Imagine the younger generation studying great books andlearning the liberal arts. Imagine an adult population con-tinuing to turn to the same sources of strength, inspiration,and communication. We could talk to one another then. Weshould be even better specialists than we are today because wecould understand the history of our specialty and its relationto all the others. We would be better citizens and better men.We might turn out to be the nucleus of the world community.

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law is presented as capable of reproducing itself in the style of an hermaphrodite.

A recent book that advocates for this idea is Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized world by David Epstein. Consider reading Cal Newport’s So Good They Can’t Ignore You along side it: So Good They Can’t Ignore You focuses on building up “career capital,” which is important for everyone but especially people with a lot of different interests.1 People interested in interdisciplinary work (including students graduating from liberal arts or other general programs) might seem “behind” at first, but with time to develop career capital these graduates can outpace their more specialist peers.

Our first scenario envisions a future where students can build their own learning modules and degree programs based on their individual tastes by freely piecing together what classes they wish to take. Depending on the characteristics of the selected modules, a degree with a certain focus is awarded.

A first step in establishing a shared interdisciplinary language is to understand how different disciplines develop their own dialects

Quinney et al. (2008 Quinney, A., Hutchings, M. and Scammell, J. 2008. Student and staff experiences of using a virtual community, Wessex Bay, to support interprofessional learning: messages for collaborative practice. Social Work Education, 27(6): 658–664. [Taylor & Francis Online], , [Google Scholar]), writing about the development of a virtual town called Wessex Bay, describe how a blended learning approach allowed collaboration to take place between dispersed communities of practitioners, cross-disciplinary student groups, and tutors using bulletin boards, discussion forums and face-to-face interactions. Using evolving case studies they were able to collaboratively develop the skills of problem-solving and case analysis within an authentic community of practice. West (2008 West, J. 2008. Authentic voices: utilising audio and video within an online virtual community. Social Work Education: The International Journal, 27(6): 665–670. [Taylor & Francis Online], , [Google Scholar])

A course design that optimises student engagement and moves away from a purely didactic approach should also encourage learning that has enquiry at its heart. Examples include encouraging interdisciplinary student groups to seek solutions to problem-based case studies. Savin-Baden (2000 Savin-Baden, M. 2000. Problem-based Learning in Higher Education: Untold Stories, Buckingham: SRHE and Open University Press.  [Google Scholar]) argues the processes of ‘learning by doing’ in these situations can provide learners with opportunities to gain experiences of collaborative working.

Garrison and Vaughan (2008 Garrison, D. R. and Vaughan, N. D. 2008. Blended Learning in Higher Education: Framework, Principles, and Guidelines, 1st edn, San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.  [Google Scholar]) state that effective blended learning requires educators to incorporate the following three key elements into the learning design process:•thoughtfully integrating face-to-face and online learning;•fundamentally rethinking the course design to optimise student engagement;•restructuring and replacing traditional class contact hours. (Garrison and Vaughan, 2008 Garrison, D. R. and Vaughan, N. D. 2008. Blended Learning in Higher Education: Framework, Principles, and Guidelines, 1st edn, San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.  [Google Scholar], p. 5)

Work at CEIMH suggests that web-based technologies can help to overcome some of these practical difficulties and bring learners from different disciplines together (Skorga, 2002 Skorga, P. 2002. Interdisciplinary and distance education in the Delta: the Delta Health Education Partnership. Journal of Interprofessional Care, 16(2): 149–157. [Taylor & Francis Online], , [Google Scholar]; Juntunen and Heikkinen, 2004 Juntunen, A. and Heikkinen, E. 2004. Lessons from interprofessional e-learning: piloting a care of the elderly module. Journal of Interprofessional Care, 18(3): 269–278. [Taylor & Francis Online], , [Google Scholar]). Using the asynchronous collaborative properties these technologies present within a blended learning design has enabled us to help educators create new virtual spaces for meaningful interdisciplinary learning to take place (Miers et al., 2007 Miers, M., Clarke, B., Pollard, C., Rickaby, C., Thomas, J. and Turtle, A. 2007. Online interprofessional learning: the student experience. Journal of Interprofessional Care, 21(5): 529–542. [Crossref], [PubMed], , [Google Scholar]; Reynolds, 2007 Reynolds, J. 2007. Discourses of inter-professionalism. British Journal of Social Work, 37(3): 441–457.  [Google Scholar]; Quinney et al., 2008 Quinney, A., Hutchings, M. and Scammell, J. 2008. Student and staff experiences of using a virtual community, Wessex Bay, to support interprofessional learning: messages for collaborative practice. Social Work Education, 27(6): 658–664. [Taylor & Francis Online], , [Google Scholar]).

