of study.