Issues in Interdisciplinary Studies Volume 26 (2008)
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Item Collaboration: How Japanese Poetry Can Help Tech Writers(Association for Interdisciplinary Studies, 2008) Szostak, Rick; Repko, AllenCollaborative writing is often important for interdisciplinary teaching, interdisciplinary research, and technical communication. Interdisciplinarians can thus benefit from recognizing several key problems that plague collaborative writing initiatives and identifying strategies for addressing these. This paper draws on the practice of collaboration in Japanese poetry to suggest strategies for dealing with the most common problems in collaborative writing.Item Using Systems Thinking to Improve Interdisciplinary Learning Outcomes: Reflections on a Pilot Study in Land Economics(Association for Interdisciplinary Studies, 2008) Szostak, Rick; Repko, AllenSystems thinking is an inquiry-based method of learning that uses the technique of perspective-taking, fosters holistic thinking, and engages in belief-testing. This paper describes a pilot study in an undergraduate Land Economics course that investigated how systems thinking could be used to facilitate the process of interdisciplinary integration. Results suggest that systems thinking is well suited for this purpose.Item Developing an Integrated Arts and Media Studies Curriculum: One Model(Association for Interdisciplinary Studies, 2008) Szostak, Rick; Repko, AllenThe arts and media studies have received less attention than other disciplines by advocates of integrative pedagogy and learning. This paper examines one attempt to correct this oversight--the development of an integrated arts and media studies curriculum in The Department of Visual and Performing Arts at Rutgers University-Newark. The examination includes a discussion of the soon-to-be instituted interdisciplinary curriculum (Fall 2009) built around varying degrees of engagement with the urban community surrounding the campus, a brief history of how the curriculum was developed, the theoretical rationale supporting it, and a discussion of the curriculum's larger social agenda that was shaped by the ideas of Elliot W. Eisner, Stanford professor of art and education, and Richard Florida, social scientist and economist.Item Comments on Interdisciplinarity, Higher Education and Public Policy on the 30th Anniversary of the Association for Integrative Studies. Delivered in Springfield, Illinois, October 24, 2008.(Association for Interdisciplinary Studies, 2008) Szostak, Rick; Repko, AllenAfter giving recognition to the key contributors to the success of the Association for Integrative Studies over the last 30 years, the speaker applies the three perspectives of his field, international political economy, to the conference themes of interdisciplinarity, higher education, and public policy. The three perspectives are free market, institutionalism, and historical materialism.Item The Intertwined History of Interdisciplinary Undergraduate Education and the Association for Integrative Studies: An Insider's View(Association for Interdisciplinary Studies, 2008) Szostak, Rick; Repko, AllenThis article separately chronicles the history of the Association for Integrative Studies and the history of interdisciplinary undergraduate education in the United States from the 1960s through the first decade of the new millennium. The chronicles are separated into decades and told from the author's viewpoint as a continuous participant in those events.