Images are central to our understanding of and learning about our world. We argue that visual training needs to be improved in the higher education system to enhance the potential of visual thinking to mediate productively our relationship with the context we inhabit. Initiatives from the social sciences and humanities since the end of the twenty…

Whether celebratory or critical, STS research on science-industry relations has focused on the blurring of boundaries and hybridization of codes and practices. However, the vocabulary of boundary and hybrid tends to reify science and industry as separate in the attempt to map their relation. Drawing on interviews with the head of a research center…

The emerging field of nanotechnology has created a new frontier for the convergence of university and industrial research. In the United States, major federal investments provided a massive boom for this field over the decade. This paper reports on a case study of how the University at Albany came to establish the first college of nanotechnology…

For the forty-second time, the Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT) is sponsoring the publication of these Proceedings. Papers published in this volume were presented at the annual AECT Convention in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Proceedings of AECT's Convention are published in two volumes. Volume 1 contains 37 papers dealing…

While niche colleges and universities have upheld principles of environmental sustainability for several decades, mainstream institutions of higher learning only more recently have begun to embrace a "green ethos" on campus. The exact nature of these initiatives may vary but tends to fall into four categories: (a) a general infusion of…

In this paper, we examine the current state of educational research through the framework of "use-inspired" knowledge. Previous discussions regarding the nature of educational research have disproportionately focused on the soft/applied nature of knowledge in the discipline or a need for methodological priority. After acknowledging these…

A knowledge economy produces new knowledge; transforms knowledge into innovative products, processes, and services; moves innovations into the marketplace; and ultimately, develops new markets. It is global in perspective, collaborative in process, and dynamic in its responsiveness to changing conditions. Most important, it is fed by a healthy…

Describes the offerings of a multidisciplinary research center, the Monell Chemical Senses Center, and highlights the advantages and disadvantages of fellowships in such a setting. (JOW)

Proposes the learning community as an avenue for moving beyond the research/practice gap in higher education. Suggests that a learning community made up of all stakeholders is enriched by diverse methods, frameworks, perspectives, and voices. Such a community can be built by encouraging dialogue between practitioners and scholars and transforming…

Loosely structured like think tanks, humanities research centers are the true intellectual homes of many humanities faculty members and are instrumental in breaking the hardened boundaries of the disciplines. (MSE)

Describes an interdisciplinary project at Mankato State University in which a team constructed a solar car and competed in SUNRAYCE '93. (SK)

We welcome you to the International Conference on Education and New Developments 2014, taking place in Madrid, Spain, from 28 to 30 of June, 2014. Education, as an important right in our contemporary world, began since we exist. Knowledge and skills were passed by adults to the young, and cultures began to extend their experiences through various…

Although innumerable interdepartmental institutes, centers, and laboratories have been established on US campuses since World II, they have been largely ineffective and unproductive. There are 3 distinct types: (1) the crossdisciplinary centers, in which researchers with problems in one discipline seek new methodologies, solutions or problems from…

Social work, ideologically speaking, is a profession grounded in principles of integration and interaction. The principles are embedded in curriculum policies for acceditation. They span interdisciplinary information, person and environment, research and practice, practice and policy, and theory and practice. The values, knowledge, and skills…

The reasons for variation in interdisciplinary research team performance at U.S. and Canadian research universities are investigated. Interdisciplinary research is defined. The appropriate use of interdisciplinary research, the participants, the leaders of research groups, and the effective management of the groups are identified. (Author/MLW)