Issues in interdisciplinary teaching and learning

John Canning

Subject Centre for Languages, Linguistics and Area Studies

University of Southampton

Area Studies

• “Area Studies is a generic term applied to the study of the society or societies of a given geographical space” QAA

• e.g American Studies, European Studies, African Studies

• Multidisciplinary or interdisciplinary

Disciplines of Area Studies

• Social Sciences e.g. economics, geography, politics, sociology

• Arts and humanities e.g. history, modern languages, Literature

• Area Studies Project SCs. LLAS, Economics, English, GEES, HCA, C-SAP

Encouraging interdisciplinary

• Subject Centres (many cover 2+ subjects).

• Subject Centre collaboration

• CETLs

• Interdisciplinary/ Joint/ Combined/ Major- Minor degree schemes

Discipline

• Tribes with identities and cultural attributes. Becher (1989)

• Guild/ religious community, vocation, lifelong commitment (Parker 2002).

• Cf: Subject= knowledge acquisition

Rationales for interdisciplinary teaching

De Zure (online)

• Life is interdisciplinary (social problems AIDS, crime, poverty).

• Overcomes artificial fragmentation of knowledge.

Rationales for interdisciplinary teaching (continued)

• Interdisciplinary needs of the workplace.

• Share knowledge and resources between departments.

• Technological change has changed ways knowledge organised.

Barriers to interdisciplinarity

• Learning styles (Kolb)

• Student socialisation

• Institutional structures

• Assessment

Learning styles (Kolb)

Student socialisation into disciplines

• Academic ‘stars’.

• Key research journals

• Disciplinary histories and ‘heroic myths’.

Institutional structures

• Multiple departments- issues of student (and staff) identities.

• Programmes vulnerable to staff changes in contributing departments

• Pastoral and academic support must be well worked out.

Curriculum and Assessment

• Area Studies Benchmarking statement supposes contributing disciplines decide appropriate assessment.

• Teaching staff teach and assess from own discipline.

Curriculum and Assessment (cont)

• Lack of differentiation learning outcomes.

• Lower attainment of non-specialists (?)• Resistance to teaching non-

specialists. Concerns about ‘watering down’/ ‘dumbing down’.

Opportunities for interdisciplinary teaching

• New schools/ faculties lead to opportunities for interdisciplinary programmes in one department.

• Traditional interdisciplinary courses such as PPE suggest quality not compromised.

Opportunities for interdisciplinary teaching (cont)

• Interdisciplinary CETLs.

• Possibilities for students without traditional ‘A’ levels.

• Employability