seyed javad mortazavi amiri; meysam kramipour; Mohammad Ghafari Mejlej; fouzieh salari Jaeeni
Abstract
Creating a program-oriented dynamic professional learning environment is to facilitate the professional development of interdisciplinary curricula that shapes the future of new knowledge creation in universities. The current research aims to design a dynamic professional learning environment based on ...
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Creating a program-oriented dynamic professional learning environment is to facilitate the professional development of interdisciplinary curricula that shapes the future of new knowledge creation in universities. The current research aims to design a dynamic professional learning environment based on an interdisciplinary curriculum with the approach of the effectiveness of knowledge creators in order to provide a model. The present research method is qualitative-quantitative. The statistical population of the qualitative research is the members of the elite educational and research faculty members, who were selected through interviews and qualitative methods from 30 faculty members of the universities of medical sciences in the north of the country (Mazandaran, Gilan and Golestan provinces). The quantitative part was investigated according to the size of the population of 3725 people with the number of 250 people as sample B using the regional sampling method. The software used for statistical analysis were SPSS 26 and pls 3. Using the coding method of qualitative content analysis based on interviews with elites and using fuzzy Delphi, the components of dynamic professional learning environment in interdisciplinary lesson planning with a view to the effectiveness of knowledge creation were identified and classified using the structural model of effectiveness weights. The results showed that all the components of the dynamic professional learning environment in the field of interdisciplinary lesson planning were identified and then the meaningful dimension was confirmed in the research, and by examining the themes, concepts and quantitative and qualitative research, the model of the dynamic professional learning environment based on interdisciplinary lesson planning was explained with an effective knowledge-creating approach.
Extended Abstract
Introduction
Dynamic professional learning environment (DPLC) as a form of professional development in health and medical education is widely recognized to serve the development of faculty members and medical students related to their better development (e.g., Vesio & Adams, 2015 (Vicki, 2015). In this framework, faculty members, students, and universities of medical sciences act as a professional learning environment for themselves (Clarke & Hollingsworth, 2002) and in a shared, reflective, reciprocal, and collective responsibility (McLaughlin & Talbert, 2006). The researches have highlighted the positive impact of faculty involvement in a dynamic professional learning environment on improving student learning, as well as in promoting a culture of collaboration, trust, and support that develops among engaged faculty members (Vicki, 2015). Dynamic professional learning environment refers to small groups of experienced faculty members who work together and collaboratively focused on specific learning (Margalef & Pareja Roblin, 2016). Faculty members share interests, values, and perspectives in a dynamic professional learning environment and follow the common approaches (Bolam et al., 2005; Stoll et al., 2006) and have collective responsibility for student learning (King & Newmann, 2001; Kruse & Louis, 1995; Leithwood & Louis, 1998). Faculty members work collectively in a dynamic professional learning environment with the goal of deepening their professional knowledge and improving their teaching. The main question of the research is how to make the content of interdisciplinary courses effective in the field of education in the field of health and treatment? And what are the features of interdisciplinary curriculum planning and what steps does the interdisciplinary curriculum planning process with the higher education effectiveness approach consist of? And finally, what is the model of the interdisciplinary curriculum with the approach of the effectiveness of the content of the courses in the field of higher education?
Theoretical Framework
There have been many articles on the explanation of interdisciplinary models in the field of higher education, but the explanation of a comprehensive and complete model on the effectiveness of the content of interdisciplinary courses has not been done so much. Some researches are as follows:
Koa et al. (2019) investigated the promotion of learning motivation and creativity of high school students in designing an interdisciplinary system. They conducted a research on 45 high school students and the results showed that self-efficacy, enjoyment of learning and learning authenticity affect the design of the content system of interdisciplinary courses (Kuo et al. 2019). Vorberg et al. (2019) systematically investigated the effectiveness of professional training in the medical curriculum. The conclusions showed that quantitative and experimental study plans, group participation, educational environment, course content, and quality of studies cause the effectiveness of professional training among college students (Vuurberg et al. 2019). Egger et al. (2019) explained the interdisciplinary curricula. They got help from the design team consisting of instructors, gifted students, education managers, and planning teams to formulate the curriculum effectively. Casamaningtias et al. (2018) analyzed and investigated the effectiveness of physics curriculum learning. The results showed that the assessment of learning based on problem solving and mental discovery processes in order to measure the effectiveness of the curriculum can improve the efficiency of developing the lesson plan (Kusumaningtyas et al. 2018). Lidal et al. (2018) presented a research entitled "Implementation of interdisciplinary programs with the reverse coaching model". The results showed that the best identification of the implementation variables of the interdisciplinary program is individual training for student leadership, planning responsibility, student documentation, and the active participation of colleagues in the field of coaching (Leedahl et al. 2018). Chang (2017) presented a research entitled "Explanation of the interdisciplinary higher education model for the field of engineering". The findings showed that counselors play an important role in interdisciplinary learning in students. Mutual cooperation should be established between interdisciplinary and science and communication instructors so that they are familiar with current knowledge and technologies. Interview with the experts should be done to explain the interdisciplinary curriculum (Chang et al., 2017).
