Impact of learning transformation on performance in a cross-disciplinary project-based course

FINE392: Technology Art Studio is an innovative course developed in collaboration with Engineering and Fine Arts at the University of Waterloo, which crosses disciplinary boundaries and provides a unique multi-disciplinary experience for senior engineering students. In the course, students form interdisciplinary pairs and collaborate on technology-mediated sculptural works. Our previous work has shown that the interdisciplinary collaboration can act as a catalyst for transformative learning, and that the emergence of learning transformations is dependent on the success of the collaboration. In this paper we investigate the relationship between learning transformation, collaboration, and student project grades. We note that the success of the collaboration seems only loosely connected to project quality and grade level. We include a discussion of factors we believe contribute to this somewhat non-intuitive result. We further discuss how these factors may be mitigated through course design to better allow successful groups to achieve the full potential of their collaboration.