Impacts of interdisciplinary engineering education: A systematic review of the literature

With mono-disciplinary courses, students might have difficulties in understanding the role of the content and methods of multiple disciplines in solving complex problems, such as climate change and global health. Considering existing evidence that interdisciplinary learning environments contribute to student progress in e.g., learning, improving skills, a timely review on their impacts can serve as a comprehensive and convincing rationale for the development of these courses in higher engineering education. This systematic literature review aimed to examine peer-reviewed articles reporting on the impacts of interdisciplinary courses on students. The methods used for the review comprised of three phases: 1) search and inclusion of articles, 2) individual study review, and 3) a cross-study comparison. The key search terms identified to locate articles included “interdisciplinary” and “engineering”. The first phase ended with a screening to eliminate articles using the identified exclusion criteria. We completed the second phase that led to a rubric guided by our inclusion criteria (e.g., goals related to student outcomes, courses in engineering education). Part of the rubric included separate sections for student learning outcomes in the domains; knowledge/understanding, skills, and affect. The rubric then was finalized in the third phase following a cross-study comparison. The results can provide a conceptual basis for improving the current state of interdisciplinary courses in higher engineering education. Finally, researchers will be invited to think of new ways to improve the less positive outcomes that were identified, to assess these outcomes and to enhance interdisciplinary courses for online environments.