Hello, everyone! Samantha Epstein, here. This week we are focusing on Interdisciplinarity and Integration. Integration is the uniting or blending of disciplines or academic areas to form a new, functioning whole. Integration is the main focus and goal of Interdisciplinary Studies, and without it no advancements or new understandings would be possible. When we integrate our areas of study, we are critically evaluating and combining perspectives, methods and knowledge of these areas to form a new degree, all-together. A great way of explaining IDS and integration is the smoothie metaphor. The areas of study/disciplines are the fruits that are blended together. The actual smoothie itself, is the interdisciplinary outcome because each fruit was blended, or integrated to make it into this new delicious product. No longer can the distinct taste of each fruit be detected, instead the focus is now on the new taste of the smoothie, as a whole.
The integrative process can get messy. In fact, you should expect it to. This simply means that sometimes the attempt at integration will succeed only partially, or not even at all. The best interdisciplinary projects result from a research process that works through tensions and contradictions between disciplinary systems of knowledge with the goal of interdisciplinary understanding. With this being said, don't be discouraged if the pieces of the integrative process do not fit at first. Especially, because integration is not like putting a regular puzzle together. Instead, it is like working with pieces from many different puzzles, mixed together, with no picture for guidance.
So, integration can kind of seem a little confusing at first, right? Don't worry, you are not alone. When I was starting the cornerstone class I was bewildered by all of this IDS terminology. Now that I have reached the capstone course and have had some time to reflect on these concepts, I can honestly say that I feel comfortable with interdisciplinarity and the idea of integration. In fact, I think that explaining integration in a job interview may have the possible employer fascinated and interested with how I could apply this knowledge at their company. Now just imagine all of the amazing career opportunities available for the IDS student. There are no other majors out there that can offer such a wide range of career opportunities. Employers will be eager to see what IDS graduates can offer their companies, especially because these graduates have experience creating exciting projects and ideas that incorporate the very different skills and talents available across disciplines.
My areas of studies are Public Affairs and Social/Behavioral Science, with a minor in Technical Education and Industry Training. I hope to find a career that will enable me to integrate many of the concepts and ideas from my areas of study. I believe that a career with a public agency, such as the Department of Children and Families would be a great opportunity to integrate my areas. DCF is a public agency, so I would be able to apply what I learned in public affairs, especially with public policy and leadership. Social/Behavioral Science would also be a major part of a career with DCF because I would be working with and around people from diverse backgrounds. There would also be many psychological concepts and theories applied everyday. Incorporating your areas of study into one career would the ultimate integrative experience for the IDS grad.
Currently, I am a teacher in early childhood education. My favorite part of this job is creating art with my preschoolers. I start an art project by taking out supplies like, paint, construction paper, and scissors. Then, my students and I use and integrate each art supply into the “new whole”, which is the finished art project.
By using integration in my daily activities, I feel that the possibilities are endless in my future. As I said above, I plan to present my knowledge of integration to prospective employers, to show them that I can blend an abundant amount of concepts, ideas, and methods, from multiple areas to develop the most original work project, or solution to a problem. I believe that integration gives IDS graduates a competitive edge in their college education, over other graduates who just focused on a single discipline. This plain to see because:
*Majoring in a single discipline can blind the graduate to the broader context
*Specialization tends to produce tunnel vision
*Single disciplinarians sometimes to fail to appreciate other disciplinary prospectives
*Unique topics worth studying can sometimes fall in the gaps that are between disciplines
*A single discipline is unlikely to address a complex problem comprehensively
Now that you are more familiar with integration, reply to the following questions:
How have or haven't you integrated your areas and minor?
Why is integration important in terms of professional, academic, and personal development?
Can you have interdisciplinarity without integration?
Works cited:
Repko, Allen. (2008). Interdisciplinary Research: Process and Theory. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage publications.
How have or haven't you integrated your areas and minor?
ReplyDeleteI have integrated my areas and minor by using my communication skills within my political science classes. It is much easier to convey a point now that I have learned how to use concise words, well structured sentences, and correct grammar. By doing so, I save myself a lot of time and anguish in trying to get a point across regarding a certain topic. Also, my acumen as far as deciphering documents goes, it has become much easier since I have learned how to be critical of various writings.
Why is integration important in terms of professional, academic, and personal development?
By being able to integrate various forms of professional, academic, and personal aspects of one's life, it is much easier to show versatility and range. On many occasions in my own life I have met many people who may seem to be book smart but lack the professional characteristics that are so coveted within the business world. Furthermore, by being able to progress with one self's personality, it opens up many more doors as interaction in and out of the business world become so much easier.
Can you have interdisciplinarity without integration?
I do not believe so. In order to for one to be interdisciplinary, there has to be some level of integration. The entire structure and purpose of interdisciplinary studies is having the ability to use various subjects in an individual manner. When looked at closely, all subjects are related in one way or another. For example, my acumen thorough my studies with English have helped me show a crossover in my studies of Political Science, as I have become familiar with communication and how pivotal it is.
Originally posted Scott Pollack.
