a place for the best of our students’ non-disposable assignments to be preserved for the next cohort of learners
I can not stress this enough, how many times have you spent hundreds on textbooks that you only use for one class. It's absurd, it's ridiculously expensive for a college student. It's useful to have a textbook that students collaborate on and contribute information. This results in continuously learning new information and perspectives.
Customized majors: when students conceive of, design, and build their own majors, they ask critical questions about education that we often don’t invite them to ask in the course of traditional college. Why is this a field? Where is this field going? How do each of these courses contribute to the overall integrity of the major? Why is this worth studying? Why does this matter, to the student and to the world? When students write their program statements to get their majors approved, they ask fundamental questions that help them see the relevance of even the least appealing (to them) courses in their programs, and gives them a sense of ownership over the journey. This connects to #3 above, and moves students into the driver’s seat right from the start.
This is a very graduate school level of thinking. For me , sport psychology is not offered as an undergraduate course anywhere in the US, but through a customized major like this, it forces us to relate our classes directly to our majors. No other student is forced to do that. A psychology major may know what they want to with a psychology degree, but ultimately they need to go to graduate school and focus in on one specific aspect of psychology. I have been relating every one of my psychology classes towards sport for the last two years, and in my opinion I am very far ahead of the game for when I apply to graduate school.
We also have a commitment to replying to student emails within 24 hours (generally within 30 minutes
This is very important and beneficial, it's not often that I will email a professor and get an email back within the hour.
Third, we serve students at high risk of dropping out of college altogether, who find themselves as juniors or even seniors failing out of or disconnected from their current major.
This is very true but don't forget to mention the upperclass transfer students who transferred to Plymouth State with a large amount of credits and couldn't fulfill the amount of credits for another major, without having to complete a couple extra years of college. We're not made of money.
In fact, sharing is the sole means by which education is effected. If an instructor is not sharing what he or she knows with students, there is no education happening.
Everyone had the right idea about this quote. Nice thinking. As an aspiring Psychologist of Athletes, It is important to have a creative mind set as so everybody has a different psyche. More related to the quote- Sometimes the student needs to share information back to the teacher in order to sympose new knowledge (mainly showing that this isn't one sided). I wish that more people would see the importance of sharing information. Open Education Resources are a great way to get different inputs, but the only way to form a new way of thinking is by collaborating in real time. I noticed Twitter is an amazing resource in this day and age to communicate with people who share the same passions and interests of bettering their professions.
posting syllabi in publicly viewable blogs or wikis
I feel like the only problem with this, is that people may not have done their research thoroughly and some information may not be correct. So I feel like it's important for us readers to distinguish this information.
“Open access” refers to research articles that are freely and openly available to the public for reading, reviewing, and building upon
I like that Plymouth State actually has a decent collection/access to many databases. I've never had a problem not being able to find enough information for research papers.
When we can’t find a single textbook that meets our needs, it is not uncommon for us to assign two or more textbooks, intending only to use parts of each.
Exactly why I never purchase textbooks until I am 100% sure that they're worth my money and that were actually reading a good chunk of the book.
College students spend an average of $900 per year on textbooks—26 percent of the cost of tuition at a public, four-year university.
Wow I had no idea that textbooks were actually this expensive! This is outrageous!
open educational resources, open access, and open teaching.
This open education concept is very important to me because I feel like with tuition costs, student loans and other expenses that college students have, textbooks should be either included or free online.
Or will openness go down in the history books as just another fad that couldn’t live up to its press?
If universities are starting to take slow steps towards interdisciplinarity- totally or partially- I would assume that in some way OER would have to be a part of that conversation.
However, it is almost always the case that these products are commercialized in such a way that access is restricted to those who are willing to pay for them a second time. Why should we be required to pay a second time for the thing we’ve already paid for?
This resonates with Robins comments about the library resources we pay half a mil to use each year. We already pay for the research through taxes... now we have to pay for it again?
Today, the cost of having a 250-page book transcribed by hand is about $250. The cost of printing that same book with a print-on-demand service is about $5. The cost of copying an online version of that same book (e.g., an ePub file) is about $0.0008. The cost of shipping either the handwritten or printed book is about $5. The cost of distributing an electronic copy of the book over the Internet is approximately $0.0007.
How can we possibly call this learning when these are the additional expenses? I cannot afford to buy textbooks. I especially dislike when the only required text in the course is written by the teacher, and it's a requirement that you buy it. As if I wasn't already being robbed by the Uni, now my professors feel that they can reach into my pockets too. Learning from one book, written by one person is not comprehensive learning!
those educators who share the most thoroughly of themselves with the greatest proportion of their students” are seen as successful
I definitely agree with this statement. I feel like I am more intrigued in class when a professor is giving an example of what we're learning through a personal story. It makes the content of the class more interesting.
Connected learning is socially embedded, interest-driven, and oriented toward expanding educational, economic or political opportunity
Also collaborating with others may give you more career opportunities and resources.
lower barriers to access for knowledge and information
This is very important, I really like how our IDS textbook is free to the public. Knowledge should be affordable.
