Hello all!
To be an Interdisciplinary major means that we have more opportunities to pursue our passions in future employment than someone majoring in a single discipline might.Interdisciplinarity is most important in my studies because I need to understand human behavior and societal conflicts in order to pursue a career in disaster relief and non-profit. I express my interdisciplinarity by studying courses in criminology and pursuing my interests in American History and Pioneering. All the disciplines contribute to my future and I now have a deeper knowledge of our culture and how it has changed.
Aside from our college careers, we are all expressing our interdisciplinarity throughout our daily lives. With work, school, family and our social interactions we encounter real-life problems and need to consider all sides of the issue to fully comprehend the best solution.
Real life issues can involve your job search or a place to live. Most recently I had to find a new place to live and realized that it would take some thorough research from many perspectives to find a home suitable for my family. So when I found a potential place, I researched if it was flood-prone; some places on beach side are very prone to flooding. I researched all the real-estate companies I was working with to make sure they were legitimate. I also researched the criminal activity in the area in order to protect my family, which included checking the sex-offender alert site.After finding an acceptable place, I then had to strategize to make a rental deal. So our interdisciplinary skills come in handy on many occasions.
Now think about issues you encounter in your daily lives and answer the following questions:
· How do you apply your interdisciplinarity in daily situations?
· Are you integrating your disciplines, if so how?
· Do you know anyone working in an interdisciplinary profession?
· What may be some opportunities in your personal, professional, or academic that can increase your interdisciplinarity?
Post your answers below.
I apply my interdiciplinarity in many daily situations, I am currently taking classes in Sports Business and Radio/TV. These classes help express my personality and my overall passions. I do not currently know anyone working in an interdiciplinary profession but I will challenge myself to change that in my future. I am currently 19 years old and am already an intern for the Orlando Predators arena league football team. I believe this will severely help increase my interdisciplinarity and give me a lot of much needed experience for my future.
ReplyDeleteMadison,
DeleteYour classes sound very interesting. That's great you are interning for the Orlando Predators, that will stand out on your resume. Sounds like you love to take on challenges,and you are very determined in your college career.
As you continue your education , you will definitely meet more people working in interdisciplinary careers. I have noticed that the word interdisciplinary is being used a lot these days. You are on a great path, and I know that you will be doing great things!
Suzanne Sanchez
Madison, your internship sounds very interesting. You sound like you are heading in a very good direction. I believe that you will come across many interdisciplinary professionals in the future. You many not realize it now, but you probably already know a handful of interdisciplinarians. Do you know what career you want to pursue when you graduate?
DeleteKasey-Marie Pike
Madison,
DeleteIt really seems like you are headed in a great direction. Interning for the Orlando Predators mixes sports and radio/tv greatly. They include a lot of promotional aspects for the team which aids to the radio/tv discipline. If there is anyone working with the public (communication based) and the business side might be working in an interdisciplinary profession. Good luck with your internship!
Hi Madison,
ReplyDeleteIt is nice to hear someone talk about their passion for the sport's industry. You are in the right place, interning and volunteering for Professor Bukstein. He is a true role model and a great professor. Increase you interdisciplinary by grasping different opportunities that come your way. I aspire to be a high school athletic director and thus the reason why I am in SPB 3003. I am a senior and unfortunately will not be able to complete the Devos minor and wish I could, but did not capitalize on this great opportunity of volunteering and interning until now. But keep up the good work, volunteering and interning and on completing the minor and you will be successful in any career.
I am currently a secretary while I finish school; rather than simply answering phones and replying to emails, a lot of my jobs involves researching various issues and responding to questions in a timely manner. I work in the field of education so it helps that one of my disciplines is Education. This puts me in the right frame of mind when approaching issues relating to education. I also use my minor in Digital Media to view problems from that perspective and attempt to come up with solutions. When I started, I found that many processes were inefficient and I was able to help things run more smoothly by using some of my knowledge in Digital Media.
ReplyDeleteIn the future, I hope to own my own business someday, which requires a high level of interdisciplinarity in order to be successful. If you only looked at your business through one perspective, such as having high sales, you might neglect other areas such as a quality product and customer service.
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DeleteMary, I wish you the best of luck on opening your own business. What type of business are you hoping to open up one day? In the future, if everything thing works out accordingly, I would like to open up my own dental clinic. I agree with you in that owning your own business requires a high level of interdisciplinarity in order to be successful. I also think that you are in a perfect position at the time being to gain some of the skill required for your goal.
DeleteKasey-Marie Pike
Kasey-Marie, I'd love to open a bakery but I'm aware that it requires an incredible amount of work. We'll see if it's something that I can work towards or if my goals will change along the way.