Moved from "Posts" to "Comments by John Seybert
Hi Samantha,
ReplyDeleteMy areas and minor work well together - letters and modern languages, humanities and political science. Strong communication skills are critical and cross all disciplines. Philosophy, humanities and religious studies blend in with political science. It's like one giant fruit smoothie.
I enjoyed - and appreciated - your "teaching children art" analogy.
Lisa Schmidt
John~ I have to say that I agree with you 100% on why integration is important for our professional, academic, and personal development. It's true that people can develop "tunnel vision" as Samantha said previously, and only see a situation from one point of view. Having a background in different disciplines does put us ahead in the business world, and allow us to solve more complex problems.
ReplyDeleteI don't believe that you can have interdisciplinary without integration. The whole idea of interdisciplinary means merging multiple disciplines together, thus integration. Without it there would be no interdisciplinary.
Kylee Jones
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteJonathan said...
ReplyDeleteYes Kylee, I agree integration is necessary for interdisciplinarity. Synthesis is something that the Western educational system has attempted with the liberal education but how successful it has been is questionable. Integration by default activates critical thinking--multiple perspectives, contexts and non-linear perception.
I hope to integrate my areas and minor in the teaching profession. History, Letters, and Behavioral/Social Sciences will meld or integrate and hopefully make me an effective tool as I attempt to "offer" History at the community college level. The sciences will give me insights on motivation and group dynamics and interaction which are the tentpoles of the classroom. Letters offer historical views and contexts of culture and humanity which will be valuable in the latter's repect, along with writing and composition skills which I can transmit and develop in my students tangential to the core of history. I hope in the least interdisciplinarity will expand my impact and range not only in the classroom but in my personal life as well, and in interacting with professional peers.
Jonathan Harris
How have or haven't you integrated your areas and minor?
ReplyDeleteI am combining my study of people with a study of culture to allow me to better understand people of all nationalities. This will allow me to more effectively communicate with foreign people because I will be better able to cultural significance put into perspective by all human commonalities.
Why is integration important in terms of professional, academic, and personal development?
Integration in all parts of life is important because it makes a whole instead of a bunch of parts. It allows an individual to act with with broader comprehension and lets that individual understand others perspective.
Can you have interdisciplinarity without integration?
No. with out integration having multiple disciplines is exactly that.
I think integration is critical in terms of professional, academic and personal development. @Johnathan said it nicely: "By being able to integrate various forms of professional, academic, and personal aspects of one's life, it is much easier to show versatility and range. On many occasions in my own life I have met many people who may seem to be book smart but lack the professional characteristics that are so coveted within the business world."
ReplyDeleteHaving been in the work force 20+ years, I know how much employers value critical thinkers. The want employees who think, evaluate, organize, and solve problems. I love that our IDS program emphasizes critical thinking!
Lisa Schmidt
How have or haven't you integrated your areas and minor?
ReplyDeleteI haven't integrated my areas with my minor yet. I know that's something I need to work on in the next few months, but for now my minor is simply something that interests me and wasn't selected for its strategic alignment with the areas of focus. In the next month or so I plan on making an appointment with an advisor to talk through some options and try to come up with a more integrated choice for minor.
Why is integration important in terms of professional, academic, and personal development?
I feel it is important because it teaches problem solving instead of solely theory or technique application. Many problems I have encountered throughout my career were made worse by someone treating the signs and symptoms of the problem because that was the only way they knew to solve problems. It's not that anyone was negligent; it was because their education and their approach to problems conditioned them to have a very limited perspective and thus their scope of knowledge was very limited.
However I do feel there are some cases where it is more appropriate for one to specialize in a particular discipline. I prefer my lawyer to have concentrated on law in law school and not just have one semester of law, one semester of computer science, etc.
Back to the original question. Is integration important? It could be, but it all depends on how one intends to implement the knowledge. I would prefer to say it can be important, but shouldn't be considered all important.
Can you have interdisciplinarity without integration?
I guess the pure answer would be no if we reflect back to the smoothie analogy. I'm not convinced right now that my minor absolutely must be integrated with my areas of study. I think it's acceptable for there to be degrees of interdisciplinarity in the larger scope. In a total body of work there may be integration in the main components and then another component that is not integrated. I couldn't imagine refusing to pay for a milkshake because the whipped cream on top wasn't blended (integrated) into the shake. I prefer the milkshake to have integrated components (milk, ice cream, etc) but I prefer the whipped cream and cherry on top to not be integrated into the shake. I see the advantages of being interdisciplinary, but I don't feel everything I study must be integrated simply because I am an interdisciplinary studies student.
-William Powell
@John Seybert,
ReplyDeleteI think you gave a very good example in your first paragraph of how your integrate your areas of study. I think it's great that you have the ability to apply your communication classes in your political science classes.
It's amazing how poor communication skills can be so detrimental both professionally and personally.
