Critical Reflection (Short Essay): Interdisciplinary Collaboration

Critical Reflection (Short Essay)
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As part of interdisciplinary collaboration, the group members were in four different disciplines (education, linguistics, Japanese studies, and digital culture). Interdisciplinary collaboration and crossover between different disciplines made it easier to address the issue of climate justice across generations from different perspectives and approaches Interdisciplinary collaboration was an enriching experience as the students come from different disciplines. However, there was a need to address how to improve the group’s successes and achievements as there were challenges to arrange meetings where everyone was available and could contribute. The theme of self-reflection and cultural competence in the interdisciplinary process was useful to facilitate collaboration. Evidence shows that cultural competence is beneficial in interdisciplinary studies and has a positive impact on attitudes and skills and communication and interaction. Interdisciplinary collaboration is linked to cultural competence in dealing with young people’s issues in a changing climate and intra/intergenerational justice.
Cultural education is helpful to improve cultural competence, and through the interdisciplinary process, it becomes easier to evaluate how communication and culture influence interactions. In Australia, the dominant narratives in research, academia, and society tend to exclude the indigenous people and other minorities and oppressed groups (Russell, 2020). The researchers further highlighted the benefits of cultural competence in healthcare to promote culturally safe practices, and cultural competence training is helpful to improve cultural competence (Russell, 2020). In the interdisciplinary process, it became apparent that there was a need to clarify what to expect during the interaction, and power imbalances influence how decisions are made. The group members benefit from being actively involved in the process as they do not feel left behind, and they are more likely to focus on self-reflection
There ought to be a commitment to collaborate to facilitate teamwork, and the bigger the differences, the more likely there will be points of contention. Hooks (2013) highlighted that bonding across different classes, race and gender seem simple, but in reality, requires addressing issues that may cause conflict to facilitate collaboration. Interdisciplinary collaboration is also fostered by promoting self-reflection. This was essential as the group members made decisions knowing what influenced their views and considering the views of the other. Experiences working with people from different backgrounds expand one’s perspective and understanding of others, making it easier to work with others as there is more self-awareness (Hooks, 2013). Structured discussions in interdisciplinary collaboration helped support teamwork while considering the influence of differences in decision-making.
To better understand people from different cultural backgrounds, it is necessary to listen keenly and allow them to share their experiences. Waller (2018) focused on Dadirri, an indigenous Australian methodology based on deep, respectful listening and acceptance to facilitate research among non-Indigenous researchers and build mutual trust. As such, it is no surprise that interviews are some of the most common data gathering methods in interdisciplinary studies when seeking to understand people’s experiences and perceptions. In studies where participants use their own words to share their experiences and views, it is more likely that this will help create mutual trust as the participants feel they are not judged harshly and are respected. To better understand people’s responses based on their cultural backgrounds and connections, it was helpful useful to focus on open communication where it is possible to explore how community knowledge influences perceptions and attitudes.
Since interdisciplinarity is a combination of approaches from different studies, the methods of one discipline was be applied in other when there was collaborations. There was a need to utilize more analytical and critical skills to evaluate and research on issues using an interdisciplinary perspective in the interdisciplinary process. Interdisciplinary collaboration offered a way to overcome the fragmentation of specialized knowledge and allowed using knowledge from diverse perspectives. There was also greater awareness of the complexity of realities, and the Japanese studies emphasize the need to work collaboratively and openly in intercultural and interdisciplinary settings.
Self-reflection in interdisciplinary collaboration helped improve engagement, but I observed that collaborative behavior was not as expected as some group members were not active participants in the zoom meetings. However, I understand people have different perspectives, cultural experiences and knowledge. Some of the members were good in listening even if they did not seem to offer much, but since there was no open communication and feedback this made it easier to collaborate. The various views on intra-generational justice, intergenerational justice and climate justice were integrated to provide a broad perspective on how young people from diverse backgrounds can be involved in climate change initiatives. Communication barriers were dealt with to facilitate collaboration and as everyone were free to contribute the proposed solutions integrated different views and perspectives.
As part of interdisciplinary collaboration, there was the development of teams, and the team members work together, but since there may be conflicts, support and openness to teamwork are essential interdisciplinarities facilit...