This paper seeks to address this dearth in the literature by outlining how the Centre of Excellence in Interdisciplinary Mental Health (CEIMH) created a set of resources to guide educators through the processes of creating interdisciplinary enquiry-based blended learning designs (EBBL). The context and rationale for the development of a Blended Learning Design Planner and associated Resource Pack, and Design Icons are outlined.

In social work education, blended learning, a mixture of face-to-face and online interactions enabling collaborative and interactive learning, has been increasingly used as a curriculum strategy and provides the basic ingredients required to facilitate interdisciplinary teaching and learning opportunities (Cooner and Hickman, 2008 Cooner, T. S. and Hickman, G. 2008. Child protection teaching: students' experiences of a blended learning design. Social Work Education, 27(6): 647–657. [Taylor & Francis Online], , [Google Scholar]; Quinney et al., 2008 Quinney, A., Hutchings, M. and Scammell, J. 2008. Student and staff experiences of using a virtual community, Wessex Bay, to support interprofessional learning: messages for collaborative practice. Social Work Education, 27(6): 658–664. [Taylor & Francis Online], , [Google Scholar]; West, 2008 West, J. 2008. Authentic voices: utilising audio and video within an online virtual community. Social Work Education: The International Journal, 27(6): 665–670. [Taylor & Francis Online], , [Google Scholar]; Pack, 2010 Pack, M. 2010. Allies in learning: critical-reflective practice on-line with allied mental health practitioners. Social Work Education, 29(1): 67–79. [Taylor & Francis Online], , [Google Scholar]; Cooner, 2010 Cooner, T. S. (2010) ‘Creating opportunities for students in large cohorts to reflect in and on practice: lessons learnt from a formative evaluation of students’ experiences of a technology-enhanced blended learning design’, British Journal of Educational Technology, vol. 41, no. 2, pp. 271–286 [Google Scholar]).

king. It can be hypothesized, for instance, that the student condition curiosity and the learning environment condition team teaching have a positive relationship with the development of interdisciplinary thinking. In addition, phased with gradual advancement appears to be a desirable condition of the learning process that is positively related with the learning outcome interdisciplinary thinking and so on. Importantly, a proper balance between knowledge and skills development, repeated exposure, and scaffolding appears to be required to enable interdisciplinary thinking (Ivanitskaya et al. 2002; Manathunga et al. 2006; Woods

Graybill et al. 2006; Newell 1992). The third category, pedagogy, includes three conditions: pedagogy aimed at achieving interdisciplinarity, pedagogy aimed at achieving active learning, and pedagogy aimed at achieving collaboration. These conditions seem to point to the necessity of learning tasks that actively engage students in applying knowledge rather than memorizing facts, in collaboration with peers in other disciplines to encourage an appreciation of ambiguity (Manathunga et al. 2006). In addition, such learning tasks need to provide students with the opportunity to gain experience of inquiry activities typical of interdisciplinarity, for instance, the negotiation of common gro

e inside or outside courses on interdisciplinary. In particular, an overarching framework that links and sequences curricular content seems to be essential to provide both context and a roadmap for learning (Newell 1992). The second category, teacher, contains five conditions: intellectual community focused on interdiscipli nary, expertise of teachers on interdisciplinarity, consensus on interdisciplinarity, team development, and team teaching. These conditions refer to the importance of teacher teams and their professional development in interdisciplinarity as a means of facilitating the necessary understanding and integration of each others' disciplines and of realizing a safe environment in which to mentor students on their journey towards interdisciplinarity (Gilkey and Earp 2006;

y, and interdisciplinarity. Acquisition of these types of knowledge appears to be required for enabling students to step beyond the disciplinary theories and methods in order to make connections between disciplines, to identify disciplinary contradictions, and to consider opportunities for integration at a meta-level (Boix Mansilla and Duraising 2007). In particular, explicit attention to the students' exposure to disciplines and meta coordination seems to be important to avoid their feeling overwhelmed and losing the curricular thread (Eisen e

The evaluation based on the principles of Biggs' theory (2003) showed that all publications reviewed were explorative. The research field is still in the phase of attempting to deepen the understanding of the nature of interdisciplinary higher education. This formative stage of development can be attributed to the perceived lack of specific educational models and empirical research in this field (e.g., Woods 2007). Accordingly, strong empirical studies addressing the research questions of this review study were lacki

inking among its students. Realizing desired learning outcomes demands consistent and well-designed learning environments within a coherent and learner-centered curriculum (Ten Dam et al. 2004). For this reason, curriculum and course developers need a comprehensive understanding of the typical conditions that underpin the development of interdisciplinary thinking (Stefani 2009). This necessitates, for example, gaining insight into the extent to which students need to be equipped with knowledge of different disciplines as well as didactic