Methodology
The current research is a qualitative-quantitative research, which in the quantitative part is a correlatiove descriptive research method in terms of the nature of the research method; and from the point of view of the goal, the research is applied because it was based on the investigation of a real problem and specialized knowledge. Also, in terms of time, this research is cross-sectional. In the qualitative section, descriptive-analytical method has been used to examine the opinions of internal experts. In other words, by using the method of foundational data theory (grounded theory) and qualitative content analysis, it has been used to find the effective factors of interdisciplinary curriculum with the approach of the effectiveness of course content in the field of higher education in the form of interviews with faculty members. It is worth mentioning that in addition to the qualitative content analysis method, the fuzzy Delphi method has also been used for the qualitative analysis of the variables, which has added a new innovation to the research.. Its statistical population in the qualitative section is all the experts, managers and faculty members of the universities of Mazandaran, Golestan and Gilan provinces (Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, Gilan University of Medical Sciences and Golestan Province).
Discussion and results
For the descriptive analysis of the data, SPSS 26 statistical software is used. The Kolmogorov-Smirnov test is used for the normality of the data, and the structural equation test and SMART PLS 3 software are used to answer the research questions.
In this study, a questionnaire was used to collect data. Therefore, using confirmatory factor analysis, the general structure of the research questionnaires has been subject to content validity. For confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling, standard factor loading and t-statistics have been calculated. Based on the observed results, the factor load of the t-statistics of each of the studied dimensions at the 5% confidence level is greater than 1.96. Therefore, the observed correlations are significant.
Conclusion
In this research, four questions were raised, firstly, how can the content of interdisciplinary courses be made effective in the field of higher education? And what are the characteristics of interdisciplinary curriculum planning? And what steps does the interdisciplinary curriculum planning process with the higher education effectiveness approach consist of? And finally, what is the model of the interdisciplinary curriculum with the approach of the effectiveness of the content of the courses in the field of higher education? In response to the first question, according to the materials presented in the research, it can be said: paying attention to four principles in the compilation of course content, including the principles of content preparation, conceptualization in content, content organization, writing and content evaluation by considering points such as: specialty, clarity and understandability, being simple and vivid; measurability, content attainability; which means that they should be written in such a way as to specify the lowest desired level; determining the facts of the work, showing the level of desirability of the work, meeting the needs of the learners, reflecting the rules and goals of education, being behavioral; the content can improve the effectiveness of the content of interdisciplinary courses in the field of higher education. The results of the present study are consistent with the results of Lidal et al. (2018), Kuva et al. (2019), and Shabiri and Hashemi (2014). In response to the second question, the planning of the interdisciplinary curriculum should be designed in such a way that by addressing the discovery of relationships, showing overlaps, creating epistemology and developing methodologies that will ultimately lead to the creation of a new epistemological field, the characteristics of the foundational philosophy of the interdisciplinary approach should be revealed. In response to the third question, in order to explain the interdisciplinary planning model with an effectiveness approach, it is necessary to identify the related academic fields and select the fields that are most suitable for the subject, analyze the content in the light of the insights obtained from the subject fields, determine the subjects and the themes, expansion and development of competence and adequacy in each of the disciplines related to the interdisciplinary issue or subject, identifying the contradictions and differences in the insights obtained from the academic disciplines and identifying the roots, creating or discovering compatible fields between the academic disciplines in dealing with the theme or subject; integration and combination of disciplinary insights should be reflected in content conceptualization, content principles, content organization, content writing, and content evaluation. In response to the fourth question, according to the principles of content preparation, the characteristics of effective content planning, the characteristics of interdisciplinary curriculum planning, the steps of the interdisciplinary curriculum planning process with the approach of content effectiveness, as well as the review of themes, concepts and previous research, interviews with 30 experts and faculty members and based on the analysis of qualitative data from in-depth and exploratory interviews and coding and analysis of the content of the interviews and at the same time their compliance with the theoretical foundations, according to the participants of the influential categories (identifying the real needs of students, identifying the real needs of society, predicting the possibility of flexibility in the national and standard curriculum, revision of the curriculum in accordance with the evolution of the needs, institutionalizing policies that are suitable for learning instead of teaching, using experts in the field of curriculum, using the curriculum of prestigious universities in the world in accordance with the conditions and needs of the country, reducing centralization in the preparation of curriculum programs, reducing the problems in the committees on curriculum writing, the internal communication of the curriculum of higher education and previous levels, the need to provide diverse and flexible content, support the professor to change the content, to involve the student in choosing the content) for the design of the interdisciplinary lesson planning model with the content effectiveness approach was explained and at this stage the conceptual model presented along with the following description of the indicators was sent to the expert group members and their level of agreement with each indicator has been taken and their suggested and corrective opinions have been divided. The absolute average obtained shows the intensity of experts' agreement with each of the research indicators and finally the research model.
In this regard, the current research can be a very good literature and planning model for interdisciplinary curriculum planning experts in order to make the content of higher education more effective, and also for the educational planning officials of the country, so that it will be very effective in expanding this category of studies and courses. For this reason, it is recommended that in order to apply and explain fruitfully the curriculum planning of as many interdisciplinary curricula as possible, which are currently being implemented in some universities of the country, with scientific principles and standards in this field, this research along with other similar cases should be paid attention as a guide of the design of such programs. It is suggested that according to the needs of the market and the structure of social welfare, courses should be planned in order to reduce the problems that arise in medical issues. In addition, it is suggested to use the international curriculum that has been successful in developed countries.