-William Powell
@Samantha
ReplyDeleteKudos to you for wanting to go into public service. I can definitely see interdisciplinary studies and an interdisciplinary approach being a great asset in a career of public service. It's amazing how many variables one faces in situations when in public service. DCF is a great example of a place where complex problems need attention. There can be many options that appear to be solutions to a complex problem. Some of those options will help for a while, but the problem will return. Some of those options will make the problem worse very quickly. Somewhere in the mix is a combination of options which, if applied correctly, will resolve the core of the problem instead of simply masking the symptoms. That's where I see IDS being the key for you. I think you'll have that multifaceted perspective to seek that ideal combination of options to solve problems instead of going for quick band-aids to simply clear cases and improve stats.
-William Powell
My career field is in Instructional Systems Design and because there is no ISD bachelor’s degree, integration via the IDS degree is needed. I am currently taking a combination of Psychology and Education with a minor in English writing. These three integrated have the best shot at creating a degree path that will prepare me best for a graduate’s degree in the field of ISD. Integration is necessary to combine to a specified field. Granted, one has much to offer by taking the IDS degree path- however, you do need to make some fine tuning adjustments to tailor your degree around. At the same time, integration shows that one is more creative and accessible than someone with a traditional degree (to a certain difference, I am not necessarily bashing those who take a traditional path). But academic wise, it is interesting to take the IDS route because of the freedom it offers. Freedom can be found in the aspect, also, that integration is not a requirement for the IDS path. One can take two separate tracks of his or her favorite areas of study and go forth from there. I am unsure of whether they are limiting their options without having some form of integration in mind- but I am not ready to say it is mandatory. This, of course, is just my opinion.
ReplyDelete@Bill Powell: I like your response to the question: Can you have interdisciplinary without integration? I agree, that interdisciplinary usually requires integration, but that it shouldn't always have to. And, we might not always want it to. The milkshake analogy explained it well!
ReplyDeleteLisa Schmidt
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ReplyDelete@Lisa:
ReplyDeleteI have an appreciation for your comment that when it comes to integration and interdisciplinarity you want "employees who think, evaluate, organize, and solve problems." I have come to see in the workplace that this is of the utmost importance and can potentially be the deciding factor as to whether an employer keeps you on or not.
Scott Pollack
Jonathan I like how you have brought up synthesis and whether it has worked or not thus far. I agree with you but I think the biggest problem is the approach in which teachers and students alike take to education. I have never understood how a person with one major doesn't feel the need to cross over and become familiar with a topic that is totally unrelated. An example, ask a business major the last time they read a book not having to do with finance.
ReplyDeleteScott Pollack
mdseimer:
ReplyDeleteI am very in tune with your stance on integration. You said "integration in all parts of life is important because it makes a whole instead of a bunch of parts. It allows an individual to act with with broader comprehension...." I like how you have split things up to make it show how it helps the whole become stronger. The reinforcement is also vital to ID study and one cannot waver from that.
Scott Pollack
Lisa and Bill--but another component, which we read this week re: Newell and Benson is we may be chasing a wild goose in discussing integrating them because the real issue and "most fruitful" conceptualization of interdisciplinarity is "the problem-solving" aspect in the context of projects. So we're faced with multiple interpretations of the concept. Of course by integrating we become more "useful tools" and hopefully productive within the project, whatever it may happen to be.
ReplyDeleteThus, depending on what we're confronted with determines our ability or capacity to participate. Plus we're dealing with apples and oranges as well when there is a quote unquote bona-fide IDS course such as Woman's Studies, or Environmental Studies, or what many of us are doing in putting together 3 areas. IDS takes on many different meanings. What's the point? I guess keep an open mind.
-Jonathan Harris
Samantha said: "With this being said, don't be discouraged if the pieces of the integrative process do not fit at first. Especially, because integration is not like putting a regular puzzle together. Instead, it is like working with pieces from many different puzzles, mixed together, with no picture for guidance"
ReplyDeleteI was thinking today at work about this. I took one of my disciplines, my history minor, and considered it. What is taught is a vexing issue for me and as I plan to teach it--the more vexing it becomes. I visualized a grid and how it oculd be plotted. Usually it is taught chronologically, or linear and in political, socio-cultural, and economic terms. Markers or specific events are taught (plotted)so the student has a general frame (work) of what transpired. The grid-spacing is wide (obviousley) and any detail or depth can be achieved by narrowing the grid-spacing.
On a meta-grid, each discipline would be located above or below the other and they could never integrate. (I'm just thinking)....
Assuming one is going chronologically. Blah, Blah.....I can't find a way to plot integration. The only way is to overlay...I got an A in algebra and statistics but my synapsai contemplating this are shooting blue and gold sparks in by vision field. So I'll adjourn and think about this some more.
Jonathan Harris
I chose Education and Psychology as my areas of study because I feel they integrate pretty well. They will allow me the experience to handle lots of individual situations from multiple angles. Being an aspiring teacher, Psychology is a very important knowledge base to possess.
ReplyDeleteInterdisiplinarity can be achieved without integration, but the end result will be far less effective. Without integrating the multiple disciplines and allowing their theories to intermingle, the student is simply a multi-fascited academic. By integrating the
Integration is important because it gives the student a broader foundation on which to build their education and growth. From a professional standpoint, the integration of study gives the student a leg up on "single" minded competition. By integrating the multiple areas of study, the student can be better prepared for any issues that may arise.