“Curriculum in the Cracks: Encouraging Cross-Disciplinary and Art-Science-Humanities Teaching” presented by Malina, Nawar, Nazir and Evans

Symposium:

• ISEA2018: 24th International Symposium on Electronic Art

• In Between the Cracks (panel)

• Curriculum in the Cracks: Encouraging Cross-Disciplinary and Art-Science-Humanities Teaching

• Roger F. Malina
• Haytham Nawar
• Cassini Nazir
• Kathryn Evans

Venue(s):

• DUT City Campus, Durban, South Africa

• The CDASH (Curriculum Development in the Arts, Sciences and Humanities) website was established in 2012 by Kathryn Evans and Roger Malina as a both a resource for faculty who engaged in or were interested in engaging in art-science-humanities curriculum; and as a data collection point where these types of curriculum could be surveyed for innovation and sustainability. The site currently contains over 150 courses from all over the world. The results were analyzed in 2014 and published in LEA (Leonardo Electronic Abstracts).

  The CDASH website re-launched in the Fall of 2016 at cdash.atec.io/ with several new features that will facilitate contributions and the analysis of crossdisciplinary curriculum. The new site has created a Cloud Curriculum of syllabi and assessment tools and a Cloud Curriculum Working Group to contribute, analyze and develop these areas. The impact of cross-disciplinary curriculum on student learning and creativity has not been studied in depth. This kind of curriculum often lives “in the cracks”, between traditional disciplines and departments. This panel will discuss the following questions:

  1. Are students who have taken cross-disciplinary art-science-humanities courses more accepting or interested or explorative of areas outside their majors? Are they more innovative? Can they think “outside the box’? Can they become members of the “creative class”?
  2. How do you design assessment of these kinds of courses that gives equal weight to both (or many) disciplines? How can the current theories in the science of learning help create meaningful evaluation procedures?
  3. Are there differences in collaborative art-science-humanities teaching and learning in different countries and educational systems?
  4.  What are the challenges that cross-disciplinary curriculum faces in the current educational environment?
  5. What factors lead to sustainability and success of such courses and programs?
  6. How can institutions of higher learning encourage art-science collaborations in both teaching and research?
  7. How is art-science education structured in primary/secondary institutions and in informal education?

  The Cloud Curriculum Working Group will begin discussing these issues and others at the formal launch of the CDASH website in early 2018. These issues will be discussed in advance of the panel discussion at ISEA in June of 2018 through a collaborative mechanism on the website. In addition, new data from the CDASH website will be presented, including courses of interest, level of collaboration, departments offering the courses and evidence of sustainability.  cdash.atec.io

• [View Full Paper/Presentation]

Category:

• Panel