Interdisciplinary Education Resources

We have created and gathered several resources for teaching effective collaboration and teamwork. Some of these documents were created as part of one of the Knowledge Integration courses, INTEG 410: Interdisciplinary Collaboration (formerly INTEG 475), taught by Katie Plaisance.

MMIT Definitions
  • Defines mono-, multi-,inter-, and trans-disciplinarity (MMIT).
  • Offers examples of each one, along with further resources.

  • Website created by students in INTEG 475: Interdisciplinary Collaboration (now INTEG 410).
  • Includes definitions of key terms such as multi, inter, and transdisciplinarity; interactional expertise; and various patterns of collaboration.

  • Overview of four interdisciplinary realms: interdisciplinary knowledge, interdisciplinary research, interdisciplinary education, & interdisciplinary theory
  • Criteria for ranking interdisciplinary richness

Suggested readings

  • Boix Mansilla, Veronica (2005). “Assessing Student Work at Disciplinary Crossroads.” Change, pp. 14–21.
  • Eigenbrode et al. (2007). “Employing Philosophical Dialogue in Collaborative Science.” Bioscience, 57: 55-64.
  • Epstein, Susan L. (2014). “Making Interdisciplinary Collaboration Work.”In Interdisciplinary Collaboration: An Emerging Cognitive Science, Derry et al. (Eds.), Psychology Press.
  • Klein, Julie Thompson (2005). Interdisciplinary Teamwork: The Dynamics of Collaboration and Integration. Psychology Press.
  • Leavy, Patricia (2012). “Evaluation Strategies and the Future of Transdisciplinarity.” Essentials of Transdisciplinary Research: Using Problem-Centered Methodologies, Left Coast Press.  
  • Leavy, Patricia (2012). “Transdisciplinarity: Disciplinary to Transdisciplinary Knowledge-Building.” Essentials of Transdisciplinary Research: Using Problem-Centered Methodologies, Left Coast Press.
  • Miller et al. (2008), “Epistemological Pluralism: Reorganizing Interdisciplinary Research.” Ecology and Society, 13: 46.
  • Nissani, Moti (1995). “Fruits, Salads, and Smoothies: A Working Definition of Interdisciplinarity.” Journal of Educational Thought, 29: 119-126. .
  • Repko, Allen. “Defining Interdisciplinary Studies.” In Introduction to Interdisciplinary Studies, Repko et al. (Eds.), Sage Publishing, 2008.