Conclusion: Integrating Interdisciplinary Pedagogies

Abstract

Synthesizing the best practices and lessons learned from collaborative interdisciplinary classrooms, this chapter offers a retrospective of student experience, discussing how this pedagogical strategy effectively promotes self-authorship, manifested through the learners’ ability to reflect and base judgments on their knowledge and interdisciplinary understanding, as well as their ability to integrate multiple disciplines to accomplish a task. Free educational technologies were used to scaffold student learning via, for example, place-based learning in virtual worlds, using such features as integrating digital concept maps and three-dimensional virtual worlds. Despite the variability and unpredictability of individual experiences, student perspectives provide evidence for the unique challenges and distinct advantages of team-taught interdisciplinary courses.