I. Definition Interdisciplinary courses question and offer an alternative to traditional knowledge production processes in that they seek to be integrative and holistic, rather than fragmented and compartmentalized. They use an inquiry rather than a disciplinary or multi-disciplinary approach.
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No, an Interdisciplinary Degree is not useless! Many find it to be a great way to get what they want out of their education. Perhaps you want to explore Legal Administration, but there is no major for that. Under Interdisciplinary Studies, you may combine courses from Paralegal Studies, Political Science and Business.
simplest level, “interdisciplinary” is used to indicate that researchers and others from multiple academic fields have collected together their own individual theories on a particular topic.
Definition Interdisciplinary courses question and offer an alternative to traditional knowledge production processes in that they seek to be integrative and holistic, rather than fragmented and compartmentalized. They use an inquiry rather than a disciplinary or multi-disciplinary approach.
Here are some examples of interdisciplinary studies majors: International business: combines business fundamentals with a deep understanding of economic, political, social, and cultural issues around the world. You may also learn a second language, take geography classes, and improve communication skills.
With a degree in interdisciplinary studies, you could work in a variety of fields. Many teachers, managers, nurses, software developers, administrative assistants, and lawyers have interdisciplinary studies degrees. Many people with this degree go on to work in healthcare, education, management, business, and finance.
Getting an interdisciplinary studies degree can be difficult, but so are most things worth doing. Also, for some, the nature of interdisciplinary studies programs lends itself to success.
Interdisciplinary Studies is a university-wide program leading to either the Bachelor of Arts or the Bachelor of Science in Interdisciplinary Studies, depending on the concentration of work selected in consultation with an Interdisciplinary Studies advisor.
Interdisciplinary MajorsEconomics and Business.Economics and International Studies.History and International Studies.Mathematics and Economics.Music and Psychology.Political Science and International Studies.Russian Studies and International Studies.
The main disadvantage of interdisciplinary research is that sometimes there's difficulty in establishing lines of connection between multiple disciplines. Also, at times, interdisciplinary research can lack coherence and a sense of purpose (Benson, 1982).
Interdisciplinary studies degree programs combine two or more traditional academic courses of study into a more personalized major. Unlike a liberal arts degree where you will study a wide variety of subjects, an interdisciplinary degree allows students to explore a more focused topic that crosses into multiple fields.
Here are some examples of interdisciplinary studies majors: International business: combines business fundamentals with a deep understanding of economic, political, social, and cultural issues around the world. You may also learn a second language, take geography classes, and improve communication skills.
Capstone project: a final project that also may be required in order to graduate, that demonstrates your knowledge of all your fields of study.
Gender studies: explores how gender roles have evolved, how they influence people across cultures, and how roles differ from place to place. A gender studies major or focus may combine: Literature: queer literature, literature by women, authors of the developing world.
A human biology major or focus combines: Biology: genetics, evolutionary biology, bioethics. Sociology: gender roles, mass media, global health and disease.
This allows you to tailor your coursework even if your school does not offer an interdisciplinary studies degree path that matches your goals and interests. Most programs still have a core curriculum that you must complete in order to graduate, in addition to major-specific electives.
However, it is not the same thing as a double major. With a double major, you study two different subjects on their own and graduate with one degree.
Critical thinking is a valuable skill for interdisciplinary studies students for that reason. You’ll be considering all of your courses in conversation with one another, ...
That trait will serve you well as you’re connecting different fields and planning out your course schedules, because part of an interdisciplinary studies program is forging new connections between disciplines.
Berkeley also requires a minimum of three fields in your interdisciplinary studies program. The program should be designed to answer a specific research question, but the question can be approached in a multitude of ways, including regional, comparative, and historical approaches.
Interdisciplinary studies is great for students who have specific interests that won’t necessarily be met through a traditional degree. For example, maybe you have a deep interest in linguistics and biology and the ways that the two intersect.
Interdisciplinary studies requires that you adhere to a different set of standards than traditional degrees. That means you’ll be guiding yourself, a lot of the time—though you’ll likely work out a plan with your advisers and instructors, you’ll be the one in charge of properly executing it.
Major proposals must include a title, a description of why it needs to be interdisciplinary, what problems will be addressed through the program, and what methodology will be used to address them, as well as letters of support, a bibliography, and list of courses they plan to take.
Work well with numbers, have an eye for detail, and who enjoy analysis. Counselors. Bachelor’s degree minimum, but a master’s degree is preferred.
When educators consider their curricular objectives and students' needs , they may choose interdisciplinary learning to deliver part or all of the content they will present. This method can help bring students to a new awareness of the meaningful connections that exist among the disciplines.
Heidi Hayes Jacobs explains, "the goal is to create an interdisciplinary unit between two (or three, or four . . .) disciplines using common and central questions that we don't just hope will show our students the connections -- but that we know will illuminate them.".
A curriculum begins as a preformatted package of required elements and recommendations for learning for a specific grade level, semester, or year. A good curriculum expands on this guide, becoming a blueprint for learning that an educator designs and plans in real time with the needs of real-world students in mind.
This course aims to enhance the media literacy skills of students by analyzing the pervasive nature of mass communication and its influence on thought and behavior. Students will learn skills to become critical consumers of information from a variety of sources, including social media. In addition to defining and exploring the tenets of media literacy, this course will incorporate library science skills to enhance students' ability to seek and use credible information sources.
This integrative inquiry seminar explores themes in science fiction through literature and cinema arts. From early literary works such as Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley's Frankenstein; or The Modern Prometheus to more resent films like Ridley Scott's Prometheus, humanity's questions about science and technology generate imagined dystopias and utopias, reflecting visions of the future.
This course invites students to examine a variety of classic and contemporary fairy tales in order to investigate how these tales define and expand the genre of children's literature, connect to childrearing techniques, and to educational practices. Fairy tales are perceived as stories created to entertain and delight young children, but they are so much more. Through the lens of Child Development and Literature, students will collaboratively explore the interconnectedness between author, characters, and audience to the morals, values, and lessons they teach.
They will review the research conclusions to develop and implement an action project that engages campus and outside communities and will assess and reflect upon the process of collaborative research and the impact of the community project. The course follows the Phi Theta Kappa honors society's Honors In Action project.
This course focuses on the Common Read, a book chosen to represent a two-year campus-wide theme to encourage diversity awareness, critical thinking on ideas from the book, and dialog about social, cultural, economic, political, and other aspects of the book for readers, including students, members of the NIC community, and the wider world. The emphasis of the course will vary depending on the faculty teaching it, reflecting their disciplinary expertise, and the selected materials adopted for exploration of the book.
This course explores the politics and social history of Eastern Europe through the analysis of motion picture media. Drawing upon social science context and research methods, various topics will be presented as they correspond with issues presented by key Eastern European films. Such topics include: foreign occupation, Sovietization, political economy, political movements, regime change, cultural and religious identity, separatism, civil wars and contemporary political institutions.
Psychology of Marketing will integrate sociological perspectives, analyze and evaluate consumer behavior from a psychological framework, and then address, from the perspective of both distribution and consumption, the strategies that are implemented by companies and organizations. The course culminates in a learning product, project, or presentation that connects these multiple ways of knowing to the intricacies of marketing and consumer behavior.