Disciplinary convergence and interdisciplinary curricula for students in an information society

Abstract

In this essay, disciplinary ‘convergence’ is offered as a construct that references the blurring of disciplinary walls, academic borders and institutional divisions, a construct that can frame conversations about the role of disciplines in addressing today’s student needs in higher education. Convergence as a construct allows for a consideration of converging academic structures as well as the obligation of scholars and practitioners in higher education to address the needs of contemporary students aiming for life and work in a converging and increasingly mediated world. Ultimately, this work suggests that contemporary problems in an information society can be best addressed with broadly trained experts who can think, imagine and solve problem across traditional academic boundaries.

Keywords:

• Interdisciplinarity
• disciplinary convergence
• academy
• higher education
• information age
• information society
• digitally relevant curricula
• iSchool curricula