Think about building a bridge how many different branches of construction or even land rights and safety issues and gas and power companies would you have to consult to let alone the environmental implications of building a structure over river and surrounding land. There’s many layers of thinking and implementing to develop a plan of that proportion let alone getting the job done. It is very necessary in the world because usually behind the building of a bridge is in the hands of one single project manager who is so interdisciplinary in himself he knows how to put all the pieces of the puzzles together for all the disciplines to work it out. It’s a vital feature of our functioning world we most certainly need it to keep it running and also to keep progressing as a society.

rivate industry offers another avenue for those with interdisciplinary training. Representatives of industry indicated that they are looking for people who can work in an interdisciplinary environment (

Interdisciplinary team members sometimes have difficulty in evaluating each other's performance on a given project because the criteria that are appropriate for such an evaluation are not familiar.6

Communicating with another discipline requires time and work. An extensive effort must be made to learn the language of another field and to teach others the language of one's own. Many have recognized that this barrier must be overcome before successful collaboration can occur.8,29,40,52

We speak the language of our discipline, which raises two problems: first, we may not understand the languages of the other disciplines; second, more dangerously, we may think that we understand these, but do not, because although the same terms are used in different disciplines, they mean something very different in each.— Margaret A. Somerville55

Eventually I managed to situate myself much more in role of facilitator, and active participant. I found myself asking the other team members to step back from the conversations with the user-designers, as they were always tempted to interrupt and put their own ideas in without listening. There was a constant tension over our role –when should we be observers, and when should be take on a dual role as designers and as observers.

. Brainstorming, the use of the COCD box3 that divides a brainstorm in a divergence and convergence phase, inspiration cards... this were tools that without problems were used and were perceived as inspiring by all team members. Also when working with users these methods were successful. The problems mostly arise when (a prototype) of the novel application was set-up in a ‘real environments’ for creative purposes. The reasons for this will be multiple: unstable prototype, no proper GUI, too much focus on the technology from the users-side, a gap between what users are thought to be able to do and really can do, the narrowness of the prototype (mostly only some features are integrated in the prototypes). But creativity seems to be from major importance when doing speculative research, it uses another then the disciplinary language

ness needs. Research is more open-ended, experimental and uncertain. Research is about asking questions, formulating problems based on those questions, search for ways to answer those questions, analysing results and exploring how those problems might be addressed. It sometimes produces some type of answer: in the form of a technical artefact, a business plan, a report on human activity or a new analytic framework or theory.

Previously, men could be divided simply into the learned and the ignorant, those more or less the one, and those more or less the other. But your specialist cannot be brought in under either of these two categories. He is not learned, for he is formally ignorant of all that does not enter into his specialty; but neither is he ignorant, because he is "a scientist," and "knows" very well his own tiny portion of the universe. We shall have to say that he is a learned ignoramus, which is a very serious matter, as it implies that he is a person who is ignorant, not in the fashion of the ignorant man, but with all the petulance of one who is learned in his own special line. (Ortega y Gassett, 1932)

For example, it is not too difficult to find a theme which crosses over disciplinary boundaries in literature, art and history or science and mathematics

Educational systems are serving students best if they enable and encourage students to build their own interdisciplinary pathway. This approach is sure to foster a love of learning, ignite a spark of enthusiasm and address learning differences for students.

Worthwhile topics of research can fall in the ‘spaces’ between the traditional disciplines

For example, one with a degree in education may apply for a job with over 100 other applicants; where as maybe only 2 out of the 100 are interdisciplinary studies. From an employers view; I would must rather higher someone who knows not only how to teach, but knows information about science, English, health etc. According to Gruenwald, interdisciplinary studies and the idea of a true university that fosters open

st think about it, if everyone just stuck to guidelines and tradition, the world would never grow and would never have the chance to become any better. Interdisciplinary studies in and of itself is thinking abstractly and creativly. It is brining things together to create this abstractness that people will appreciate just for that fact that it is a different way of thinking-a new perspective

Interdisciplinary studies in and of itself is thinking abstractly and creativly. It is brining things together to create this abstractness that people will appreciate just for that fact that it is a different way of thinking-a new perspective.

