Request for Proposals Interdisciplinary Teaching Collaboration Spring/Summer 2007

Preamble

In the past, CIS has successfully supported the development of team-taught interdisciplinary courses. However, many of our interdisciplinary courses are not team-taught. This RFP is meant to support solo interdisciplinary teaching by encouraging interdisciplinary collaboration.

In a course where one professor represents different or multiple perspectives as well as their integration, it is common for the course to be weighted toward the professor’s “home” discipline. Think of the sporting world—whitewater kayakers have an onside and offside roll; there’s a forehand and a backhand, a right hook and a left. Rarely are these of equal strength. Through interdisciplinary conversation, we wish to promote more articulate ambidexterity in the classroom.

Process

CIS invites proposals from collaborative teams comprised of the “course professor” in the “home” discipline and the “consulting professor” in the “away” discipline. We encourage proposals from course professors in either cross-listed or single discipline courses.

  1. In the initial conversations, the course professor will provide the consulting professor with a complete picture of the course, including syllabus, outcomes, materials, methods, etc.
  2. The consulting professor will examine the totality of the course and offer suggestions aimed at further integrating his or her discipline into the course.
  3. The course professor will receive the suggestions and consider making changes aimed at more effective interdisciplinarity.
  4. The “deliverable” will be a brief, join report delivered to CIS outlining both the consultation and the response.
  5. Each participant will receive a stipend of $500.

CIS intends the process to promote new and supportive interdisciplinary relationships. By providing an incentive to conversation, we hope that faculty members take this opportunity to provide and receive more substantive feedback on courses than what normally occurs through peer “classroom visits.” The resulting report and the documentation of changes might thus become evidence of teaching effectiveness.

Timeline

  1. Proposals due: February 2, 2007.
  2. Proposals evaluated by an interdisciplinary committee of faculty members the week of February 5, with immediate notification of awards.
  3. Collaborations take place during the remainder of Spring 07 or during the summer.-
  4. Reports due to CIS: August 24, 2007
To Be Included In the Proposal
  1. List the course number and title, the course professor (and discipline) and the consulting professor (and discipline).
  2. Include a one-paragraph statement of purpose from each professor outlining what the course could gain from a more integrative approach.
  3. Date of submission.
  4. Signatures of the proposers.

Evaluation Criteria

  1. Priority will be given to faculty members who have not previously received CIS funding.
  2. Priority will be given to interdisciplinary collaborations (as distinguished from intra-disciplinary ones in which the disciplines are already closely aligned).
  3. Do the statements of purpose show the potential for effective evaluation and pedagogical growth?

Send Proposals To:

Brad Monsma
Professor of English
Director, Center for Integrative Studies
Brad.Monsma@csuci.edu

Funded Proposals:

COMM 442 Organizational Communication
Course Professor: Trudy Milburn
Consulting Professor: Paul Rivera

MGT 424 Organizational Behavior
Course Professor: Andrew Morris
Consulting Professor: Virgil Adams

BIOL 401 Biotechnology and Recombinant DNA Techniques
Course Professor: Nitika Parmar
Consulting Professor: Pamela Price Klebaum (Law)

SPAN/PA Interdisciplinary proposal
Course Professor: Luda Popenhagen
Consulting Professor: Terry Ballman

POL/EDUC 431 Educational Policy and Politics
Course Professor: Scott Frisch
Consulting Professor: Tiina Itkonen

MATH 329 Statistics for Business and Economics
Course Professor: Kathryn Leonard
Consulting Professor: Paul Rivera

HIST 369 California History and Culture
Course Professor: Joseph Moreno
Consulting Professor: Sean Carswell

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