Students have problems of working across disciplines, working in different disciplines, and synthesizing different disciplines. This poses difficulties for the development of interdisciplinary thinking in interdisciplinary higher education. These student problems may be caused by disciplinary differences in epistemologies, discourses, and ways of teaching (Bradbeer 1999). In addition, curricula that aim to develop interdisciplinary thinking on a broad scale are likely to experience more difficulties than curricula that aim to develop interdisciplinary thinking on a narrow scale. This is by virtue of the fact that, in contrast to narrow interdisciplinary thinking, broad interdisciplinary thinking requires the integration of disciplines acro

Unlike multidisciplinarity, which is additive, interdisciplinarity is integrative: Knowledge of different disciplines is contrasted and changed by integration (Klein 1990). This integration or synthesis of knowledge is seen as the defining characteristic of interdisciplinarity. As a consequence, the ability to synthesize or integrate is considered as a beneficial learning outcome of interdisciplinary higher education. In that case, the learning outcome is called interdisciplinary understanding or interdisciplinary thinking. Boix Mansilla et al. (2000, p. 219) proposed the following definition of interdisciplinary understanding, "The capacity to integrate knowledge and modes of thinking in two or more disciplines or established areas of expertise to produce a cognitive advancement—such as explaining a phenomenon, solving a problem, or creating a product—in ways that would have been impossible or unlikely through single disciplinary means." This definition builds on a performance view of understanding, meaning that individuals understand a concept when they are able to apply it—or think with it—accurately and flexibly in

Interdisciplinary can help to address today's complex issues since it is believed that a cross disciplinaiy approach facilitates a comprehensive understanding (Newell 2007). This belief has led to an increased interest in interdisciplinary higher education over the years (Newell 2009). In comparison with traditional higher education, which focuses on domain-specific knowledge and general skills development, this kind of higher education also aims to develop boundary crossing skills. Boundary-crossing skills are, for instance, the ability to change perspectives, to synthesize knowledge of diffe

Importantly, a proper balance between knowledge and skills development, repeated exposure, and scaffolding appears to be required to enable interdisciplinary thinking (Ivanitskaya et al. 2002; Manathunga et al. 2006; Woods

Team Teaching an Interdisciplinary First-Year Seminar on Magic, Religion, and the Origins of Science: A ‘Pieces-to-Picture’ Approach

Achieving the intellectual integration and coherence that interdisciplinarity demands is difficult, as a balance on the scale of interdependence between the instructorsand their fields must be attained(Shapiro &Dempsey,2008)

here are major limitations to interdisciplinary approaches. One is thatinterdisciplinary work, by its very definition, touches only the surface of any given discipline. Previous scholars have also documented this consequence, emphasizing the tradeoff between breadth and depth of mastery of knowledge in interdisciplinary classes (Caviglia &Hatley,2004).

Thirdly, interdisciplinary work must yield more knowledge than that produced by any constituent discipline. For example, the tension between economics and sociology (i.e. the tension between individual choice and social determinism) adds a richer resonance to the study of the individual within a larger social matrix

Firstly, interdisciplinary work consists of two or more distinct disciplines brought to bear upon a single subject matter. Therefore, studying magic from sociological, economic, and anthropological frameworks fits the first criterion. Secondly, interdisciplinary work encourages a synthesis of the various approaches involved; it produces a coherent, integrated body of knowledge. Even though our coursebegan as a multidisciplinary endeavor—that is, three separate disciplines remaining unintegrated—it evolved into a more coherent approach

previous authors have advocated presenting the courseas an entirely new interdisciplinary field which contains elements from each of the distinct theoretical lenses used (Krometis, Clark, Gonzalez,& Leslie, 2011)

Interdisciplinary flipped learning for engineering classrooms in higher education: Students’ motivational regulation and design achievement

Bishop and Verleger 3 suggested the following two key learning theories to design a flipped engineering classroom that supports student‐centered classroom activities: peer‐assisted collaborative learning and problem‐based learning. First, in‐class activities must be designed to support students’ engagement through a peer‐assisted learning approach. While being involved in peer‐assisted collaborative learning with matched companions, each peer takes responsibility for conveying knowledge and skills to the other peer. As Biswas et al. 4 noted, the resulting sense of responsibility motivates participating peers to consider effective strategies to communicate the given classroom activities to others, set aside time to reflect upon their own learning progress, and find alternative ways of collaborating with peers based on different learning styles and individual differences.

