Evaluating an Interdisciplinary and Multi-Pedagogical Approach to Equipping Students to Create Social Change

Modern social problems are complex, multifaceted, and challenging to solve. Scholars are increasinglyapplying the concept of social innovation as a path to addressing social issues. Social innovation is aninterdisciplinary framework for producing social change that requires creativity, problem-solvingskills, and collaboration across systems. Higher education is progressively understanding the need toprovide interdisciplinary educational opportunities for students; however, little is known about theeffectiveness and impact of providing interdisciplinary learning experiences grounded in a socialinnovation framework. This article describes and analyzes an interdisciplinary summer fellowshipprogram focused on social innovation for graduate students in social work, business, and thehumanities and social sciences. The program employed multiple pedagogical approaches, includingclassroom-based instruction, field learning, and interdisciplinary teamwork. We used qualitative andquantitative pre- and post-evaluation student feedback to examine students' learning and overallexperiences. We found that the fellowship was a dynamic learning experience, through which studentsstrengthened their communication skills and translated academic concepts into practical ideas. The experience also impacted the students' career trajectories, influencing students to pursue careers thatinvolved working toward social progress in a variety of ways.