Cultivating citizen scholars

Team: Deirdre Macleod, Suzanne Hermiston, and Jenny Scoles

School: Centre for Open Learning and Institute for Academic Development

Abstract

This project seeks to test out, and differentiate, strategies for developing and delivering interdisciplinary lifelong learning and teaching through open access short courses at the University of Edinburgh. It takes as its starting point the Toolkit for Interdisciplinary Learning and Teaching (TILT) which was funded recently by PTAS and is now published online (Overend et al, 2024). Growing recognition of the value of interdisciplinary learning is evidenced in the University’s strategic plan to 2030. It is likely to be as valuable to open access lifelong learning as it is to undergraduate and post-graduate study. 

The notion of the ‘Citizen Scholar’, in which universities promote both scholarship and active and engaged citizens, aligns closely with the purpose of lifelong learning provision (Kourtis and Arvanitakis, 2016). This notion requires learning that goes beyond traditional disciplinary knowledge. Using resources from the TILT Toolkit, and working with teaching staff, learners and key project staff from TILT, we will explore how to develop meaningful interdisciplinary approaches to open access, short duration, non-credit bearing learning provision at pre-undergraduate level (SCQF level 7). 

We will also work with Daydream Believers, an organisation which creates interdisciplinary learning provision at upper secondary and further education level, to run ‘micro’ learning sessions with teaching staff and learners together. The project will create focussed and specific online guidance resources and exemplars for teaching staff who are developing interdisciplinary lifelong learning courses.