Make the major minor.
This idea would allow students to learn how to "think" before putting into practice what they're learning.
Virtually every study of workplace advancement, such as the annual surveys conducted by the National Association of Colleges and Employers, underscores the importance of general skills in communication, collaboration and basic cultural knowledge. CEOs like to complain that the best undergrads come with specialized skills but lack these basics.
That's because many students are trained in only ONE specific field and when they look for jobs the companies are looking for ONE person to be trained in MANY fields...
How do you train a professional-managerial class at a time of accelerating automation when seemingly any profession could be “Uberized” tomorrow?
I ask myself this question a lot in business. We call this idea "disruptions". These are trends or new methods that would outsource old ways of doing things and making them obsolete.
The disciplines, where we find a wealth of specific knowledge, are the building blocks of Interdisciplinary Studies.
It's important to remember that disciplines are not our enemies in IDS but instead our building blocks!
Charles Eliot (21st president of Harvard) gave a speech stating that there is no best method or focus for learning, therefore Harvard will have them all.
This is an important mindset for an interdisciplinary institution.
education was strictly for the upper class. Also during this time, education was religion- and military-centered versus the disciplinary-focused curriculum we know today.
I wonder why education was so religious based back in the day? What about the upper class people who didn't follow any religious practices, where did they go to school?
Coastline Community College created the first college without an actual campus in 1970
Wow I didn't know that the first college was created so recently!
The “digital facelift” helped higher education deny both the needs and the opportunities emerging with this new medium.
I think more educators need to understand that with a digital facelift come these emerging opportunities to help their students!
The medium is the message.
In my communications class, we learned that McLuhan also said, "the medium is that massage" as in it gives us a comforting and relaxing feeling. An "ahhhh" moment.
And then – contrary to what happens at most schools, where a student’s work exists only inside a learning management system and cannot be accessed once the semester is over – the domain and all its content are the student’s to take with them. It is, after all, their education, their intellectual development, their work.
This is truly one of my favorite parts of learning through IDS. I've tried harder on my blog posts because I know they have the potential to reach others in my field. It makes more sense for my education to put my work out there than to submit it on moodle. Another great part is that I can read my peers work and see all the cool things they're working on in their own field. #PlymouthIDS #IDSSem
“multidisciplinarity” is like a fruit bowl, where different disciplines are represented by the different fruits that are placed together in a bowl but which do not mix much or change shape themselves. Interdisciplinarity (Photo CCBYNCND Anna Wyrwol) “Interdisciplinarity” is more like a fruit smoothie, where the disciplines are blended together–integrated– to create something new.
I really like this analogy, it helped me better understand the definitions!
that hell is a place where nothing connects with nothing.
Wow, I love this quote! I never thought of "hell" as this concept but it makes sense. What is more frustrating than not understanding how one thing relates to another? I can't think of anything.
Understanding the nature of knowledge, its unity, its varieties, its limitations, and its uses and abuses is necessary for the success of our democracy.
This is definitely relevant because in order to understand one concept fully we have to understand the sub components that make up the concept.
college has become a chaotic maze where students try to pick up something useful as they search for the exit
I feel like sadly this is relatable, especially as an upper class transfer student. I found it very hard to pursue my preferred major, while also attempting to graduate on time. In that sense college felt very chaotic and stressful.
Technological innovations present opportunities for advancing how education and knowledge are negotiated and enacted, but we must recognize that technology, and social media in particular, are not neutral.
Technology has really improved the way people are being educated. It helps us keep up to date with what is going on in our world within all the different types of fields of study. It does give us the opportunity to advance our education and knowledge and teach others on new skills and developments.
Education is, first and foremost, an enterprise of sharing. In fact, sharing is the sole means by which education is effected.
Almost everyday, a person will learning something new. I agree completely with this statement! It is important for people to read up on articles and materials because they can learn something outside their field and share with their peers.
Connected learning is socially embedded, interest-driven, and oriented toward expanding educational, economic or political opportunity
I learn the best when I am really interested in the field or topic being taught. I am more motivated in a course to do well when the content is interesting and fun!
Second, there are the methods of the discipline. Methods are the way that we study the content of a discipline. It is the how of a discipline.
It is amazing to think how disciplines can differentiate from one another. It is important to be educated on the different kinds of fields and how they work.
Both are very useful for interdisciplinarians, since breaking a problem or concept down may help us see the different disciplines that are involved, which will then allow us to organize our research approach.
I believe it is important to be aware of different disciplines and how they work. This concept can be key when trying to solve problem solve in the real professional world.
Outsider’s Perspective: a situation viewed by a diverse group of people to make the outcome as creative and diverse as possible.
It is so important for interdisciplinary students to understand and be educated on how different types of fields work. Keeping an open mind and learning different perspectives can help anyone in the professional world.
Interdisciplinarity is like mixing paint. You can lay colors side-by-side to create beautiful paintings (multidisciplinarity), or you can mix them together to get totally new colors (interdisciplinarity).
I love this statement about multidisciplinarity and interdisciplinarity. It describes how both disciplines work in such a unique way!