DeleteWow, a bakery, that is impressive since I am not a great baker... Owning your own business does require a high level of interdisciplinarity. My dad has owned his own business and he wears the hats of manager, owner, accountant, secretary, and so many more.
DeleteDigital media knowledge is an outstanding tool in any kind career in the world today. Which kind of digital media programs helped you run your job more smoothly?. Which programs do you think you might use later on for your own business?
DeleteMary,
DeleteSecretarial and adminstrative work definitely requires interdisciplinary skills. It can be quite hectic as well, but it is going to help you in your future. Especially when you become a business owner.
You sound very determined, and you will be successful because of that.
Suzanne Sanchez
Mary,
DeleteI too work as a receptionist in a doctor's office and I also wear a lot of other hats. I can relate on seeing and changing things to make things more efficient. I think that goes along with seeing more than one perspective and looking at things more than just one particular way. Good luck on your future business venture!!
Lisette Cintron
Currently I am a tutor for elementary school students. For my job I must be able to come up with lesson plans, keep up with paperwork, and be able to assist my students with any difficulties or needs they are experiencing. I apply my interdisciplinarity by integrating what I have learned that works from my teachers and apply it to how I tutor. Also, I like to think of many different ways to approach a subject matter so that my students are able to learn from many different perspectives. I believe that having this job increases my interdisciplinarity in a professional and academic manner.
ReplyDeleteKasey-Marie Pike
Hi Kasey-Marie,
DeleteHave you thought about how you will integrate your two focus area and your minor into your chosen career? Is teaching your goal? Are there ways you could increase your interdisciplinarity?
Tutoring is interdisciplinarity. The way you help one child is different than you are going to help another child. I have tutored and some students worked better with having an example solved for them, then applying that knowledge to the next question, and others worked better with me directing questions that they answered, and in the end they would achieve the result. Sometimes it can be so tiring but I love the light bulb moments that they have when they finally get it.
DeleteI agree with Ashley. My cousin tutored children with learning disabilities, and she was an education and psychology double major, and she said both majors were extremely useful to her. She was essentially an interdisciplinary student without even trying! She said she would use both majors to come up with new and creative ways to help her kids understand different concepts. From what I've heard, she was a really successful tutor so I would say interdisciplinarity is involved with tutoring!
DeleteBrianna Gonzalez
I agree that you have a solid grasp on the term interdisciplinarity. I'm curious as well as to whether or not you want to be a teacher? Is this your profession, or is this your job right now? What are your focuses? I have to commend you for your tutoring job. You are making the world better for the students you are helping. Keep up the good work!
DeleteElizabeth Elder
1.How do you apply your interdisciplinarity in daily situations?
ReplyDeleteI apply my interdisciplinarity daily while I am working on my school work. I am taking humanities classes this semester in history and the study of communities, along with my cornerstone class. For each class my writing style and thinking process is different. How I read and write about the history of science is a different type of critical thinking than how I read and write about the history of the Kennedy Space center. When I prepare assignments and discussions for the cornerstone class my thinking is different and directed toward many areas, instead of one focused area like my other classes.
2.Are you integrating your disciplines, if so how?
I do not thinking I am integrating my disciplines now to the full extent I will once I graduate. My education minor I use in my proposal and discussion postings for certain classes. My humanities subject area I am using a lot since I am in 4 humanities classes this semester but my computational science subject area I am not using very much at all. It is in basic grade calculations and minor other things like calculating a tip at a restaurant.
3.Do you know anyone working in an interdisciplinary profession?
I would consider my dad to be working in an interdisciplinary profession. He owns his own business, so he is a business manager and he does electronic design. During the day though he has to do some accounting for the business and since he is on his own he is does the secretarial work and all the odds jobs that need to be done. I have nicknamed him the energizer bunny because he never stops and never really has the opportunity to stop.
4.What may be some opportunities in your personal, professional, or academic that can increase your interdisciplinarity?
My ultimate goal is to become a teacher and I think that there will be many opportunites to increase my interdisciplinarity. I am going to have many students that are all different and I am going to have to change in order for them to succeed. Whether I change my teaching style, or my delivery method, it will involve me looking at a different discipline than I may be familiar with.
Hi Ashley,
DeleteYour dad does sound like he's a very interdisciplinary Energizer bunny. Hopefully he gets to take a vacation once in a while. I wanted to mention that the Computational Sciences focus allows you to take any of the CGS(Computer Generated Solutions)classes, including CGS3715 which teaches you how to build a website with HTML and CSS. That knowledge may be valuable for a teacher to have. I took the class with Dr. Llywellyn and enjoyed it a lot.
