Interdisciplinary Studies core curriculum development – Liberal Arts degree design. (Winter 2025)
As part of the ongoing phase 2 design of the new YukonU Liberal Arts degree in Interdisciplinary & Northern Studies, the most pressing task is to carefully design a suite of Interdisciplinary core courses that will form the backbone of our new degree. Currently, this course progression might be loosely conceived as: Introduction to Interdisciplinarity; Theories and Problems in Interdisciplinary thought; Interdisciplinary Research Methodologies; culminating in a project-driven fourth-year Capstone course that showcases the research methods and knowledge the students bring to bear on their own unique topics. In order to ensure these courses are at the cutting edge of current scholarship spanning the boundaries of disciplinary thought, this Scholarship of Teaching and Learning project involves conducting a comprehensive literature review of current trends in Interdisciplinary thought and teaching. It also involves a review of Interdisciplinary programs at the undergraduate and graduate level in universities throughout North America and the circumpolar north. The goal of this course-development project is to construct an intentional curricular pathway for YukonU students throughout an Interdisciplinary program of study that enables them to ‘see beyond’ the fixed disciplines of Western academia, and prepares them to apply their skills to real-world conditions and career paths. Important tasks will be to situate Interdisciplinary studies, often seen simply as intersecting disciplinary knowledge, in the northern multicultural context, and to articulate the ways in which these courses can support a bridging of knowledges between Indigenous, especially Yukon First Nations, ways of knowing and the Western academy at large.