Debates continue about the positioning of design within research-driven universities. While the idea of autonomy has had a strong appeal, it is the bridging across established academic cultures that has proved especially effective for legitimizing design research and research education. Revisiting a conception of design as a 'Third Space' and…

Transaction, competition and opposition have become imperative in higher education. In this article, I will explore where to go from here building on critical pedagogy and ideas from students-as-partners and undergraduate research. Using the course 'Environments for learning in higher education' as an empirical starting point and approaching…

When conceived of as both a research strategy and mode to present findings, vignettes can be combined with various qualitative methodologies in higher education research. Rather than being a discipline unto itself, higher education research is best understood as a multi and cross-disciplinary field of study that, we contend, is made richer by its…

This article examines the development, impact and integration of interdisciplinary approaches in British Higher Education Institutions. It evaluates how the concept of interdisciplinarity has become popularised over time and embraced by disciplines such as archaeology. It then explores the extent to which interdisciplinary approaches have impacted…

Published annually since 1985, the Handbook series provides a compendium of thorough and integrative literature reviews on a diverse array of topics of interest to the higher education scholarly and policy communities. Each annual volume contains chapters that discuss salient dimensions of scholarly and policy inquiries on topics pertaining to…

This paper considers how the idea of "discipline" can best be conceptualised, both in general and particular terms. Much previous research has employed a strong essentialist approach, a model of disciplines which exaggerates the homogeneity of specific disciplinary features and accords disciplines generative powers which they rarely…

The scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) is a distinctive form of research that is shaped by multidisciplinary contexts and focuses on practice-driven institutional/curricula/classroom inquiries with an explicit transformational agenda. This essay provides critical insight to the importance of communities of SoTL practitioners, diverse…

At Linkoping University in Sweden, research is organized with both interdisciplinary and problem-oriented approaches, organized in broad problem areas or themes instead of by discipline. The four themes are Public Health and Medical Care in the Community, Human Communication, Technology and Social Change, and Water in Nature and Society.…

Describes efforts by 2 researchers (an anthropologist and a psychologist) to conduct collaborative research on teachers and teacher education, drawing on 10 years of work and literature on interdisciplinary collaboration. The article emphasizes issues important in remaining true to each discipline, and it notes the role of compromise. (SM)

This paper critiques and explores some of the fundamental issues that Elliot Eisner has raised in recent speeches and in an essay in this journal on art, curriculum, and educational research. The paper also examines the related essays on these topics in this journal. (JB)

Examines the growing body of literature dealing with interdisciplinary academic research and discusses challenges that the erosion of subject-area boundaries presents to those selecting library materials. Reports on a case study that ascertained patterns of interdisciplinary research at Rutgers University's School of Communication, Information,…

Argues that political scientists need to pay more attention to research in subfields of the discipline outside of their own. Suggests research that does not limit itself in terms of possible generalizations. Provides examples of good uses of cross-field research. Reviews obstacles to change and ways to overcome them. (DSK)

This analysis describes some of the general features of art and goes on to look at what the artistic treatment of research entails. Artistically crafted research that includes coherence, imagery, and particularity can help to explain what is important about schools. Further, the education of teachers should be regarded as the education of artists.…

Discusses the necessity of setting boundaries for a research topic while bridging gaps with information from other disciplines and history of education in other nations. Illustrates the point with the history of women's education in the United States. Includes discussion of the influence of British boys' schools, French boarding schools, and the…

Perspectives on interdisciplinary research are considered in terms of project planning, the choice of problem-solving approach, the research field, project organization, informal organization, and integration of knowledge. Interdisciplinary studies were investigaged through following a number of research projects by means of field trips,…