In addition to the introductory assignments/readings on Interdisciplinarity that the entire class completes in the first half of the semester, choose one of the following larger assignments to complete. (If you don’t like any of the ones listed, propose something else to me.)

No matter which option you choose, make sure you review the readings and resources on this page and supplement them with your own research, as needed. 

• Write a series of blog posts (on your ePort) that reflect upon a selection of news articles you’ve chosen (at least three) that cover different controversial public policies related to your custom major. Pick your articles from reputable main-stream news sources (New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, New Yorker, Mother Jones, etc.) In your posts, discuss what evidence of interdisciplinary thinking you observe in how the policy is being (or should be) addressed. What disciplines are relevant to this policy? Are they in tension with each other? Are there any disciplines that should be involved that you think aren’t being included in discussion about this policy? Does this exercise offer you any insight into your own chosen fields of study?
• Create an infographic or visualization that illustrates at least five of the custom majors developed by students in our class (including you). (Here’s the spreadsheet of people’s ePorts, also available in Teams.) Try to pick a set of majors that overlap in interesting ways but are also distinct. Draw a diagram that helps us to see how they relate to each other and include a narrative that describes their relationship with each other. 
• Annotate a series of short texts (these can be a paragraph or two from famous speeches, news articles, an OER textbook, etc) to demonstrate how the different disciplines in your major would approach reading them. First, you’ll need to spend some time thinking about what the different perspectives inherent in each of your disciplines. What kind of knowledge do they value? What subjects are they interested in? How do they judge what is true or not? Then, read your text and identify which passages (phrases or sentences) they would be most interested in. Annotate or illustrate your passage to show these. The image below is an example of this exercise.
• GROUP OPTION: Host an event in the Open CoLab about Interdisciplinarity from a students’ perspective. Use this as an opportunity to reach out to other students in IDS to come together and talk about their custom majors. For example you could host a panel discussion by students in senior seminar for intro students, a presentation of custom majors for interested students, or an open house where faculty, students, and staff can learn more about the custom majors you’ve been building in this class.

• “Fruit, A Metaphor for Understanding Interdisciplinarity,” Nissani
• “Slow Interdisciplinarity,” Goode
• “The History of the Academy and Disciplines,” McElreavy, Tobin, Martin, Damon, Crate, Godinez, Bennett
• “The Benefits and Challenges of Interdisciplinarity,” Misiewicz