Erin McCoy - USC Beaufort
Libby Ricardo - University of South Carolina Beaufort


Our proposal, “Pedagogy a Deux,” explores the benefits of our recent and current cross-discipline collaborative teaching efforts, as well as how we maneuvered institutional roadblocks. Each presenter will discuss the pedagogical approaches we used in tandem with colleagues outside our Department to create interdisciplinary courses and academic programs. The Medical and Digital Humanities courses we taught/are teaching require generosity for both instructors, in regard to sharing and connecting spaces of inquiry, but we also had to hold ourselves accountable for our respective disciplines’ rigors. Our shared experiences will prompt others to discuss the trials and tribulations of team teaching in higher education; for example, design of the “Introduction to the Digital Humanities” course encompasses “breadth vs. depth” and a goal of inquiry-driven content. “The Performance of Caring,” a course dedicated to training Simulated Patients for pedagogical use in the nursing program, was born from financial constraints as well as a need for empathy training for healthcare providers. “Mindfulness for Self and Community” was designed for students to recognize personal, community, and discipline/career specific applications of mindfulness. We will use interactive presentation elements to collaborate with the attendees and encourage specific action items and takeaways for audience members.