A significant focus of our tools and resources is to help individuals build cross-domain competencies. This concept is mentioned throughout our site, materials, and publications, and it is clear that we place great value and importance on cross-domain competencies, which can be a powerful force that drives one's advancement and achievement in the modern, knowledge-driven economy. Here, we will take a brief look at cross-domain competencies, what they are, how they are developed, and how they can provide substantial benefits.
A Brief Introduction and Important Background Information
Cross-domain competencies are the product of cross-domain, or cross-disciplinary, learning that involves collaborating with other disciplines when building knowledge and skills in a specific discipline. For example, if one is studying literature, other disciplines can inform the study of the literature. In addition, making associations with literature also enhances the study of the other disciplines. When you make connections between one discipline, such as literature (or more specific areas of knowledge within that discipline) and other disciplines, you will find that the connections made between them serve to infuse the understanding and creation of literature with meaningful associations to the other disciplines, such as history, linguistics, philosophy, and other complementary disciplines.
The cross-domain (aka cross-disciplinary) approach is used to increase one's understanding and proficiency in a given discipline by drawing from other disciplines and focusing on the concepts, etc., they share. This acts as a bridge between the discipline one is focusing on, such as literature, other disciplines, and the social and real world context in which they are applied.
To put it briefly: By connecting a topic area (or the overall discipline it falls into) to other complementary disciplines and making connections between them, you are able to expand and enhance the knowledge and skills you are building.
Notes:
*Cross-Domain Competencies, in our use of the term, is equivalent to Cross-Disciplinary Knowledge and Skills. (Cross-Domain Competencies = Cross-Disciplinary Knowledge and Skills)
*Domains, in our use of the term, is equivalent to Disciplines (Domains = Disciplines)
Why are Cross-Domain Competencies Important?
Real World Problems are Complex and Require Cross-Domain Competence
Numerous studies have suggested that traditional learning typically focuses on one single subject at a time. However, the complex issues that people face in the real-world, both at personal and professional levels, are not isolated to a single discipline and generally involve the intersection of knowledge and skills from across a number of different disciplines (Henderson et al., 2017). As a result, capable individuals are expected to be able to associate theories and applications, and are able to apply knowledge and skills from a variety of subjects, or disciplines, to solve complex problems (Teasdale et al., 2020). Individuals who lack experience in performing cross-domain tasks are more likely to experience difficulties in the workplace and in everyday life.
Collaboration, Effectiveness, and Modern Work
In a knowledge driven world, we will need to work effectively with people across professional backgrounds, areas of expertise, etc. This includes the ability to effectively engage in cross-disciplinary (or cross-domain) collaborative work (Priaulx & Weinel, 2018). This collaboration itself provides an excellent venue for cross-disciplinary learning. It is important for us all to continually enhance our working knowledge of other fields so that we can connect with others and become capable of being effective in collaborative projects.
We can each be considered an expert in our field, or professional role we are immersed in. This makes us the proverbial outsider to those who are experts in other fields. This outsider status can be experienced geographically, socially, and even culturally, and simply means that other expert domains seem foreign to us. These experts quite literally speak other languages, with differences in terminology and understanding of concepts, and entirely different ontological and epistemological perspectives, meaning that our philosophical views of what is true and how we find the truth are fundamentally different (Priaulx & Weinel, 2018).
You experience and collaborate with those of other expert domains in a social context, and through this process of socialization you gain insight into and greater familiarity with those fields, and are able to better bridge gaps to cross-domain collaboration. Bridging those gaps is a powerful ability in the modern world, that few possess.
Applying Learning Theory
When an individual builds cross-domain competencies, they are able to leverage knowledge and skills from multiple disciplines and contexts to make decisions, solve complex problems, collaborate with others, and so forth. This gives those who have developed knowledge and skills across disciplines, and made meaningful connections between them in real-world practice, a major advantage over others both at personal and professional levels. Building cross-domain competencies involves processes outlined in theories on learning, including the two we will discuss below.
The first is integration, where pieces of knowledge are connected to one another and 'integrated' into a coherent knowledge structure. Competence consists of ones integrated pieces of knowledge and skills that can be used to perform a complex task successfully. Integration processes result in new levels of knowledge and skill through the connections made between previously isolated bits of knowledge (Baartman et al., 2011).
The second is transfer, where an individual has mastered knowledge and skills in one domain or context and they are then able to apply that knowledge and skill in different domains or contexts. The ability to transfer knowledge and skills, where they are applied across different domains and contexts outside of the boundaries in which they were originally learned/developed, signifies that they have a mastery of those skills and knowledge. In addition, it enables the individual to better navigate complexity and unfamiliar contexts and achieve better outcomes.
Conclusion
We integrate the building of cross-domain competencies into our tools, resources, and programs because it
(1) Facilitates an individual's mastery of one domain (or more specific area) of knowledge and skill
(2) Encourages an individual to leverage those knowledge and skills by applying them other situations, problems, and contexts in the real world (outside of the original boundaries in which those knowledge and skills were developed)
By developing cross-domain competencies, an individual gains a greater mastery of the original domain in which the knowledge and skill are developed, while also building their capabilities across other domains. They become better at applying and leveraging their knowledge and skill set to navigate complex problems and perform in new and different contexts (or situations), and achieve better outcomes while doing so. For these reasons, along with many others that we did not mention here in this short overview, we design our resources to include some level of cross-domain competency development.
Expand your capabilities, increase your impact, and improve your outcomes in the modern world of increasing complexity, rapid change, and fierce competition.
All the best,
The LISBI
References
Baartman, L. K. J., & de Bruijn, E. (2011). Integrating knowledge, skills and attitudes: Conceptualising learning processes towards vocational competence. Educational Research Review, 6(2), 125–134.
Henderson, C., Connolly, M., Dolan, E. L., Finkelstein, N., Franklin, S., Malcom, S., Rasmussen, C., Redd, K., & John, K. S. (2017). Towards the STEM DBER alliance: Why we need a disciplinebased STEM education research community. International Journal of Research in Undergraduate Mathematics Education, 3(2), 247–254.
Priaulx, N., & Weinel, M. (2018). Connective knowledge: what we need to know about other fields to ‘envision’ cross-disciplinary collaboration. European Journal of Futures Research, 6(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40309-018-0150-z
Teasdale, R., Ryker, K., Viskupic, K., Czajka, C. D., & Manduca, C. (2020). Transforming education with community-developed teaching materials: Evidence from direct observations of STEM college classrooms. International Journal of STEM Education, 7(1), 1–22.