ABSTRACT
The shifting cultural emphasis toward teaming and collaboration in the 21st century workplace has begun to produce changes in higher education, including increased interest in interdisciplinary and collaborative teaching. Teachers own collaborations' chances of success are strengthened by engaging in careful planning that takes potential pitfalls into account before they become insurmountable obstacles. If teachers are interested in partnering with a colleague in a collaborative course, it's a good idea to become familiar with some of the varied options available. Collaborative and interdisciplinary curricula and pedagogies, therefore, provide opportunities to enhance student learning and to explore professional engagement beyond the bounds of a single academic field. Harvard researcher Veronica Boix Mansilla explains: Interdisciplinary learning involves processes that operate in and across disciplines such as evidence-based reasoning, complex causal thinking, temporal and spatial representations, and critical argumentation. Collaborative and interdisciplinary courses create valuable opportunities for students to develop higher-order thinking skills.
