| Characteristics and Significances of Interdisciplinary General Education Curriculum - A Case Study of New General Education in Harvard University |
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Jeehyeon Kim |
| 학제적 교양교과과정의 특징과 의의 |
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김지현 |
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| Abstract |
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The fundamental goal of general education curriculum is to promote ‘interdisciplinarity,’ through which participants cultivate broad understanding across various fields of study. But this interdisciplinarity, I shall argue, has not been fulfilled with the traditional general education such as distributional requirements. This study examines the characteristics of the ‘active’ interdisciplinary general education curriculum through a case study of Harvard college’s ‘New General Education’. First of all, General Education’s aim is redefined as ‘connecting liberal education with student’s life beyond the college’. By recognizing the ‘usefulness’ of the liberal eduction in everyday life, General education is identified as the ‘public face of the liberal education’. The principles of the interdisciplinary General Education is ‘to invite the disciplines to the students’ life’, and its sub-categories are divided according to important everyday life dimensions , and course contents are composed of themes and situations that students are often confronted with. Classes are strongly recommended to adopt the ‘field study’, ‘activity-based learning’, ‘multiple academic disciplines cooperation’, ‘apprenticeship: guided participation,’ and the methods of student evaluation are comprehensive and performance-oriented. Economic, human resources and administrative support system in course development and implementation are essential in creating the meaningful effects of interdisciplinary General Education. |
| Key Words:
undergraduate education, general education, interdisciplinary curriculum, higher education, liberal education, Harvard University |
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