Have you considered ways that you can increase your interdisciplinarity while you're in school, outside of your studies?
The way that I would like to increase my interdisciplinarity would be through volunteer work. Sadly because of my work schedule, I do not have the time, but a few years ago I was able to volunteering at Coalition for the Homeless downtown, and I really enjoyed it. I have also done free tutoring in after school programs.
Deleteits interesting, you mention your dad is involved in electrical design and I assume home installation or personal gadgets, but you also mentioned you were studying computer science as one of your fields. You seem to have a drive or pushing force to go into a field similar to that or possibly relating your passion for education to teaching non technically inclined individuals how to do certain projects relating to CS or work in and related CS teaching field may be something of interest. Just an idea I'm sure you'll pursue your true passion but options are always nice.
DeleteMy computational science subject area is all math classes. I want to teach math to middle school students, and my dad does design work with LED's. If you go to www.raled.com, that is his business. He has had a patent for his technology for over a year now. He designs boards so that the LED's do not over heat and then they can last for years. Business is slow right know because he is so far ahead of the technology but in the next five years, it should be booming. I wanted to do what he is doing now but I want a family and to be available for my kids. It's hard when you own your own business. He works 24/7 and I just could never do that.
DeleteI agree that it's hard to find any free time to do anything extra. If you did decide to do an internship, I think it usually counts as credit hours towards the elective hours you have to fulfill. Sadly, I was never able to commit to an internship but ended up volunteering at a non-profit about half-way through my studies.
DeleteI believe that being a good teacher does involve interdisciplinary skills. My best teachers have been the ones who have taught me using different disciplinary perspectives to demonstrate a topic. Of course when I'm trying to think of a good example of this, I can't, but I hope that makes sense! One of my favorite teachers from high school was an English teacher, and she would incorporate theatre, dance, and even science into the different concepts she was teaching us. I don't really know how to explain it, but it was definitely really helpful to the students at that time. The point of this post is that I think it is great that you want to be a teacher and that being an IDS major will definitely be beneficial!
DeleteBrianna Gonzalez
· How do you apply your interdisciplinarity in daily situations?
ReplyDeleteI apply interdisciplinarity in my everyday situations by using different aspects of critical thinking. I apply it to my school work as well as my job. I take multiple different classes therefore causing me to think about a lot of different things and I also manage and use many different skills such as computers, business, and coaching or psychology. Therefore I am using interdisciplinarity all the time.
· Are you integrating your disciplines, if so how?
I feel that I am somewhat integrating my disciplines but once I graduate I will be able to do so fully in my career. As stated earlier, I use many different aspects in regards to my career and I will truly apply all of the disciplines I am studying now to be successful in my lifetime career.
· Do you know anyone working in an interdisciplinary profession?
I do know a few people working in an interdisciplinary profession. Most of them consist of management, because they have to use many different skills, sometimes they will be assisting with health, sometimes with a business aspect and sometimes even with technical issues. They constantly have to blend all of these things together in order for it to become whole.
· What may be some opportunities in your personal, professional, or academic that can increase your interdisciplinarity?
Some opportunities in my professional life can be trying out different jobs that entail different things and different disciplinaries. Some other aspects can be meeting many different people with different problems as well as taking on different classes that focus on many different things so that I can think outside of the box so to speak.
Pauline, I agree that working in management requires a level of interdisciplinarity. You have to use different perspectives to see from a manager's point of view, as well as from your employees' and customers' perspectives. It is important to keep in line with company policies and procedures while also enusring that your employees are working efficiently.
DeleteManagement is a huge interdisciplinary job. Every customer is different, and every employee is different but you also have to always keep in mind and practice the company policies. I currently work as a Service Clerk, Beauty Adviser, and Photo Technician for Walgreens. Depending on the shift, depends on what hat I am wearing and each one requires different skills and different ways of working. When I am in photo I am always doing 5 things at once. Helping a customer, processing photos, filing photos, ringing out a customer, and I always have a project I need to complete on the floor before the night is over. I am always so tired after work.
DeletePauline, I think another way that managers have to be interdiscipliary is with their social skills and cultural sensitivities. We learned in our reading this week that the best managers know how to use humor also!
DeleteChristine,
DeleteI agree that managers have to have a good sense of humor. I know that I have seen my managers face with some situations with patients that would probably ruin my entire day. But they us there interdisciplinary skills to face them and walk away as if nothing happened.
