Teaching students of multidisciplinary backgrounds: How to offer equal and fair opportunities for learning

Abstract

Globalization has led to impactful changes on the way societies function. On a smaller scale in higher education, this can be portrayed through the international and multidisciplinary background of the students attending courses. Nowadays educators face a challenge to adapt the teaching content and material to “fit-all”, so that every student is offered equal opportunities in teaching and learning. We, educators, have observed a paradigm shift from the traditional classroom teaching methods to a more blended hybrid learning, where students receive feedback both by the peer-peer and the student-teacher interactions. With this project report, we aim to address two key points when teaching students of multidisciplinary and multicultural backgrounds: the benefits and challenges of group-based learning; approaches in designing project-based assignments that offer fair assessment and equal opportunities in learning. Our discussion is based on our own teaching experiences from two advanced courses at LTH – Biopharmaceuticals (KIMN10) and Packaging Technology and Development (MTTN40) – and supported by pedagogical literature and further conversations with the course leaders and critical friends. As a summary for the report, we present ideas for improvements and recommendations to the courses discussed.