All members of the PSU community are not equally situated to safely take the risks of being change leaders. I am hopeful that if enough people take the risk and share their truths, more people may feel empowered to be the radical pedagogues our students deserve.
Culture changes slowly. It requires people to take risks and share their truths. And, it is best done in collaboration with others.
With that said, I have found that there are different levels of understanding and acceptance across the University about the relationship among power, student agency, and self-regulated learning.
I think this is very wise and accurate. To note these ways in which we are all different makes me feel like huge strides are being made.
I would sit at my desk and the student would sit in a chair facing me.
As a student, I oftentimes feel anxious in a setting like this. As an older student, I'm at ease when I feel like the faculty member or professor and I have mutual respect. I think setting up an office more comfortably and less traditionally will help with that.
With this background, I put a lot of thought into physical spaces, including my office.
This is something I think more of us need to realize. Spaces where learning happens are some of the most sacred. For many students, there's a disconnect between faculty and students which can make it challenging to get struggling students to go to office hours. If students feel comfortable in a faculty member's office, they will more easily form a relationship with the professor which will help them in the class and potentially help them with issues outside of class.
In some ways, epistemology explains the why of a discipline: why it focuses on certain content and why it chooses the methods that it chooses.
Important to create our own epistemologies as interdisciplinary studies majors.
Or your disciplines may be primarily qualitative, using interviews, case studies, and observations of human behavior to understand its content
My major is quantitative and qualitative.
piece by piece
Sometimes, breaking things into little pieces sheds more light on the big picture.
specific fits into a larger pattern or fabric
I think this is one sign of intellect: being able to see similarities and patterns in different situations.
Encourage students to apply their expertise to serve their community. Partner with nonprofit organizations to create opportunities for students to apply their research or marketing skills.[24] Or ask them to write (and submit for publication) op-ed pieces[2
It’s been a very long time since I’ve written an op Ed piece. I didn’t know this.
Teach your students how to edit Wikipedia articles.
This is crazy, considering most of our lives we’ve been told to seriously avoid Wikipedia.
Build OERs with your students.
This actually sounds pretty exciting.
obtain the credit card they need
Never thought of this. Very good point.
focus on their homework
The saying goes, will students be able to focus on their homework if they’re concerned about how they’re going to do it on top of working so they have money for groceries.
7% of the US population is functioning at optimal mental health
This is incredible. Andnot totally surprising.
solo hikes and hiking
Exercise very important to good mental health.
sick
Yes!
treat mental health like physical health
If we can get more people to treat their personal mental health as they do their physical health, this will help to break the stigma all together. And also probably create a chain of others doing this too.
disconnect between classroom and everyday learning
I’ve made learning a much better experience for myself by utilizing the open assignments I get in my classes and crafting them towards a topic of my interests. I get much more into the projects, and therefore get a better grade.
political opportunity
We absolutely need our politicians to be well-rounded in many disciplines. This is a great point.
lower barriers to access for knowledge and information,
Even using the library databases is not relatively easy. They’re amazing, but hard to find so many students don’t. Imagine if they were easier to find and navigate.
These are things that I understand and will tell others about and will remember for as long as I am capable of remembering stuff.
In learning this about myself, I knew I couldn’t be any other major then interdisciplinary studies.
what they are? I
No...
Identifying thesis’s, hypothesises, key terms and statements
This truly is important for good writing skills, though.
means that I have mastered the system under which we, in the United States, are taught under in public institutions. (And with 16 years of practice, I sur
Thanks. I have noticed that my GPA isn’t what it was in high school, but that’s because I thrive in the nontraditional environment that my high school was.
assigning readings that are freely and openly available, so that everyone can access and read them; asking students to post homework assignments and other course artifacts on publicly viewable blogs or wikis, so they can catalyze further discussion of relevant topics; an
One of my classes seriously wants neither of these things. I don’t get it.
responsible for 2–3 percent of the overall investment.
This is crazy! Considering how much credit they get.
scholarly publishing status quo that is completely out of balance and that the researcher should control the reproduction and distribution rights to his or her work.
I agree!
you and I have already paid for it. However, it is almost always the case that these products are commercialized in such a way that access is restricted to those who are willing to pay for them a second time.
It really seems like OER is a free market concept. But we rely on taxpayer dollars to establish disciplines. Hmmmm-
In an era of stagnant or shrinking education budgets,
We’ve got to shift how we are doing things!
26 percent of the cost of tuition at a public, four-year university
This average has got to be skewed from how cheap NY andCA schools are in themselves.
as preexisting laws discouraged people from realizing the full potential of the networ
Scholars were more concerned with getting credit for their work than they were trying to spread knowledge. Kind of like students are too grade focused and less concerned with knowledge.
If an instructor is not sharing what he or she knows with students, there is no education happening.
