Today's university lecturers are faced with the challenge of educating students to see beyond the limits of their own discipline and to come up with innovative solutions to societal challenges. Many lecturers would like to put more emphasis on teaching students how to integrate diverse forms of knowledge, work together in teams, critically reflect and become self-regulated learners. These lecturers are breaking down the silos of scientific disciplines as well as the barriers between academia and society and responding to the changing role of universities in society. Just as teaching and learning are ready for change, so is assessment. In this book, we call for an assessment strategy with a greater emphasis on assessment for and assessment as learning, with a focus on giving powerful feedback and the use of authentic assessment tasks as well as alignment with the intended learning outcomes and your pedagogical beliefs. If you are looking for ways to assess integration, collaboration, reflection, and critical thinking rather than only assessing the acquisition of knowledge, the examples in this handbook are inspiring initiatives that can point you to new directions in assessment.

Championing an emerging global community of scholars, this Handbook provides a detailed examination on how to successfully integrate interdisciplinarity into education programs. A comprehensive look into the current landscape of the field, it emphasises the importance of interdisciplinary teaching and administration in the development of creativity, citizenship and information literacy. This title contains one or more Open Access chapters.

Interdisciplinary Education in the Age of Assessment addresses a prevalent need in educational scholarship today. Many current standards-driven curricula follow strict subject-specific guidelines, leaving educators little room for interdisciplinary innovation. This book gears itself toward developing assessment models specific to interdisciplinary education, positioning itself as a seminal volume in the field and a valuable resource to educators across the disciplines. Each chapter covers a major subject area (literacy, science, math, social studies, bilingual education, foreign language, educational policy) and discusses methods of assessing integrated/ interdisciplinary curriculum and instruction.

Aimed at the growing number of educators who are looking to move beyond covering the curriculum, Designing Authentic Performance Tasks and Projects provides a comprehensive guide to ensuring students' deeper learning—in which they can transfer their knowledge, skills, and understandings to the world beyond the classroom. Readers will learn how to * Create authentic tasks and projects to address both academic standards and 21st century skills. * Apply task frames to design performance tasks that allow voice and choice for students. * Design and use criterion-based evaluation tools and rubrics for assessment, including those for students to use in self-assessment and peer assessment. * Incorporate performance-based instructional strategies needed to prepare students for authentic performance. * Differentiate tasks and projects for all students, including those needing additional support or challenge. * Effectively manage the logistics of a performance-based classroom. * Use project management approaches to facilitate successful implementation of tasks and projects. * Develop performance-based curriculum at the program, school, and district levels. Authors Jay McTighe, Kristina J. Doubet, and Eric M. Carbaugh provide examples and resources across all grade levels and subject areas. Teachers can use this practical guidance to transform their classrooms into vibrant centers of learning, where students are motivated and engaged and see relevance in the work they are doing.

The Second Edition provides a comprehensive introduction to interdisciplinary studies with an approach that is succinct, conceptual, and practical. Completely updated to reflect advances in the literature on research, learning, and assessment, the book describes the role of both disciplines and interdisciplinarity within the academy, and how these have evolved. Authors Allen F. Repko, Rick Szostak, and Michelle Phillips Buchberger effectively show students how to think like interdisciplinarians in order to facilitate their working with topics, complex problems, or themes that span multiple disciplines.

"An exploration of moving away from traditional letter or number grades as an assessment and as a result producing more thoughtful students whose learning is more authentic"--

Drawing on eight crowdsourced cases, Interdisciplinary Practices in Higher Education demonstrates the range and diversity in approaches to teaching, learning and collaborating across disciplinary and institutional borders. The cases explore everyday challenges within interdisciplinary higher education experiences such as designing study programmes, planning curricula, ensuring sufficient assessment and feedback for diverse groups of students and coordinating and aligning expectations with external stakeholders. Each case is analysed by three leading experts, providing solutions and practical guidance to support practice. Chapters explore the challenges of: Breadth versus depth in interdisciplinary teaching and learning activities Disciplinary identities in interdisciplinary collaborations The governance and administration of interdisciplinary courses and study programmes Career trajectories for interdisciplinary researchers Aligning expectations with stakeholders in transdisciplinary endeavours A highly practical, solution-based book, this is an essential read for lecturers, students, researchers and others who might wish to embark on an interdisciplinary path or develop future border-crossing practices within their higher education institutions.

What is understanding and how does it differ from knowledge? How can we determine the big ideas worth understanding? Why is understanding an important teaching goal, and how do we know when students have attained it? How can we create a rigorous and engaging curriculum that focuses on understanding and leads to improved student performance in today's high-stakes, standards-based environment? Authors Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe answer these and many other questions in this second edition of Understanding by Design. Drawing on feedback from thousands of educators around the world who have used the UbD framework since its introduction in 1998, the authors have greatly revised and expanded their original work to guide educators across the K-16 spectrum in the design of curriculum, assessment, and instruction. With an improved UbD Template at its core, the book explains the rationale of backward design and explores in greater depth the meaning of such key ideas as essential questions and transfer tasks. Readers will learn why the familiar coverage- and activity-based approaches to curriculum design fall short, and how a focus on the six facets of understanding can enrich student learning. With an expanded array of practical strategies, tools, and examples from all subject areas, the book demonstrates how the research-based principles of Understanding by Design apply to district frameworks as well as to individual units of curriculum. Combining provocative ideas, thoughtful analysis, and tested approaches, this new edition of Understanding by Design offers teacher-designers a clear path to the creation of curriculum that ensures better learning and a more stimulating experience for students and teachers alike.

The fifth edition of this practical guide to interdisciplinary instruction focuses on the thinking and reasoning skills mandated by the Common Core State Standards and the content-learning standards required by an increasing number of states. The author provides an easy-to-follow, step-by-step guide to designing, creating, and implementing unit and lesson plans for all learners. Both pre-service and in-service elementary and middle-school teachers will find Wood’s approach to be comprehensive, with a strong theoretical foundation. Using Wiggins and McTighe’s backward design process, Wood offers specific protocols for creating unit and lesson plans at the elementary and middle-school levels. By emphasizing differential instruction, constructivist educational philosophy, application of skills in meaningful context, and the art of engaging student interest, he demonstrates how diverse student populations can benefit from the interdisciplinary approach. Prospective teachers will learn to create interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary plans that promote problem solving, creativity, and social interaction. Examples abound, with an appendix of sample unit plan designs filled with ideas for lessons and activities.