COURSE DESCRIPTION
This course explores transdisciplinary intelligence, the capacity to understand and collaborate in knowledge production and exchange with multiple experts and publics beyond a single field of knowledge. We’ll begin with a survey of key cultural differences among disciplines, and then present sets of skills and capabilities necessary for successful collaboration and professional boundary crossing, all through historical exemplars of transdisciplinary intelligence.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
At the end of this apprenticeship, you will be able to:
1) engage with the current trends, discourses, methods, and applications of transdisciplinarity;
2) thrive within diverse professional environments; and
3) understand, bridge, and translate knowledge between different disciplines and industries.
PROCESS
The structure of the apprenticeship follows the learning principles of:
- chunking, dividing the knowledge in graspable pieces;
- primacy, what’s presented first will be remembered more easily;
- recency, what’s presented last will also be remembered more easily;
- intensity, examples that connect to emotions and real life work better; and
- freedom, self-directed activities reinforce motivation and learning.
These principles inform the modules, which have the following general format:
- Presentation of first historical exemplar.
- Initial assessment to reveal previous knowledge and biases.
- Interactive connection of concepts and skills to first exemplar.
- Presentation of second historical exemplar.
- Iterative knowledge-check based upon second and first exemplars (“quiz”).
- Summary of knowledge.
- Call to Action to implementation activity in real life (“homework assignment”).
- Reflection/report regarding call of action (day later).
Exemplars have been picked not only for historical and thematic relevance, but also to accomplish diversified disciplinary and national representation, and gender parity.
Modules are intended to be taken over a 30-minute period at the beginning of a learning week, and use the rest of the days to implement/try out the activities provided in the Call to Action, then write a reflection/report on the activities to conclude the module.
Curriculum
- 14 Sections
- 80 Lessons
- 13 Weeks
- Module 0 - Introduction to Transdisciplinary Intelligence2
- Module 1 - Think like a Scientist8
- Module 2 - Think like an Engineer8
- Module 3 - Think like a Designer8
- Module 4 - Think like an Artist8
- Module 5 - Think like a Humanist8
- Module 6 - Think like an Entrepreneur8
- Module 7 - Think like an Educator8
- Module 8 - Think like a Mentor8
- Module 9 - Think like an Apprentice8
- Module 10 - Think like an Expert8
- Module 11 - Think like a Collaborator8
- Module 12 - Think like a Hybrid8
- Module 13 - Think like an Amphibian8
