Additionally, first-year students are being assigned success coaches

moving from a traditional university model to an integrated, interdisciplinary, cluster-based model that Birx believes will give students the combination of education and engaged scholarship necessary to compete successfully in an increasingly complex and interdisciplinary world.

You should build on our work, let us teach you about the theory that we have learned, and look at our programs to see how we can lay a foundation for this new initiative.

That way, students are gaining experience and knowledge rather than just credit and test scores.

students should be able to have a way to form their cluster or major in a way that allows them to deeply focus on what they want to do, rather than have to take a series of courses assigned by a major.

First-Year Seminar should in some ways explain the challenges and barriers that universities set up to doing interdisciplinary work so students can come up with ways around them.

We hope that projects won’t just involve students; we hope that students will be able to have input in the design of projects as well

we are just defining these clusters based on disciplines,

the clusters seem potentially limiting

the opportunity to further internship and experiential knowledge in organizations and businesses outside of PSU

sometimes it works better for us to focus on what we are passionate about and what we might like to do after graduation and design an education based on those interests rather than starting with the educational plan and then just looking for a job once we complete it. 

10,000 hours. That’s how long it takes to be a master in any field.

Most fields experience exciting periods of rapid, sometimes revolutionary, advances, followed by periods of comparative stagnation.

The gaps among [the social science] disciplines are much too large.

The very act of creation often involves the bringing together of previously unrelated ideas

We need to reconceptualize our model of disciplinary growth and specialization

o people in our own time could rationally proclaim that they knew everything about everything, or even everything about their own fields 

students who are not studying all aspects of their field using an interdisciplinary approach are unfortunately labeled at a disadvantage in my eyes.

First let me start of by saying, higher education is a key component to a successful life in my opinion.

this study has me standing alone and in this case, that isn’t a bad thing.

Declaring this major feels like me declaring, “I will not settle for less! I will make the most of my opportunities!”

Because at the end of the day, your opinion and your thoughts matter, and you need to make those important to you before they are important to anyone else.

If students go to school and pursue a single degree without challenging their minds with different perspectives and disciplines, aren’t they depriving themselves of a brilliant opportunity to grow as an individual?

Many students entering college for the first time are surprised by the way it changes their thinking, identity, and perspective. The unique environment created by residential college life is an incredible experience for most young, college-aged students

By eighteen, most students are excited about life and eager to experience what it has to offer, which is why they should be shown all the options.

Sometimes we break problems down into smaller parts so that we can solve it piece by piece.

Most majors and fields look at parts of the world, but there is something beautiful and exciting about trying to step back and see how things connect.

Having a broad understanding of many disciplines to gain a better comprehend and come up with a conclusion on why something is the way it is

There can be deep divisions between disciplines

Drawing on information and methods from two or more disciplines.

Interdiscipline is a field that emerges when two or more disciplines are combined.

The web is a network for conversations, and if students still see their audience as a teacher with a red pen, then nothing changes.

Gaining ownership over the data is vital—but until students see this domain as a space that rewards rigor and experimentation, it will not promote student agency. Traditional assignments don’t necessarily empower students when they have to post them in a public space

they are the subjects of their learning, not the objects of education technology software

it is important to have one’s own space in order to develop one’s ideas and one’s craft

a student’s work exists only inside a learning management system and cannot be accessed once the semester is over

fail to give students themselves a voice

Student privacy has become one of the hottest issues in education