Page 33 - Teaching and learning of interdisciplinary thinking in higher education in engineering

Teaching and learning in interdisciplinary higher education: A systematic review
sufficient information, then the full text was scanned to determine whether or not the publication met the inclusion criteria. The identification process was carried out twice by the first author for two reasons: (a) to be sure that all relevant publications were included, and (b) to categorize the non-relevant publications. Where the identified relevant publications reported on the results of the same study, the publication with the most extensive coverage of the reported study was included in the analysis.
2.3.4 Critical analysis and exploration
Following careful reading, the critical analysis was carried out using a self-devised literature review form based on the review framework adopted in this study. This provided the scope for the description and evaluation of the found publications. The literature review form also served to standardize the critical analysis. The form consisted of two parts: (a) questions intended to afford insight into the research design characteristics of the publications, thereby enabling the description of scientific research into teaching and learning in interdisciplinary higher education, and (b) questions formulated to embody the principles of Biggs’ theory, thereby enabling the evaluation of the scientific research into teaching and learning in interdisciplinary higher education. The formulated questions were applicable to the analysis of theoretical publications as well as empirical research. The form contained descriptive questions with, in most cases, a short-answer possibility. A detailed answer should always be provided to clarify the given short answers. In order to explore our research questions, only typical conditions for enabling the development of IDT were included. Conversely, general conditions such as student motivation or congruence between learning goals and assessment were not included. Once all the publications had been reviewed and the review forms had been completed, the identified research design characteristics and the identified presence of Biggs’ principles were examined. In addition, a content analysis of the extracted subskills and
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