The author, Gail Rosenblum, then lists the psychologists, school social workers, case managers, occupational therapists, physical therapists and nurses who are present in developing and preserving a child’s mental well-being.

The author, Gail Rosenblum, then lists the psychologists, school social workers, case managers, occupational therapists, physical therapists and nurses who are present in developing and preserving a child’s mental well-being.

Looking back it makes so much more sense that they were able to make lesson plans based off each other’s knowledge and experience.

Many people as students observe professors and teachers in high school and middle school as being a part of individual social groups, kind of like cliques.

These fields were put into the academic curriculum of the Western university in the twentieth century and some play a role in the interdisciplinarity’s history.

Enrollment also surged during the cold war era. Just prior to World War II the state universities with the largest enrollments–namely, the Ohio State University and the University of California at Berkeley–surged far ahead of other institutions with enrollments of around 19,000. Many major state universities prior to World War II had enrollments between 3,000 and 6,000. By 1970, however, the Ohio State University's main campus at Columbus enrolled more than 50,000–comparable to the University of Minnesota. The University of California had expanded its Berkeley campus enrollment to 26,000.

Small in size and limited in scope, colonial colleges rarely enrolled more than one hundred students and few completed their degrees.

The colonists created institutions for higher education for several reasons. New England settlers included many alumni of the royally chartered British universities, Cambridge and Oxford, and therefore believed education was essential

arly colonial institutions like Harvard were founded to provide education to those going into the ministry, but after the American Revolution, colleges began to broaden their focus to include education for the ministry, medicine and law.

he land-grant colleges were founded to provide practical information and encourage scientific research about agriculture and the mechanical arts (engineering). In the second half of the nineteenth century, the academic culture of the professional faculty as an academic teacher and scholar also emerged.

Not long after European settlers began to arrive in what would become the United States, the first institutions of higher education were founded. These were collectively known as the colonial colleges. The first colonial college was Harvard College, founded in 1636 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Harvard College is now known as Harvard University and is one of the most famous colleges in the world. Other colonial colleges include the College of William and Mary, Yale University, Princeton University, Columbia University, Brown University, Rutgers University, and Dartmouth College.

. It makes sense when students find ownership in what they choose to create, how they put it online, and how it engages a broader audience.

If no one wants to read the hastily constructed blog post for a class participation grade, then what is the purpose of making it public? If assignments are going to live online, don’t they need to be connected to a public dialogue?

“To own one’s domain gives students an understanding of how Web technologies work. It puts them in a much better position to control their work, their data, their identity online.”

professional portfolios, and digital identities

Giving students their own digital domain is a radical act. It gives them the ability to work on the Web and with the Web, to have their scholarship be meaningful and accessible by others. It allows them to demonstrate their learning to others beyond the classroom walls. To own one’s domain gives students an understanding of how Web technologies work. It puts them in a much better position to control their work, their data, their identity online.

And if a student owns their own domain, as she moves from grade to grade and from school to school, all that information – their learning portfolio – can travel with them.

These portfolios can contain text, images, video and audio recordings, giving students opportunities to express themselves in a variety of ways beyond the traditional pen-and-paper test or essay. One student uses her domain to showcase her artwork. Another chronicled her semester abroad. A third student has built a living CV, highlighting her academic research as well as her work experience.

Students have control over the look and feel of their own sites, including what’s shared publicly.

Pointing students to data buckets and conduits we’ve already made for them won’t do. Templates and training wheels may be necessary for a while, but by the time students get to college, those aids all too regularly turn into hindrances. For students who have relied on these aids, the freedom to explore and create is the last thing on their minds, so deeply has it been discouraged

The computer cannot provide an organizing moral framework. It cannot tell us what questions are worth asking."

Instead of helping students learn and grow as individuals, find meaning in their lives, or understand their role in society, college has become a chaotic maze where students try to pick up something useful as they search for the exit: