VIRTUAL: Learning. Life. Work.

Abstract

This paper discusses the process and outcomes of an expanded pedagogical approach developed through a cross-disciplinary and interstate collaboration between Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology interior design students, University of Canberra Primary Education Creative Arts Specialist students and the National Gallery of Australia teaching and learning team. Students from both programs were asked to respond to the Gallery’s ambition to better connect their collection with young learners in relation to their course of study. The pilot program developed cross-disciplinary learning and teaching methods for both students and staff. The teachers from each institution and the education manager from the Gallery brought their specific expertise and pedagogies to the collaboration to immerse students in an authentic learning opportunity where the outcomes were interconnected but tailored for each program and location. Through sharing their own disciplinary perspectives and knowledge, students had the opportunity to learn from each other and a range of teachers and external experts in an authentic collaboration with an actual ‘client’. The careful design of the program constructed common ground that was further expanded through the multidisciplinary inputs. The three-way collaboration in higher education context expands students and staff learning and engagement in multiple ways. Co-designing the course and embedding opportunities for students to teach each other in an authentic collaboration with a real ‘client’, staff and students were able to experience an expansion in their thinking through engaged multidisciplinary learning and translate this to knowledge that they could embed into their projects for more rigorous outputs.