Interdisciplinarity in the Real World

Here we are in Week 4! You guys have been doing really well so far, so keep up the good work!

You may be asking yourself, "OMG WHAAAT IS THE POINT OF THIS?" Well, the reason we study a subject is to be able to use what we learn in real-world situations. Applying our acquired knowledge is the whole point of going to college! With that said, think about your disciplines and how you would integrate them in order to apply them to what it is you want to do.

This week’s post is about inderdisciplinarity in the real world. Keep this in mind as you answer the following questions:

•How do you apply your interdisciplinarity in daily situations?
•What is interdisciplinarity not?
•Who do you know who has an interdisciplinary profession? If you can't think of someone personal, discuss someone famous.
•How are you integrating your disciplines, or are you?

After you’ve answered the above questions, consider this: in the very first blog post back in Week 1, you analyzed two pictures (a smoothie and a fruit salad) and explained how they are or are not good representations of interdisciplinarity. Now, come up with your own example! What would be a different metaphor you could use to explain interdisciplinary studies? Be creative, and make sure you’re giving an example of interdisciplinarity, not multidisciplinarity!


Be sure to answer everything clearly and concisely. Also, remember to comment on at least two other posts!

Critical Thinking

Hello everyone, this week’s topic of discussion is critical thinking. When the term critical thinking comes up I don’t automatically think about my major in college, but a problem that has to be solved. But isn’t that what being an Interdisciplinary Studies major is all about? We have the opportunity to create a major that will give us the flexibility to define specifically what we want to do. As cornerstone students you have probably thought long and hard about what this degree looks like for you and how you are going to use it to solve problems, but here is some food for thought…how will you incorporate philosophy and ethics into your degree?

Below is a link to a tool for you to discover just that, it’s called the virtual philosopher. So take a few minutes to go through the activity. Then answer the following question in 2-3 sentences each. Don’t forget to reply to other students as well.

Virtual Philosopher:

http://web.uncg.edu/dcl/courses/vicecrime/vp/vp.html

·         Be sure to note, at the end of the activity, whether or not your answers were consistent or inconsistent.

Questions:

1.       How does your critical thinking relate to being interdisciplinary?

2.       Comment on how the Virtual Philosopher scored your response. From the comments you received about your responses, what insight have you gained about your own critical thinking and reasoning?

3.       How does the outline of your critical thinking disposition match with the application of it in doing the Virtual Philosopher?

4.       Speaking of philosophers, the following is a quote by a philosopher about another philosopher:

“Aristotle was asked how much educated men are superior to uneducated: “As much,” he said, “as the living are to the dead”.- Diognes

Do you agree with what Aristotle said? Do you disagree? Explain your position. 

Week 2 Integration

1. Week 2 Integration

Hello Everyone, this week we going to talk about the topic of integration. Integration is a process that brings individuals or groups together. When I first came to UCF, I wanted a degree in business. I also had an interest in humanities and interpersonal/ organizational communications. I wanted to be able to study all of these, but I didn't know which one was the right choice for me. So I decided to make my major IDS, I got to use all of my choices, and I was able to integrate my major. By integrating my major, I found it helped me experience more ways to progress in my education and career course!

A news story that I find to be very interdisciplinary is the Occupy Wall Street movement. This current event is about the wealthy holding one percent of all the wealth in America and the ninety nine percent of Americans are not wealthy. Many people in that 99% are students with unpaid student loans, unemployed people looking for jobs, and people in financial difficulties. They are protesting all over the United States to make a stand against economic inequality. The Occupy Wall Street demonstrations have rallied many people who would like to see a change for Americans and less corporate greed.

Through my major of IDS I was able to integrate my areas of study and analyze this news story interdisciplinary. The Occupy Wall Street movement has many disciplines that it effects in many ways. For me I was able to integrate my areas of business, humanities, and I/O communications to take everything into consideration and look at this news story interdisciplinary. The Occupy Wall Street movement has many different views, and it is our job as interdisciplinarians to integrate those views together to form a diverse view!

Now it’s your turn please give us your thoughts on these questions: Write 2-3 sentences for each question. Post as a comment.

Also, make sure to respond to at least two other students posts.

• What is integration? What are examples?

• How have or haven't you integrated your areas and minor?

• Why is integration of areas/minor important in terms of professional, academic, and/or personal developing?

• How can your areas/minor be better integrated?

• Now think of a news story, past or present, and explain its interdisiplinarity or what an interdisciplinary solution might be.

Welcome!

So, here we are! Before we begin anything, allow us to introduce ourselves!

Hey guys! My name is Heather Austin and I’m an Interdisciplinary Studies major at UCF. I’m finally in my graduating semester and it sure does feel good (there IS a light at the end of the tunnel, I promise you!)! I chose the IS degree because I was initially a Business major, but I didn’t like what I was doing and didn't want to lose my credits if I switched to another major. Because of all this, IS was the PERFECT choice for me to switch to. My areas of concentration are Commerce and Letters and Modern Languages, and my minor is Education. I’ll also be graduating with the new undergraduate TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) certificate, as I’m an aspiring ESL/EFL teacher and wish to teach English overseas. But enough of that school stuff! In my off time, I really enjoy just hanging out and having a good time. Random facts about me: I love being around people, especially my family and friends, I really enjoy bowling and pool, music is my lifeline, and I have a slight obsession with wine (I work at a wine shop). I’m really looking forward to working with you all, and I’m sure we’ll learn a lot from each other! If you ever have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask. (Hint for the future: Keep everything you’ve done in your Cornerstone class because you’ll be able to recycle a lot of it when you get to Capstone ;-) )

