Understanding Interdisciplinary Challenges

Interdisciplinary teaching, learning, and research are often heralded as necessary responses to the many pressures facing contemporary higher education. Defined as the integration of knowledge from two or more disciplines, interdisciplinary work requires a change in the boundaries and norms that have long defined the academy. Through examples from a range of disciplines and institutional types, this volume considers how successful interdisciplinary engagement necessitates a focus on the structure and rewards of academic behavior.This change is an intensely social process, involving dialogue and interation among diverse ideas, individuals, learning environments, and bodies of knowledge. It is this diversity that enables the rich potential of interdisciplinary engagement but also presents the greatest challenges for institutions. This volume considers the obstacles and opportunities inherent in interdisciplinary initiatives.Academic administrators, faculty, and graduate students interested in understanding the disciplinary norms of higher education and cultivating interdisciplinary engagement will benefit from this volume. The author provides theoretical perspectives and practical applications for advancing interdisciplinarity in the classroom, the research laboratory, across the university campus, and outside institutional boundaries. Such endeavors entail not only interaction between scholars and professionals from normally distinct disciplines but also articulation of shared problems or topics that underscore the integration of disciplinary bodies of knowledge.This is the second issue in the 35th volume of the Jossey-Bass series ASHE Higher Education Report. Each monograph in the series is the definitive analysis of a tough higher education problem, based on thorough research of pertinent literature and institutional experiences. Topics are identified by a national survey. Noted practitioners and scholars are then commissioned to write the reports, with experts providing critical reviews of each manuscript before publication.

Karri Holley is assistant professor of higher education at the University of Alabama. Her research interests include interdisciplinarity, graduate education, and qualitative inquiry

Executive Summary	p. vii
Foreword	p. xi
Overview	p. 1
Defining Interdisciplinarity	p. 6
The Disciplines, Interdisciplinarity, and the University	p. 7
Interdisciplinarity, Learning, and Cognition	p. 7
Interdisciplinarity and the Practice of Research	p. 7
Faculty and Institutional Structure: The Conflict of Interdisciplinarity	p. 8
Best Practices Related to Interdisciplinary Education	p. 8
Implications for Practice and the Future of Interdisciplinarity	p. 9
Defining Interdisciplinarity	p. 11
Conceptualizing the Disciplines	p. 12
Conceptualizing Interdisciplinary Knowledge	p. 19
Conclusion	p. 29
The Disciplines, Interdisciplinarity, and the University	p. 31
The Historical Influence of the Disciplines on Teaching and Learning	p. 32
Interdisciplinary Initiatives in Twentieth-Century American Higher Education	p. 35
Conclusion	p. 41
Interdisciplinarity, Learning, and Cognition	p. 43
The Disciplinary Basis of College Student Learning	p. 45
Defining Interdisciplinary Curricula in Higher Education	p. 49
Conclusion	p. 56
Interdisciplinarity and the Practice of Research	p. 59
Challenges to the Practice of Interdisciplinary Research	p. 60
Facilitating Interdisciplinary Research in Higher Education	p. 68
Conclusion	p. 73
Faculty and Institutional Structure: The Conflict of Interdisciplinarity	p. 75
Interdisciplinarity, Faculty, and Change in Higher Education	p. 77
Achieving Institutional Goals and Interdisciplinary Faculty Engagement	p. 78
Fostering Faculty Connections Across Institutional Boundaries	p. 81
Modifying Activity Systems to Encourage Interdisciplinarity	p. 84
Conclusion	p. 86
Best Practices Related to Interdisciplinary Education	p. 89
Dedicated Organizational and Physical Space	p. 92
Student-Centered Pedagogy	p. 93
Focus on Problem- or Theme-Based Learning	p. 94
Curriculum Shaped Through a Variety of Interdisciplinary Learning Experiences	p. 95
Culminating Capstone Project or Student Portfolio	p. 96
Focus on Collaborative Learning Rather Than Mastery of a Particular Content	p. 97
Use of Independent Study, Internships, and Experiential Learning	p. 98
Goal of Preparing Students for a Complex, Modern Interdisciplinary Future	p. 99
Conclusion	p. 101
References	p. 107
Name Index	p. 121
Subject Index	p. 125
About the Author	p. 131
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Understanding Interdisciplinary Challenges and Opportunities in Higher Education ASHE Higher Education Report, Volume 35, Number 2

Summary

Author Biography

Table of Contents

Supplemental Materials