Collaborative Interdisciplinary Teaching and Learning Across Borders, Using Mobile Technologies and Smart Devices

Abstract

Collaborative teaching today, is one of the best practices followed globally to foster active learning. As a variety of teaching styles emerge to address more student learning preferences, collaboration across disciplines and across borders, using mobile technologies, allows a cultural and academic exchange of ideas, improving teaching and learning pedagogy. The authors at the Department of Biology, Dillard University (DU) in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA and the Department of Chemical Engineering, BMS College of Engineering in Bangalore (BMSCE), India collaborated in Fall 2015 and 2016 to develop a teaching module where DU Human Physiology students and BMSCE Chemical Engineering students participated. This paper chronicles our experience in the interdisciplinary study across borders, focusing on critical and creative thinking; writing and communication using smart devices and collaboration and shared leadership.