Embedding general education in the Chinese university education system is a considerably complex systemic project, and a lack of institutional arrangements beneficial to general education has always been a key barrier in implementation. Currently, the main institutional restricting factors for university general education include substantial…

Students who engage in undergraduate research experiences acquire many benefits, including an understanding of how scientific knowledge is constructed, recognition that knowledge can be complex and uncertain, and the habit of viewing knowledge critically. This paper describes a first-year two-course sequence that provides multidisciplinary…

The authors designed and ran a crash course on emotional robotics involving students from both the Information Engineering School and the Design School of Politecnico di Milano, Milan, Italy. The course consisted of two intensive days of short introductory lessons and lab activity, done in interdisciplinary groups and supported by a well-equipped…

Over the past twenty years, universities have increasingly employed credit-­based modular curriculum structures in an attempt to cater to the needs of more diverse student groups and to allow students greater flexibility and choice in managing their studies. With the increasing pressures placed on Australian universities to better support teaching…

This paper reflects upon the development of a multidisciplinary lesson plan aimed at developing science skills for Physics and Astronomy, Geographical and Earth Sciences, and Chemistry students at a research intensive Scottish university. The lesson plan was co-developed with a small group of staff and undergraduate students from these…

This article explores the history and development of interdisciplinarity within the Australian context. Conditions and circumstances for the emergence of interdisciplinary approaches are explored with discussion identifying how these approaches impact and shape national curriculum, teachers' practice and pedagogy. Policies, proposals, and debate…

In this essay, the authors argue that linked-course learning communities serve students at nonresidential metropolitan public universities by increasing their academic achievement, reducing their attrition, and engaging them in the project of public education. They use a winter 2004 research project to argue that linked courses create supportive…

A limited approach to team teaching at the college level is described and assessed. Two instructors with solo assignments collaborated to teach a single instructional unit across separate sections of an interdisciplinary course. The experience demonstrated that small-scale joint teaching can have significant advantages while avoiding the practical…

In some colleges and universities, linguistics does not have a positive image. This is due in part to the number of students that struggle through linguistic theory that they will forget once the examination or course is over. However, instructors can make linguistics courses serving primarily nonmajors more attractive by omitting certain topics…

Describes a team-taught college course designed to develop philosophical literacy among students as groundwork for future humanities courses. Unifying motif was "dialog" between faculty from different areas of expertise; the concept of philosophy as dialog; and the student-teacher relationship as dialog. Discusses course design, lessons learned,…

The Service Learning Writing Project at Michigan State University links service-learning and writing instruction. Students read and discuss American literary and historical texts, write academic analyses of ideas, and practice peer editing and revision in small workshops, while working in service placements in community and nonprofit…