To be published in the Leonardo Electronic Almanac Special Issue: The Culture of Digital Education
Abstract
A survey of current cross-disciplinary offerings in higher education is needed to understand the mechanisms that were employed to offer them and their pedagogical basis. We present here a study that analyzes a compendium of arts-science-humanities cross-disciplinary courses that was created through several Calls for Contributions from 2009 to 2013.
A web site was created and over 100 submissions were posted at utdallas.edu/atec/cdash/ . The data from the courses was analyzed as to the nature of the cross-disciplines, level of offering (graduate vs. undergraduate), geographical location, level of collaboration (number of instructors), and the department(s) offering the course.
A comprehensive re-visioning of curricular structure to encourage collaborative teaching of integrative courses and programs is needed. Suggested actions include specific ideas to enhance networking and visibility, sharing of syllabi and course materials, and a research effort to demonstrate the effectiveness of cross-disciplinary art-science-humanities courses.
This preliminary study points the way towards further efforts in curricular design and research that will be required for cross-disciplinary arts-science-humanities courses to be integrated into the college curriculum.
View the full paper here
Kathryn Evans, Senior Lecturer in Music, School of Arts and Humanities,
kcevans@utdallas.edu
website
Roger Malina, Professor and Associate Director, Arts and Technology (ATEC), and CNRS Aix-Marseille University. School of Arts and Humanities,
roger.malina@utdallas.edu
website
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