InnovEd4TS Field mission #5 - Corps et Esprit, Esprit de Corps: interdisciplinary approach at its best

Invited experts from three Circle U. universities and the University of Lisbon had the opportunity to learn more about the course "Corps et Esprit, Esprit de Corps" (Body & Mind, Esprit de Corps). This course offers undergraduate students the opportunity to develop their transferable skills while learning from several professors coming from various academic fields. The students themselves come from diverse disciplines.

The class "Corps et Esprit, Esprit de Corps" is an annual course designed by Anne Vanet, Vice-President at Université de Paris, in charge of digital transformation, and a biology professor. The course focuses on one specific theme, different each year. This interdisciplinary course is intended for undergraduate students coming from all disciplines of the university. It aims to make students aware of a multidisciplinary approach on several levels by: 

• combining courses in Science, Health and Social Sciences around a central theme 
• mixing audiences from these three major sectors of the university
• articulating academic courses, bodywork, and theatre courses

In addition, the course allows students to build a network: the focus on body language, street theatre, and martial arts helps facilitate the exchanges among students. The final goal for the students is to present on campus a theatre play inspired by the theme of the course. The course also intends to improve the student-teacher relationship by outlining how teaching and learning can improve one's personal and professional life. 

This year, the theme selected was COVID-19. Experts from Louvain, Lisbon, Aarhus and Humboldt had the opportunity to meet with the designer and the person responsible for the course, professors and students during the "Field mission". Two days of online sessions helped the experts get insights on the pedagogical approach of this course, focus on key transferable skills developed and exchange with the stakeholders on their perspective on this unique way of teaching and learning. The health crisis became a natural choice to integrate into the course. The uniqueness of the way the course is set up enables students who were not intended to meet to actually meet, debate and open up to new perspectives.

Transferable Skills developed in the Course "Corps et Esprit, Esprit de Corps"

This initiative focuses on three transferable skills.

	Each year, around 10 professors from different disciplines give courses on the chosen theme, each bringing their own discipline and area of expertise. Students from diverse academic departments, social sciences, medicine, biology, etc., are therefore in contact with various fields of study and research, and they explore the theme through an interdisciplinary approach.
	Experts found that the students had the opportunity to develop their creativity, which was the focal point of the course, through the involvement of all students in a street theatre performance and cinema classes.
	Through teamwork, students develop self-confidence, strengthen connections with their peers and improve relationships with their teachers. The theatre lesson further enables the students to work on a joint event, demonstrating that the strength is in the group, even for the most introverted students.

Fostering interdisciplinarity

When Anne Vanet developed the course, she had four major issues in mind that she wanted to tackle: multidisciplinary approaches, making a network for teamwork, professionalising teaching and re-inventing the student-teacher relationship. The challenge was how to address these concerns. It became apparent that interdisciplinarity was crucial to do so. It has become a central element of this "utopia that has taken shape around interdisciplinarity managed by a non-virtualised social network of humans mixing teachers and students", according to the words of Anne Vanet

Reinventing the teacher-student relationship, one of the key objectives, is built around the Chinese and Greek philosophers Confucius and Socrates as role models. The first lesson starts out with the study of "The Great Learning" by Confucius. In the following lessons, the students are introduced to street theatre, which enables them to connect with each other. Students develop self-awareness of others and test their own limits. Martial arts are not taught as a sport, but rather as a way to work on oneself and others in the group.

Each year, according to the selected theme, professors from various disciplines and experts from outside academia give classes to an interdisciplinary audience. This is a unique opportunity for students to gain knowledge outside their field, ask questions and hopefully develop an interest in other topics.  

Creativity as an end and a means

The experts exchanged with Corinne Mighirditchian, a street theatre professor who has been involved with the course for several years. Corinne teaches the basics of theatre and creates a performance along with students. The main theme and the courses given by the professors throughout the semester are a source of inspiration for the performance. The focus on street theatre gives more freedom to the students. The performance can take place everywhere on campus, in the garden and sometimes inside the university. Corinne uses the term "performance" and not "show," because it is based on improvisation. Within the course, the creativity process relies on games, as theatre work must be very ludic and promote a cheerful atmosphere. The work with the body could seem odd to students at first, but as they go along, they see the link with the theatrical work.

Students' Perspective: A unique opportunity in the classic curriculum

A session of the visit allowed the experts to exchange with students. It appeared that the students extremely enjoyed this course as it gave them a break in their "intense" schedules. They all highlighted the fact that the teaching methods, notably the use of theatre and breathing exercises, gave them the opportunity to develop a unique relationship with their professor. It allowed them to acquire new skills such as oral communication, self-confidence and teamwork that they can integrate into other courses. 

Developing beyond three skills 

Experts were able to learn more about the other skills that students developed throughout the course. Most of them revealed that in their view, the main skill developed is critical thinking. In fact, students interact during the course and reflect upon both the content of what they are taught and what their peers think. Anne Vanet added that deepening the self-confidence of the students also plays a central role, which the students also confirmed.  

Expanding internationally 

Given the very positive feedback from both teachers and students, experts said that the course has the potential to spread to partner institutions in different ways, either by duplicating it in other languages or by making some sessions available online. Christine Rampon recalls "the experts have suggested ways to improve and plan to expand this initiative in their universities. This visit is therefore a success for our university but also for the partner universities of the InnovEd4TS project."

Other participants from Université de Paris

• Christine Rampon is an assistant professor of biology at Université de Paris and a member of the advisory board of InnovED4TS for Paris. She is very much interested in the process of learning transferable skills.
• Corinne Mighirditchian is a street theatre professor. She has been taking part in the course for several years now. 
• Isabelle Blanc is a movie director and photographer. 
• Guillaume Le Blanc is a professor of philosophy at Université de Paris. He is also at the head of the laboratory for social and political change. 
• Giuseppe Baldacci is a human and multifactorial pathology professor emeritus at Université de Paris. He is also a molecular biology professor. 
• Valentin Ozeel is a PhD student in his second year. His field of specialisation is virology, and he currently works on how to prevent viral escape.
• Nawal Safey is the manager of the Pôle Ouvert d'Enseignement à Tous (Open University Department) at Université de Paris, promoting the engagement of the university with a large public.

Students who participated in the field mission: 

• Jad Saad, Computer Science Student
• Frédérique Tchakote, Chemistry Student
• Zeineb Karmous, Mathematics Student
• Uma Fillon, Biology Student 
• Iseult Le Bars, Medicine Student

Fact Box and Definitions

The InnovEd4TS Project (Innovative Education for Transferable Skills) focuses on the analysis and development of initiatives that promote the acquisition of transferable skills among students.

The Booklet

The booklet is a tool which serves as the basis for group discussion on the transferable skills developed by flagship initiatives.

Booklet (pdf)