Designing Interdisciplinary Education

Interdisciplinary education has been identified by many educational organisations in Europe and the United States as important for what lies ahead, and it has become a buzzword in some debates about educating for the future. Now, more than ever, higher education is challenged to educate students to see beyond the limits of their own discipline and to come up with innovative integrated solutions for our global challenges. But how do you define interdisciplinarity? How do you measure whether a student has integrated different insights? How do you challenge students to step across disciplinary borders? 'Designing interdisciplinary education' offers guidance and practical advice for university teachers who want to successfully develop, implement and sustain an interdisciplinary approach to their teaching. This book serves as a foothold for interdisciplinary initiatives in higher education, whether it be programmes, minors, courses or extra-curricular activities.

Ger Post spent five years working at the Institute for Interdisciplinary Studies, including as a lecturer in academic skills for the Bachelor's programme in Natural and Social Sciences. He now works as an educational specialist at the School of Biomedical Sciences at the University of Melbourne. Christianne Vink is a teacher trainer and consultant in higher education. She advises and coaches programmes in curriculum development and teacher professionalisation.|Lucy Wenting is the director of the Institute for Interdisciplinary Studies. She is specialised in leadership, strategy and curriculum development.

Acknowledgements, 1 Introduction, 2 An overview of the development stages, 3 Unravelling interdisciplinary understanding, 4 Developing the raw sketch, 5 Formulating interdisciplinary learning outcomes, 6 Embedding integration in the programme design, 7 Hiring and engaging faculty, 8 Exploring the teaching philosophy and didactic methods, 9 Assessment of interdisciplinary learning outcomes, 10 Interdisciplinary teaching in practice, 11 Programme assessment and adjustment, Appendices, Index case studies, Index activities, Index key advices, References, Colophon