Defining Interdisciplinary Course Structures
The term “interdisciplinary” is quite often misunderstood or is taken as some very large and very vague idea. Courses that are often thought of as interdisciplinary are sometimes multidisciplinary, cross-disciplinary or adisciplinary. Below is an effort to distinguish between these structures. I have borrowed Carolyn Haynes’ metaphor of ice cream, which, like these structures, is just basically good—but it comes in many varieties that produce very different results.
- MULTIDISCIPLINARY
- CROSS-DISCIPLINARY
- ADISCIPLINARY
- INTERDISCIPLINARY
Definition from the Association for Integrative Studieshttp://www.units.muohio.edu/aisorg/syllabi/index.shtml
Interdisciplinarity Studies:
"Address a topic that is too broad or complex to be dealt with adequately by a single discipline or profession"
"Draw on different disciplinary perspectives"
"Integrate their insights through construction of a more comprehensive perspective"
Klein and Newell (Handbook of the Undergraduate Curriculum, 1997)