I agree. This is why more courses should be less grade focused
single discipline.
On the student-side, I don't believe there are (many)Interdisciplinary Studies scholarships whereas there are many for the disciplines.
is collaboration possible without a common language?
Yes. We use Latin in science classes we take as non-science majors.
Attitude
Having a bad attitude in college in general is a large setback.
n artist, or group of artists, to put the tiles together.
As interdiscpliarians we're basically artists.
on’t even ask about students’ majors
IDS majors are definitely going to be asked. And it will give us a chance to shine and talk more about what we're doing.
now is never good enough; that education will be relevant later.
This is confusing.
ren’t free to be curious, engaged, and invested in what they’re learning, then they may never be curious, engaged, or invested in their lives.
We are victims of habit, this is true.
If students are living their lives in preparation for life, when will they start living?
Exactly. College should be more closely parallel to real life.
In other words, relevancy is constantly changing and dependent on the present moment
This is so important. Sometimes people quickly shy away from a class and go into it without an open mind because they believe it's not relevant. Sometimes it's not, but sometimes if students have a more open mind they can find hidden silver linings (correct phrase??) and gain deeper insights.
confident
the more experience we get and the more we learn (in part due to articles like this!), the better we can clearly articulate (with confidence!) what it is that we're creating with IDS.
traditional students experience it.
I also don't know that traditional students as a majority use the collaboration between their disciplines to their advantage.
“common core” experience of education, creating a personalized layout instead.
This is true. And I've thought about this. But in creating our plan, we are interacting with not only faculty within the disciplines, but also administration.
flourish.
Specializing in a major definitely CAN work, if a student applies themselves toward what they want to do the was IDS majors here at PSU are forced to have to do. Simply being an Interdisciplinary Studies fuels me to craft my own brand. Any other major is more or less already crafted for you and it's easier to not see the need to do it yourself.
at their own will
Education in itself is "at our own will." If we are paying for our college, we best be able to determine our path of learning.
Knowledge transformed from an experience to a product.
trying to "sell" what they're preaching
questions of morality
ethics
cliques
It’s true all humans want to be part of a social group. I don’t think fields of study should fulfill that need. I think learning should be uncomfortable and chaotic.
and appreciate a common canon of writings by the ‘founding fathers’ of the disciplines”
So, maybe this is good for the people working in those disciplines, but it also seems like they’re feeling to be dynamic and the approach to learning if they’re just going back to nothing but the origins of the disciplines.
Looking back
I suppose I never really thought of this either. This is a good point.
already know that nutrition, age, and mental state all contribute to the health of one’s skin,
In my opinion, the one thing doctors fail to see is the holistic part of each individual. They are too focused on diagnosing and prescribing.
environmental scientist would have had.
I think environmental issues are one of the best examples of where an interdisciplinary approach would be beneficial. Big business and companies are the cause of a good proportion of fossil feels in our ozone layer, because people in business simply don’t know enough to care about the environmental reprocussions they have.
it is important to reflect on the past use of herbs and how far we have come with modern pharmaceuticals today.
Pharmaceuticals and herbal medicine are such polar opposite I don’t believe this is a Fair example. I actually think our society would benefit if we looked at some of the old ways we did things in regards to natural medicine.
mathematics
At this time math was very philosophical. I bet it wasn’t the type of math we know today. I’m sure it still was very religion based.
strictly for the upper class.
I don’t know that it isn’t now. Yes, we can get loans. But that teaches so much about bad financial habits.
Distance learning started with being sent a single chapter, but now allows students to complete a bachelor’s degree in two years from an accredited institution.
I find it really interesting that in my one online class, we are not allowed to view the assignments for the next week until Sunday of that week. It seemed kind ofold-fashioned to me, but it seems even more so now that I realize this is how the first online classes wer erun.
gave a speech stating that there is no best method or focus for learning, therefore Harvard will have them all.
So incredible
directly to a student.
Hmmm. This is interesting. Plato seemed to have his own ideas about everything. I wonder if his hesitation in this comes from the idea that we need to collaborate in order to get the most perspectives and therefore knowledge.
examined their mutagenic potential
This is very true. It ties in with the point that outsiders sometimes know best.
such embarrassing episodes would be less common than they are now (cf. Whitman, 1953).
This is a very good point. Being surrounded by only people in your field leaves too much room for un-noticed bias.
Another alleged candidate is education (S
This is interesting. What do most history majors want to do? Well they don't have much other option than to teach...
The same goes for the history of ideas: outsiders are less prone to ignore anomalies and to resist new conceptual frameworks.
That's why we need people to work in disciplines that aren't in their specialty. To realize "new conceptual frameworks."
ince one can be trainedonly in what is already known, training sometimes incapacitates one from learning new ways; it makes one rebel against what is bound to be at first loose and even sloppy.
