Interdisciplinary teamwork artefacts and practices: a typology for promoting successful teamwork in engineering education

Publication Date

1-1-2020

Document Type

Article

Publication Title

Australasian Journal of Engineering Education

Volume

25

Issue

2

DOI

10.1080/22054952.2020.1836753

First Page

133

Last Page

141

Abstract

Professional organisations and engineering educators in Australia recognise that interdisciplinary teamwork skills are increasingly important for engineering graduates to develop. However, knowledge and resources for how best to develop those skills is underdeveloped. This article addresses that gap by introducing a new conceptual framework and typology for promoting successful interdisciplinary teamwork. The analysis is based upon several long-term ethnographic studies of interdisciplinary student teams. The conceptual framework is called Interdisciplinary Teamwork Artefacts and Practices (ITAP), and the six types of ITAPs are: (1) orienting, (2) operating, (3) levelling, (4) proposing, (5) aligning, and (6) structuring. This typology can be used to help instructors and students alike navigate the challenges of interdisciplinary teamwork while maximising interdisciplinary learning outcomes.

Funding Number

1929726

Funding Sponsor

National Science Foundation

Keywords

artefacts, ethnography, Interdisciplinary, shared mental model, teamwork

Department

General Engineering

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