Previous studies showed that students participating in flipped classrooms were better prepared when working on subsequent in‐class activities 27. Studies also reported positive outcomes in students’ engagement and satisfaction 7, 25. Tune et al. 37 found that students who participated in a flipped classroom showed higher achievement than students in a traditional classroom.

Some of our researchers have applied chemistry to physics; others, mechanics to medicine.

Inevitably, what I find reaffirms aspects of writing pedagogy I’m familiar with while giving me fresh ways to express it to the new audiences with whom I’m working.

rhetoric drinks

These are students who have out-of-the-box ideas for interdisciplinary degrees that are based on their own personal passions and life goals.

Higher education has atomized knowledge by dividing it into disciplines, subdisciplines, and sub-subdisciplines — breaking it up into smaller and smaller unconnected fragments of academic specialization, even as the world looks to colleges for help in integrating and synthesizing the exponential increases in information brought about by technological advances

Becoming Interdisciplinary

IntegratIng InterdIscIplInarIty

Even insecure bureaucrats and compulsive novelists are less obsessed by inscriptions than scientists"

Colleges should teach it

My Love Letter to Interdisciplinary Studies

FIU takes an interdisciplinary approach to neuroscience research

What I suggest here is a paradigm shift, replacing focus on testing with critical thinking through interdisciplinary learning. To be a successful shift, changes in our education system should be done over time and not through sudden and drastic changes.

Six Types of Unknowns in Interdisciplinary Research

A new study builds on that notion, suggesting that one’s “transdisciplinary orientation,” a personal quality predisposing one to engage in cross-disciplinary work, can affect the quality of interdisciplinary research

A new study builds on that notion, suggesting that one’s “transdisciplinary orientation,” a personal quality predisposing one to engage in cross-disciplinary work, can affect the quality of interdisciplinary research -- good or bad.

He added that “one of the reasons” for the 2008 financial crisis was that “people lost their ethics, their judgement, and their wisdom” because they were “too disciplinary siloed”.

He said that “timeless” disciplines, such as the Classics and the humanities, often best “withstand rapid periods of change" because they give students a “skill set of enquiry based on evidence, the ability to assimilate lots of rapidly changing information in a curious way and a hunger for learning that remains for them for the rest of their life”. “If [universities] can impart those things, [they’re] in pretty good shape,” he said.

While formal education and universities put us in the brackets of specializing at a certain field for 5 or more straight years

diverse learning.

Creighton's Ed.D: A Truly Interdisciplinary Program

Generally the literatures related to transformational learning hinge on active student engagement in the learning process and on students assuming responsibility for their learning. Transformative learning, self-directed learning, experiential learning, and collaborative learning, each of which aims to enhance students’ engagement,are some of the pedagogical approaches that are widely described and evaluated in the literature. In addition to active student engagement, another key feature of transformational learning is transformational teaching. In order for students’ role to change, the role and responsibility of faculty must change as well.

Our Changing University: Interdisciplinary Students Share Ideas

Thoughts from an Interdisciplinary Starting Gate

Intra- or Interdisciplinary Research, Teaching, and Service in Kinesiology

7 steps to interdisciplinary teaching and learning

Working in a transdisciplinary mode requires deep cultural and structural changes in any organization, including a college or university. Over the past twenty years or so, postsecondary institutions have been slowly embracing a culture of engagement that supports the new kinds of relationships and collaborations that will be needed to address the “big questions” and challenges that shape our era.

Liberal arts colleges are increasingly exploring interdisciplinary connections to find a place for computer science on their campuses.

reconciling STEM and Arts: a laptop orchestra seamlessly encompasses Arts and Sciences. This allows us to utilize such an ensemble in a number of educational scenarios.

Some college presidents have pointed to interdisciplinarity to justify the elimination of separate disciplinary departments or programs. What do you make of these moves?

Creating an atlas is more encompassing than image acquisition and analysis. It requires a clear understanding of the biological questions to be addressed. Then appropriate labeling, sample preparation, imaging, image analysis, visualization, and data management methods must be selected (Figure 2). An interdisciplinary team is required that collectively possess the needed expertise. Generating useful atlases is still in its infancy. Which methods to use at each step along the pipeline will depend greatly on what analysis is required. There is currently no ‘magic toolbox’ that scientists can use to apply to their specific task. Each step has to be tailored to suit the experiment.