This paper focuses on innovative organizations within 9 higher education institutions that were designed specifically to respond to endemic social needs such as poverty, crime, widespread ill health, racial conflict and the maladministration of justice. The institutions discussed are: The College of Human Resourses and Education (West Virginia),…

To provide for curriculum flexibility a block of five courses is available in each department of Pershing College. One example: an in-depth study of a major problem, theory, or person in the discipline. The plan was successful for a small college with limited faculty but diverse, creative, and flexible faculty and student body. (JT)

James Madison College of Michigan State University provides a 4-year, residentially-based program devoted to the study of major social, economic, and political policy problems. It offers 5 fields of concentration: (1) Ethnic and Religious Intergroup Relations Policy Problems; (2) International Relations Policy Problems; (3) Justice, Morality and…

The NEXA program at San Francisco State University seeks to span the gulf between the humanities and the sciences by offering interdisciplinary team-taught courses on concepts and issues in the liberal arts. Providing a rigorous and challenging curriculum for highly motivated students, the program is gradually finding a niche within the confines…

Over 75 years ago, a British report on education commented on the confusion of aims in English language teaching, citing the quality of teaching, unsuitable textbooks, and lack of a coherent sense of purpose. Experience has shown that undergraduate linguistics has not come far since then. In the experimental, interdisciplinary program at the State…

An experimental interdisciplinary freshman course taught at North Carolina State University was intended to introduce principles of general systems theory; to provide examples through lectures and readings of applications of these principles in a wide variety of fields; and to introduce and provide practice in critical questioning and evaluation.…

Monmouth College (New Jersey) paired one section of freshman composition with introductory sociology. This section focused on expository composition skills serving sociological inquiry, such as comparing and contrasting, critically analyzing written text, and supporting a position through reasoned argument. The paper discusses theoretical…

Describes how the University of Pennsylvania is testing a new way of teaching involving team-taught interdisciplinary courses on some its freshmen, while keeping others in a control group. (EV)

The Small College, the innovative unit of California State College, was established to test whether a substantial number of students could accelerate their progress toward the Bachelor of Arts degree. In the process of the experiment, it was hoped that the Small College would develop programs that could be of value to other colleges. The Small…

In the early 1970s two experimental universities, one rural (Roskilde) and one urban (Aalborg) were established. Their uniqueness is based on a nontraditional curriculum structure, with an interdisciplinary approach. The two have developed very differently, particularly in stability, autonomy, and distinctiveness. (MSE)

In 1985 and 1986, two randomly selected groups of Harvard Medical School students entered either the traditional program or the New Pathway, a redesigned medical curriculum with a 3-year longitudinal course structure involving the same small group of students and teachers. The program features the interweaving of material from other disciplines;…

An experimental first-year course introducing law students to the law firm addressed: a single issue in contract law from both sides, writing as an advocate, the lawyer's role, legal research methods, the legislative process, the counseling function, the appellate process, and traditional legal writing. An interdisciplinary approach was used. (MSE)

The philosophy and structure of programs of coordinated study at Evergreen State College from 1970 to 1980 are discussed, and comparisons are made to the experiment at the University of California, Berkeley, promoted by Joseph Tussman. Both programs are based on ideas suggested by Alexander Meiklejohn and his Experimental College at the University…

A compendium of reports of experimental instructional projects and educational programs generated by teachers at 10 midwestern universities is presented. Most of the items report changes in a particular discipline area, but these arrangements can frequently be adapted for use in other departments and interdisciplinary programs. Subject matter…

Presents a course on gender, race, and class developed at a White, midwestern university. Describes critical theory objectives through which students learn to analyze racism, sexism, and classism, and construct a model based on their analysis. Includes class assignments, projects, and activities. (NL)