Fostering students’ confidence in collaborating in transdisciplinary online problem-based learning projects: practical guidelines for educators

The primary role and value of a transdisciplinary online collaborative problem-based learning (OCPBL) project is that all disciplines fully participate in producing solutions to challenges. Acquiring the confidence to do so transcends all disciplines. The central role of educators then emerges in facilitating students’ confidence in their ability to participate and perform in OCPBL projects. This paper focuses on Phase 3 of a longitudinal ethnographic study, with the aim of consolidating practical guidelines to facilitate confident participation in an OCPBL project. Guidelines emerged from exploratory focus groups with educators as participants involved in the design and facilitation of an OCPBL project. Thematic analysis presents two sets of guidelines: achievement of the facilitation of effective OCPBL by students and student teams and guidelines for the composition and orientation of educator panels and their facilitation of confident OCPBL. The latter makes the most significant contribution to theory and practice. Our research shows that educators should, in particular, guide and support students in exploring and clearly expressing their own feelings of professional self-worth within and beyond their own disciplines while gaining insight and developing due respect for others. Most importantly, full collaboration in an experiential transdisciplinary OCPBL project requires recognition and respect for one's own and others’ disciplines, both among students and among educators. Confidence as a graduate attribute is also key to the required skill set in transdisciplinary online teams engaged in complex collaborative problem solving and value creation.