Methodology

Method Rationale

• Produces results that better help us understand who our learners are and what their (knowledge) gap in awareness and access to resources are as well as their (skill) gap in collaboration practices in academic settings (Brown & Green, 2015; Drachen, Mirza-Babaei, & Nacke, 2018)

Recruitment

• • Posting flyers around 370 Jay St, Dibner Library, and 6 MetroTech (Main Tandon Building)

  • Posting in Slack channels, WhatsApp groups, texting people directly

Mixed Methods Data Collection

• Self-reports including checklists, 5 point Likert scales, and optional fill-ins for elaboration opportunities

• Survey sections:

  • • School/Program related demographics questions

    • Section 1: General questions asking about courses taken outside of their program

    • Section 2: Community connectedness and satisfaction

    • Section 3: Collaboration frequency and satisfaction

    • Section 4: Resource navigation sources, effort, and difficulty levels

    • Section 5: Career preparedness in terms of coursework, professors, and resource aids

    • Interview availability

Method Rationale

• Understand and gauge whether student passions translate into their academic studies 

• Understand the extent to which interdisciplinary collaboration opportunities play a role in students' NYU experiences

  • • Both in-class and outside of class

• Find where student's needs are and why they are experiencing the problem expressed in the surveys:

  • •  prioritizing connection to other students in other programs at NYU Brooklyn, but not experiencing such connection and collaboration (and feeling satisfied with that)

Recruitment

• From optional survey question regarding interview willingness

• Convenient sampling by reaching out to known individuals

Qualitative Data Collection

• Audio-recorded semi-structured interviews

• Note-taking in-situ and post-hoc for each interview

Method Rationale

• Explore the extent to which department chairs and other related faculty stakeholders foster and create interdisciplinary and collaborative opportunities for their students

  • • Whether students seek these opportunities out

• Understand the interdepartmental collaboration (programs and events, resource sharing, cross-listing courses, etc.) and whether that trickles into student learning opportunities

  • • Whether students are allowed to attend programming and have access to resources in other departments

• Gain insight into what motivates students to come to events

• What skills industry looks for and what skills different departments prioritize in teaching their students

• Understand the types of programming faculty puts on, the extent of programming success, and how we can learn from their trials and incorporate what we've learned into our own instructional design

Recruitment

• Cold emailing department chairs, deans, and other related faculty at the NYU Brooklyn Campus from Tisch, Tandon, and Steinhardt

Qualitative Data Collection

• Audio-recorded semi-structured interviews

• Note-taking in-situ and post-hoc for each interview

Method Rationale

• Explore the research findings of why interdisciplinary learning and collaborative practices are important and what impacts it has on people both internal and external to classroom environments

  • • The extent to which interdisciplinary learning and collaboration foster intrinsic motivation and help satisfy personal and career goals

• Identify the current state of the resources NYU provides for their students at the Brooklyn campus on different scales (inter-school, school, inter-department, department/program, and class)

  • • Whether NYU's Brooklyn campus provides adequate resources that are conducive to interdisciplinary learning and collaborative efforts

    • Whether there is a gap in the resources available and what students need to be successful in their interdisciplinary learning

Literature Review and Meta-Analysis

• Pulled peer-reviewed journal articles from various databases exploring the impacts of interdisciplinary learning and collaboration

Current Resources

• Performed thorough research on the current state of interdisciplinary resources available to NYU students at the Brooklyn Campus on various scales (departmental, school-wide, and NYU-wide access levels)