When the University of North Dakota began working to improve general education, two concerns were recognized. The first issue, which faculty and administrators across campus found immediately engaging, was how to change general education so that it would be a better program, more likely to yield clear student learning benefits. A second concern,…

The need and potential for networking among interdisciplinary organizations are analyzed. Issues to consider in establishing networks are identified and specific strategies for building and maintaining effective networks are offered. Networking both with undergraduate and general education organizations and with specialized organizations are…

Strategies for locating interdisciplinary knowledge and information for development of college curricula and instruction are outlined, including identification of existing curriculum models and syllabi (through publications, networking, and online searching) and finding literature on the concept of interdisciplinarity in the humanities, social…

Principles for the administration and governance of interdisciplinary programs are drawn from several decades of experience in general education and in interdisciplinary centers, colleges, and schools. The principles are discussed in terms of the institutional context and include suggestions for garnering budgetary support, addressing faculty…

A course at Hampshire College that joins the literature and analytical approaches of anthropology with certain texts in English, American, and European literature and modern criticism is described. The problems of the relationship of observer to observed, of author to text, and of audience to text are covered. (MLW)

A broad liberal arts curriculum coupled with basic and advanced journalism writing, editing, and theory (including law and ethics) courses is the best insurance for excellence in journalism education. A University of Kentucky plan includes establishing an exchange program with other disciplines, and requiring paired, cross-disciplinary courses.…

Collaborative research in writing-across-the-curriculum is a powerful companion to the usual faculty workshop activities of listening, reading, and discussion. In collaborative research projects, teachers from two or more disciplines work together to understand better their students' thinking and writing. (MSE)

The integration of liberal and professional education will require pharmacy faculties to redefine the dimensions of their role as educators. An assessment of liberal education in pharmacy, models for integration of liberal education, and prescription for change are discussed. (Author/MLW)

Although senior faculty are the best prepared to deal with the cognitive and skill deficiencies of today's beginning students, they typically choose to have little direct contact with them. One reason is students' underpreparation and poor writing, and one possible remedy is interdisciplinary collaboration on course development and implementation.…

Liberal learning and professional training both can be enhanced if humanities and nursing faculties will join in creating a larger vision of education. (Author/MLW)

A variety of assessment techniques to measure and document the outcomes of interdisciplinary study at the college level are examined, focusing on the contexts and problems of such assessments. Several programs are profiled, suggestions for assessment design are offered, and an annotated bibliography of information sources is presented. (MSE)

A step-by-step guide to designing interdisciplinary courses is presented. Underlying theoretical rationales and expected educational outcomes are explored, and concrete suggestions and examples are offered. Steps include assembling an interdisciplinary team, selecting a topic, identifying disciplines for inclusion, developing the issues underlying…

At a time when higher education appears to be diverging from a sense of shared purpose, learning communities offer a way to maintain the balance between striving for oneself and contributing to the common good. They promote cooperation, help students forge interdisciplinary connections, empower students, revitalize the institutional environment,…

A course at Hampshire College was designed to simulate the decision-making environment in which constituencies in a medium-sized city would respond to the closing and relocation of a major corporate plant. The project, constructed as a role simulation with a computer component, is described. (MLW)