Degrees of Interdisciplinarity

Multi-disciplinary:
Tag Teaching
•    Disciplines and presenters remain separate
•    Data is shared, but viewed only in terms of the difference between the 2 disciplines
•    Students are expected to manage integration
•    Disciplinary methods and epistemologies are not critically examined

Pluridisciplinary:
Conscious Tolerance
•    Faculty have private talks about integration of material
•    Faculty gain insight into the other discipline, but maintain their disciplinary filters
•    Similarities/differences in interpretation, methods, and assumptions are explored
•    Course discussions of methods and epistemology are implicit by end of course

 

Cross-Disciplinary
Filtered Access
•    Dominant and subordinate roles of disciplines; not a partnership
•    Practice in one discipline is examined through the filter of the other discipline
•    Insights are gained, but the perspective of one viewpoint is emphasized

 

Interdisciplinary
Fully Integrated Experience
•    Faculty have regular interaction inside/outside of course
•    Students and faculty collaborate in synthesis/integration; direction of course shifts as course evolves
•    Disciplinary perspectives are acknowledged and made explicit; points of synthesis are developed and areas of conflict are explored.

 

Klein – Bibliography

•    Thompson Klein, J. “Finding Interdisciplinary Knowledge and Information” in Klein J.T. and W.G. Doty (eds.) Interdisciplinary Studies Today, New Direction for Teaching and Learning, No. 58. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1994.

Newell – “Designing Interdisciplinary Courses”
•    Learning Outcomes:
* Clarity in reading, writing, speaking and thinking
* Ability to confront assumptions-their’s and other’s
* Practice the habit of asking why instead of memorizing facts

Newell – Faculty Teams Uses
•    Course development – collaborate on a course that will be individually taught in separate sections
•    Team teaching

Newell – Faculty Traits
•    Open to diverse ways of thinking
•    Able to admit they do not know
•    Models listening and self-reflection
•    Flexible, comfortable with ambiguity
•    Respect for other disciplines

AC Interdisciplinary
Faculty Survey
Planning
•    Picking partners – it’s not a marriage, but it involves lots of sharing and compromising
•    Selecting a topic – theme, region, problem, institution, idea, time period
•    Sharing responsibilities for development and assessment
•    Active assignments

Communication
•    Regular on-going communication before and during course; critical to success
•    Careful syllabus preparation to make the connections explicit
•    Specify philosophy, goals and objectives
•    Clarify desired student behaviors

Flexibility
•    Emphasis on discovery
•    Empowering students to find, explore, and clarify new questions or associations
•    Faculty role shifts from expert to facilitator
•    Focus shifts from discipline to student learning; metacognition

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