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Crossing Disciplinary Boundaries and Forging Collaborations. Ways boundaries crossed. Personal relationships Assigned ambassadors to build/expand cross-disciplinary network Delivery of practical results Joint appointments across disciplines
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Ways boundaries crossed • Personal relationships • Assigned ambassadors to build/expand cross-disciplinary network • Delivery of practical results • Joint appointments across disciplines • Leveraging existing “bridge” programs/ organizations (e.g., MESA) • Exploit natural overlaps (culture, size, background) of departments, individual faculty
Obstacles encountered • No room in curriculum for X (minimize X) seamless, painless integration • Departmental reluctance to share faculty with other department • K12 resistance to innovation (standards driven) • Latency in starting project – takes time to build connections (project durations too short??)
Strategies to overcome obstacles • Out of necessity, reduce #modules produced to minimize disruption to existing curricula • Opportunistic – tag along with planned changes • Shove content into senior design projects • Encourage junior faculty to insist on greater collaboration (grass roots) • Rethink curricula, escape bondage to “content”
Challenges when working with faculty and students • Students: lack interpersonal skills/values that prevent meaningful student-student collaboration • Students still need to be motivated to enroll in cross-disciplinary courses • Adjustments to course prerequisites need to be negotiated • Being limited to incremental changes creates a barrier to significant, radical change.
Unexpected outcomes • Negative: • Low enrollment • CT resistance – misconception that CT is for CS only, not important to the general student • Positive • Positive reaction by HS teachers • Surprising interest, enrollment by students in social sciences • Cross-disciplinary teams (CDT) are immersive, positive experiences for students • CDTs stimulate development of communication skills that are ignored elsewhere in curriculum
Ways CPATH community can help • Share discussions of this type with the broader community • Resistance to change caused by the fear that curriculum changes may affect ABET accreditation: if this is a misconception, clarification is needed. • Encourage non-CS areas to take leading role in CPATH (e.g., Health Info Mgmt) • Take the message to deans, administrators (principals in K12)