Lisette Cintron
I agree with everything everyone is saying here. Management is most definitely an interdisciplinary job! My mom is the president of her small business, and not only does she have to know how to manage her business, but she also has to do the accounting for the business, and she also does the marketing aspect of her business. She is essentially a jack-of-all-trades! That's why my mom always tells me how much she wishes there was an interdisciplinary studies program when she was in school.
DeleteWhere I work, I have about twelve different managers. One of my managers is in fact an Interdisciplinary Studies major. I have taken her on as sort of my mentor. She has such a great spirit about her. She's very detail oriented. She juggles multiple tasks at once. She is the training manager, the attractions manager, and she is the most helpful manager. Her goal is to help people. Her focuses in school were business, psychology, and health promotion. She is able to walk into a situation, devise a solution, and satisfy everybody. I've met a lot of managers who have this sort of "I say this, and the rest of you who are upset can go cry about it." But she's not like that. She's great! Managmenet is definitely an interdisciplinary job when done right. You have to think about meeting your numbers or your bottom line, but you also have to think about encouraging, supporting, and promoting your employees. You have to have soft skills and operational skills. They must be balanced.
DeleteElizabeth Elder
Madison, it seems as though you have a good grasp on being interdisciplinary. You seem to have an interesting train of thought. Although I think you need to not think you are completely set but also be aware that there are many new things you need to take on before you can be completely interdisciplinary. Learning is something that happens until the day we die, and integrating different fields into what you are already interested in can make it even more interesting. Allowing yourself to meet people that use interdisciplinarity in his or her career will allow you to get a better grasp and maybe help you apply it more often.
ReplyDeletePauline Pearlman
Kasey-Marie,
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree that your job does entail interdisciplinarity, you seem to have a good grasp on what it is and how you can use it. Something that may be helpful as one of the questions asked is volunteering or working part time somewhere else to get a good glimpse of other disciplines and maybe see if you can integrate them into yours. I think that if you continue to learn more about different disciplines it will help you in the future to be a success. I give you props for being a teacher and helping your students, keep up the good work.
Pauline Pearlman
Mary,
ReplyDeleteI think you definitely have a good idea and realize that you need to start looking into how to be interdisciplinary. Being a secretary can be helpful, as you use many aspects but there are many more to be utilized. I feel that if you are interested in your own business you should explore different disciplines and see which one you like the best. Allow yourself to explore a lot of different avenues and than eventually blend them into one, as it is stated, if you do what you love you are not working at all.
I work for Disney, so I see multiple guest situations. When a guest starts yelling at me, which I know is going to happen at some point during the day. I draw on my Psychology, Business, and History background. I know they're not yelling at me. They're upset about some policy or some situation. They're projecting. I validate their feelings. Hold my tongue, thinking "what would Walt do?," and the I come up with a solution that hopefully satisfies them while being fair to other guests and remaining dedicated to safety. There are some things I can't change, like a height requirement. I will stand there and let them yell. There are some things I can change, like a lost fastpass or an early fastpass. There are times when I know I am being lied to. There are times when I know that a guest has shoved ice cream sandwiches in their child's shoes to help them reach the height requirement. As long as I stay calm, and come up with a sound solution, and my demeanor is in the tradition of Disney, I am good.
ReplyDeleteElizabeth Elder.
I commend you, Elizabeth. The ability to validate their feelings and bite your tongue is an ability all acquire when working with the public. Clearly, by what you have written, it does seem like you can have fun and stay positive by joking around. Working for Disney seems to be right up your alley relating to your disciplines. Is Disney a place you would want to stay at?
DeleteElizabeth,
DeleteI loved your post , and ice cream sandwiches in the children's shoes are too funny. I actually worked for Disney a long time ago. Yes staying calm in any case it your best bet. I have been working in very chaotic environments for some time now. There were moments that I just wanted to run, ha ha. But I did stuck it out and I got through it.
Working in many chaotic environments have helped me to be more effective and prepared for any scenario. So we do benefit from it in the long run. :)
Suzanne Sanchez
I currently work for an entertainment label which allows me to partake in interdisciplinary approaches frequently. As of now, we are finishing production of a film and completing the soundtrack. While working on all of these tasks, I have to integrate all of my disciplines--Business, Communications & Sociology.
ReplyDeleteThe social media has become a large part of spreading the word and has allowed the music and film industry to grow with popularity. Communicating with fans and supporters via mass media integrates both my Communication and Sociology disciplines, while working with other companies relates to my Business discipline.
I believe this label to be an interdisciplinary profession. It integrates and partners with many different fields--music, film, publishing, licensing, recording, etc. The opportunities I encounter here will aid to my interdisciplinary study. Working with many different personalities in many different fields all overlapping into one another has been the best opportunity to increase my knowledge and practice.