Re alit y Check
Integrative Learning:
Setting the Stage for a Pedagogy of the Contemporary
▶ Veronica Boix Mansilla, lecturer, the Harvard Graduate School of Education and principal investigator, Interdisciplinary Studies
Project, Project Zero
U nderlying the significant social and
technical changes of our increasingly
global society is a profound
transformation in the very nature
of learning. Twenty-first-century learners
view themselves as dynamic agents in
multimedia and global environments. These
interacting in socially heterogeneous groups,
to acting autonomously in large contexts, and
using tools and knowledge interactively and
well. The Association of American Colleges
and Universities too has recognized the need
for greater expectations for a growing student
population. Learners of the present and the
In my view, when rigorously conducted,
integrative learning embodies a more
profound opportunity to prepare the young
for today and tomorrow’s societies. When
well-conceived, integrative learning enables
students to focus on multidimensional
issues in their full complexity. It invites
learners create complex social networks and future must be agents in their own learning, them to weigh, apply, and combine
operate comfortably in them. They learn critical inquirers, able to collaborate, able to disciplinary insights to move beyond
experientially in real and virtual worlds apply higher order thinking skills to real-life naive views. Most important, it enables
alike. They express their views and make problems, to manage cultural complexity them to bring the very forces changing
their lives public with ease. Many of these and to make meaningful connections across the planet—from climate change to
learners show greater interest in the global disciplines. What role does integrative globalization, from the digitalization of
environment and human rights than their learning play in our efforts to prepare young everyday life to the ethics of global health
immediate predecessors. As the recent people for today‘s and tomorrow’s societies? and medical technologies—into the
elections suggest, many are increasingly Seeking to overcome the last century’s classroom for detained interdisciplinary
willing to organize around public matters knowledge fragmentation to provide an exploration. Clearly disciplinary learning
online and from the grassroots up. New education that is relevant to contemporary too can focus on topics of present and
learning presents important challenges as life, higher education and funding future relevance and do so with effective
well. As the world “flattens,” global proximity institutions have increased their support of precision, but because integrative learning
can yield discomfort and sharp retreat to interdisciplinary initiatives on campuses. expands the nature of the questions that
local values. Virtual spaces are misused, A 2006 U.S. News and World Report we can legitimately ask in class it expands
information misinterpreted, virtual identities college and university ranking found that the epistemic jurisdiction of our courses.
misconstrued, social networks misguided. 62 percent of liberal arts institutions offer In so doing it gives room for a novel point
This generation experiences pressure to interdisciplinary studies majors. A Teagle of departure for curriculum development:
perform, to succeed, to move at a fast Foundation study of liberal arts colleges where our world of today and tomorrow
and efficient pace, with little time for self- and universities found 99 percent of becomes the source of problems for study
reflection or developing deep understanding institutions reporting being somewhat or and helping students make productive sense
of the changing world in which we live. very oriented toward interdisciplinarity. of such problems becomes our goal. Framed
Contemporary societies’ demands on While few empirical studies have measured in the context of the future of learning,
learners invite a paradigmatic shift in our the benefits of integrative learning integrative learning sets the stage for a
characterization of learning and teaching for systematically, learning theorists associate pedagogy of the contemporary. That is a
the future. Taking the lead in the early 1990s, it with higher-order epistemological beliefs pedagogy in which systematically, students
the Organization for Economic Cooperation (beliefs about knowledge and inquiry); are rigorously tooled to reflect upon and
and Development advanced a series of high levels of mental complexity; critical address the questions of environmental
competencies that learners must develop to and analogical thinking as well complex and cultural survival of our times; and gain
have successful lives and contribute to a well- and collaborative problem solving—all key practice for the work that they will need to
functioning society. Competencies range from competencies in today’s knowledge society. do as members of their generation. §
Fall 2008 | Peer Review | AAC&U 31
Copyright© 2008 by the Association of American Colleges and Universities
