The values-driven IDS Program Learning Outcomes act as a compass to guide students as they embark on their individualized degree journey. IDS courses are waypoints for reflection, practice, and community.

Click to explore program & Course Learning Outcomes!

In the Interdisciplinary Studies customized major program, students are the captains of their own ship. As they create and complete their tailored major, the IDS curriculum provides opportunities to engage the methodologies, theories, and applications of interdisciplinarity. Students address complex issues as citizens of their community, nation, and planet. They are inspired to seek out diverse perspectives and supported as they engage in integrated thinking and develop the skills needed to be lifelong learners.

Created by Madefrom the Noun Project

Interdisciplinary Studies Program Learning Outcomes

PL1

Students will…

Take control of their education by designing their own customized degree, articulating how their own program of study contributes to their understanding of what it means to be educated, and developing skills to be a lifelong learner.

PL2

Students will…

Integrate ideas and approaches from multiple disciplines in order to solve problems, create new knowledge, and/or reconsider traditional knowledge paradigms.

PL3

Students will…

Develop their role in a self-designed academic and professional “network.”

PL4

Students will…

Critically interrogate the platforms, architectures, and structures that underpin our education and influence our work in the world.

PL5

Students will…

Develop purposeful expressions of ideas with the intent to increase knowledge, foster understanding and dialog among their community, and/or promote change in others’ attitudes, beliefs, or behaviors.

Foundations of Interdisciplinary Studies Course Learning Outcomes

  • Build a major
  • Know how to get advice now and in the future for their own interdisciplinary path
  • Define “interdisciplinarity”, informed by existing models
  • Articulate the requirements of the PSU Interdisciplinary Studies program
  • Present a polished Interdisciplinary Studies contract, planning guide, and essay
  • Identify the key PSU stakeholders in the IDS major (peers, profs, admin.)
  • Know how to get advice now and in the future for their own interdisciplinary path
  • Discern the difference between best practice and informed practice in order to make intentional decisions
  • Reflect upon the purpose of academic disciplines
  • Develop an understanding of the structure of academic majors

Program Learning Outcome #1 in all IDS Courses

Foundations of Interdisciplinary Studies

  • Build a major
  • Know how to get advice now and in the future for their own interdisciplinary path

Lifelong Learning Lab

  • Reflect on learning experiences and develop goals strategies for their future learning
  • Engage in and develop an understanding of project based, interdisciplinary, and open education, as well as the habits of mind
  • Articulate a clear understanding of their own interests and passions

Interdisciplinary Studies Senior Seminar

  • Showcase the skills and knowledge they have developed during their interdisciplinary course of study
  • Reflect on how their interdisciplinary course of study can and/or will impact both society and their own post-PSU life
  • Be able to articulate to a general audience the skills, knowledge, and experience they have acquired through their education
  • Showcase the skills and knowledge they have developed during their interdisciplinary course of study
  • Reflect on how their interdisciplinary course of study can and/or will impact both society and their own post-PSU life
  • Be able to articulate to a general audience the skills, knowledge, and experience they have acquired through their education