In a new series of features, each week we’ll be taking a look at a different area of the student experience and finding out more about the work being undertaken to develop that area. This week we look at the work of IATL in developing a range of interdisciplinary modules.

In response to student feedback requesting more interdisciplinary choice in order to add value to their degrees, IATL has developed a number of modules available to all Warwick students, including one created by Dr Nicholas Monk, which is co-taught with Monash University.

"I felt more engaged in this module than any other."

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Forms of Identity

‘Forms of Identity’ is a 15/12-CATS unit/course/module developed by Warwick’s Institute for Advanced Teaching and Learning (IATL), and designed to be both interdisciplinary and international – the module is co-taught with Monash. The philosophy that underpins the module is one of openness and engagement, in which tutors and students work together in the creation of knowledge. The module seeks to examine “identity” from a range of disciplinary perspectives, offering students fresh ways of understanding the module’s content and, by extension, the world in which they live and work.

I really enjoyed the interactive sessions. It was amazing to see the different responses to the same material."

The module challenged a lot of ideas that come with my discipline."

The module is taught to a cohort of 18 students – half each from Monash and Warwick – simultaneously, using the latest video-conferencing technology. Each teaching space (Monash and Warwick) has been designed to resemble the other, and both are designed to be as flexible and open as possible to promote the ‘feel’ of a single room.

I really didn’t know what to expect, but I quickly forgot we were in a different place to the other students."

Interdisciplinary study would seem to lend itself to the development of flexible and transferable skills, as commonly demanded by employers."

Did you also know…?

• IATL’s interdisciplinary modules are offered in addition to the inter-departmental modules already offered by many faculties.
• IATL’s modules are cross-faculty, which means that students from every participating Department in the University may take one or more IATL module. The IATL Module Handbook offers guidance to students working on IATL modules in terms of assessment, attendance, and the relationship of the work students do with us to their home Department.
• WBS also offers a number of 10-week 12 or 15 CAT modules to any second or third year undergraduate student across the university. These modules are designed to help you grasp complex ideas from the different perspectives of a range of subject disciplines.