With certain people, if you tell them it's going to be a certain way they're going to rebel. I'm one of those people. This is why our approach to learning needs to be individualized.
: The very act of creation often involves the bringing together of previously unrelated ideas
This is such a strong point. Being able to synthesize and , see connections - that is true intelligence.
Interdisciplinary education merges components of two or more disciplines in a single program of instruction
I really like this. It's simple. And leads into the discussion on how interdisciplinary theory is much more extensive.
ach staking out a territory for itself, each refusing to talk to the other, and each resisting all attempted incursions from surrounding “enemies.” (Miles, 1989, pp. 15-16)
This is so incredibly well-explained. And was a struggle I had with my advisor at my old school. She was very well respected in the business school and knew not one other thing that business. Many business majors weren't allowed to take courses in the arts. It felt like you were being pigeon-holed into being like everyone else.
and the fact that each person is bestowed with a unique set of aptitudes, left most scholars and artists stranded in ever-shrinking islands of competence
This is how I felt when I began college trying to fit myself into the mold of a major. I knew it wasn't going to work for me pretty quickly.
plain mango will surpass all the smoothies in the world; in others, only a fruit salad will do.
our education is circumstantial. each and every one of us is different.
mixing bananas, apples, and grapes is not as creativ
Some things just go well together in certain areas.
Set policies or standard for that discipline
This is a problem I have. Oftentimes, students other than Art students aren't allowed to take Art classes. This is how it was at my old school. Many majors are inclusive this way. Huge problem!!
Are you more interested in INSTRUMENTAL or CRITICAL interdisciplinarity?
I'm more interested in Instrumental Interdisciplinary work. I love to acquire new knowledge and then turn it into something tangible.
the joint appointment of faculty members to several departments.
This is part of the reason why I left my old school and didn't really know it at the time. My professors were only well versed in the subject they were teaching and it seemed one-sided indefinitely and maybe also biased.
53 percent of college students, including those who attend community colleges, require remedial courses.
YES!!! this is something i feel so strongly about. CLEARLY, our primary and secondary education systems are failing!!!
humanity has a craving for wholeness.
We all have this innate ability to belong. With all the outside influences - good and bad - this can kind of get in the way.
en all fields that intersect and overlap
let disciplines work together - interdicsiplinarity
and the loss of a sense of place in a world that increasingly lacks human scale.
To call the human race "lost," is a good way to put it. We are all trying to find out where we belong and the only way to really do so is to keep learning and progressing.
The question bigger than data ownership is how to make ownership over ideas happen.
I’m hoping that if more schools make a shift to this idea of tapping education, students will need more driven to take charge of their education.
Don’t they need to be oriented at the proper audienc
Yes, I absolutely think they do. By giving students the freedom to choose a general direction or have a say in part of the domain, they feel like they’re part of the decision-making process. It really takes a student who has the motivation to learn for this style to thrive.
do. Templates and training wheels may be necessary for a while, but by the time students get to college, those aids all too regularly turn into hindrance
I agree with this 100%
beyond
College is intended to set you up for the rest of your life. It only makes sense that what you create in college should continue with you after college.
not 1GB folders in the institution’s web space b
Brings up a good point that institutions don’t give students enough storage space. The storage space we are given, doesn’t seem like it’s protected either. For instance, if you accidentally save something to a desktop vs your server at PSU, it doesn’t go to your network and will simply get deleted other students feel that desktop up with information.
aside from assigning them e-mail addresses during orientation.
I feel like schools giving students a school email address is an attempt to bring students to gather online. Professors often expect students to communicate for group projects through email. No one likes to check their email. It’s not very interactive. For that purpose, it’s not very efficient.
don’t actually get to take that work with them when they move or graduate.
This has bummed me out many times. There's been a piece of school work I'm very proud of, and if I forget to extract it off Moodle - it goes into thin air. Having a personal domain in classes allows us to build a portfolio of all of their work we do without any extra effort.
backup, recovery, privacy options, hosting laws in different countries, etc)
This is super important tech-savy info that every individual should know and many don't. Technology isn't perfect - it crashes, and we need to be prepared for when it does.
But none of them had a presence online they were in control of before this.”
I think this is key. Growing up in school we are taught lots about what NOT to post, as far as cybersecurity goes. Most kids never really listen or care. Especially Gen Z loves social media - we should be teaching these kids how to have a safe online presence, not that it's bad.
The Domains initiative enables student to build the contemporary version of what Virginia Woolf in 1929 famously demanded in A Room of One’s Own – the necessity of a personal place to write
I’ve read many excerpts from Woolf’s writing online and its some of my favorite. I agree entirely that everyone needs a personal space to write and do their best thinking. I think it’s interesting that Watters seems to use a personal space on the internet as a tool we can use in place of a physical space to write, which we may not always have, to increase our intellectual development.