My name is Melissa Olivarez and I am a full time student at U.C.F. My areas of concentration are in Business and Behavioral/Social Sciences. My minors are Organizational Communications and Entrepreneurship. I am graduating this semester and am super excited. I also work part time and I am a full-time mom of four children.
I am really outgoing and I love to help people. In my spare time I like to read the bible, pray, watch a movie, and I always love spending quality time with my kids; either going out or staying home for a good game of monopoly.
My decision for pursuing a degree in I.S. was primarily centered around the fact that I love so many different things. I have always been intrigued by communications because I am a real people person. Yet, I have also always wanted to own a business. So, I figured I would learn about people (which you have to deal with people in business) and I would become skilled in the area of business.
I look forward to working with you all this semester and I hope it will end up being a learning experience for all of us.

My name is Sandy Cilliac. I selected this major because of the opportunities and the doors I believe could open for me. My areas of studies are Business and Communications, with a minor in Health Administration. Though the term Interdisciplinary is not a buzz word in many people’s vocabulary, once you tell them that it usually is a gate way to starting a very interesting conversation. After graduation I intend on continuing my education in hopes of obtaining a masters in Healthcare Administration. I believe that my two areas of studies are relevant to my career and that both areas of studies will complement my master’s degree, which in the long runs will make me a stronger candidate in terms of my future employer’s eyes. For fun I enjoy traveling, spending time with family, shopping and giving back to my community by volunteering for some local groups. I am really looking forward to working with you guys!

Hello, My name is Sammy Barakat, and for fun I like to play basketball. I am an IDS major with a minor in interpersonal organizational communications. As IDS major I have two areas of study which are commerce and humanities. I love that I had the opportunity to have more than one major as being an IDS student. It has been a very interesting journey for me as an IDS student and I am glad that I choose IDS as my major!

Hello everyone! My name is Erik Hempe and I am a senior at UCF. I am looking forward to graduating in May as well as the upcoming baseball season. This is my second year at UCF. I am originally from Orange County, California, which is where I attended Cypress Community College. I transferred to UCF for a baseball scholarship and I have really enjoyed my time here. I chose an IDS major with the encouragement from my coaches and I look forward to helping other students in the major.

Hello! My name is Lauren Stroup and I have been married for nine years and have a seven year old son and a six year old daughter who keep me very busy. Between home and school life, I don’t know whether I am coming or going, as I’m sure many of you feel right now. Though at this juncture in my life, I do not get out very often; when I do, I like to check out local events, try to new restaurants, and explore my own backyard, so to speak. But my favorite thing to do is to spend time with family. I decided very late in my coursework to pursue Interdisciplinary Studies, and to be honest, I had no idea how it would shape my career plans when I started, if at all. I started out as a Business Major, then switched to Elementary Education, but later discovered that I wanted to teach upper-level and that I had a particular interest in literature; hence my content areas in Education and Commerce and my minor in Literature. I know, I know, where does the Commerce fit in? I thought the same thing. Well, I have decided to pull-out a sub-topic of Commerce (technology), which complements my other two very nicely, as it turns out, because of its' ability to boost student motivation and strengthen literacy skills. Although I initially thought my decision to select a degree in Interdisciplinary Studies was little more than a course correction to get me on the path to my desired career, I have been amazed at how wrong I was and thrilled to discover how much this field has to offer. I know that this field may seem confusing right now, but hold tight, everything will become clear, and you will soon better understand how your unique areas of interest can be infused to form something new and exciting! Good Luck to you and have a great semester!

Hi everyone! My name is Victoria, but I’m known to my friends as Tori. I love to be outside, whether it’s the beach, working out, picnics in the park, playing sports and learning new things (the most recent was riding dirt bikes!!). I love the IDS major because it fits my style but I am still unsure of how to appropriately market my degree and what I am actually going to do with it. I explain IDS to my friends and family by telling them it’s a major with freedom. It lets me choose what I want to study based on my interests. It’s cool because I’m molding a degree to fit me and not molding me to fit a degree! The advantages of being an IDS major, besides the freedom, is how broad or narrow you can make your degree. You can choose disciplines that complement each other, such as commerce and communications, or those that contrast, such as communications and biology. A disadvantage to being an IDS major is that it is all up to you. What I mean by that is you are not going to get a “Biology” or “Nursing” degree, something common that everyone understand. You get a degree that you need to learn to market and explain to others. Before becoming an IDS major I changed my major a total of 6 times!! I clearly was undecided in what I really wanted to do and had many different interests. When I finally learned about IDS I could use all those previous things I was interested in to create a degree that worked for me!

Now it's your turn -- time to get started!
-Who are you?
-What do you like to do for fun?
-What made you become an IS major?
-Is there anything you don't understand about your major?
-What are the advantages/disadvantages of an interdisciplinary education?
-How do you explain interdisciplinary studies to others?

Once you've answered the above questions, take a look at the two pictures below. There you'll see a delicious smoothie and a fresh fruit salad. Analyze both pictures and explain which one you think is more useful in explaining interdisciplinarity. Keep in mind, there are no true right or wrong answers for this -- we just want your humble opinions ;-)

(NOTE: Be sure to respond to the posts we'll being doing throughout the semester as a COMMENT, not as a brand new post! At the bottom of every post there is a link to the right that says "comments," so remember to click that and write your responses there ^_^ )