TOWARDS A TRANSDISCIPLINARY VIEW: INNOVATIONS IN HIGHER EDUCAT

Abstract

A Transdisciplinary view (or "Transdisciplinarity") is defined as practice and research efforts conducted by academics from different disciplines working jointly to create new conceptual, theoretical, methodological, and transnational innovations that integrate and move beyond discipline-specific approaches to address complex problems. Often the traditional structure of education is the fragmenting knowledge into narrow and isolated academic disciplines. Learning is seen as a product, not a process. This more traditional view sees academics as an accumulation of objective facts, rather seeing the world as a dynamic whole composed of a myriad of interrelated phenomena. The authors call for a more connected Transdisciplinary paradigm for education, research and practice. Examples of such emergence areas of study are given and discussed.