Kalpana's+Page


 * The Notion of Community** (10/10/10)

According to Kreber (2009), "Ways of Thinking and Practicing (WPT) is not exclusively of a cognitive nature (i.e they are not only about how to think within the discipline), but also have intuitive, performative and perhaps even ethical qualities" (p xx). This section of the chapter deals with the role and importance of communities in students' lives. The section also examines the student's willingness to belong to a group in academic or non academic setting. The community involvement in academic setting takes place through the clubs and societies that students like to participate. On the other hand Towler (2009) argues that, "...context plays a decisive role in the particular teaching efforts employed by individuals, departments or institutions and that, for this reason, concepts such as WTP should be considered only one of several influences on pedagogical approaches" (p xx). For instance, students like me who belong to teacher development community such as San Antonio Writing Project (SAWP) and Natyanjali Center of Performing Arts have a need to get acculturated into a group/community that enables me to learn and express respectively. Assimilation into a community also helps students stay in the community of their choice. The question of whether students adhere to communities within their disciplinary boundaries or do other communities play a role in the students' lives is also examined.

However, a crystal clear answer was not found because students tended to switch between communities based on their preferences and priorities. This switching between different communities is due to the fact that students do not wish to stay with communities that they are majoring in, instead they would like to learn about what service courses would offer them, for example. So, "...students will neither be forced into becoming members of a community to which they may not wish or need to belong, nor will service courses fall into the trap of being reduced to the type of critical engagement with the conflicting values and priorities of other disciplines... (Kreber 2009, p 90). The chapter ends with raising questions about the WTP in non academic communities because students and teachers do bring their cultural funds of knowledge into the classrooms.

The interdisciplinary approach to learning and teaching where teachers cement the gaps in the academic communities is an excellent tool for student engegement in higher education. So, faculty involvedt in WTP are mindful of disciplinary and transdisciplinary scope of their teaching practices bacause as Kreber in chapter 1 rightly posits, our student body is culturally diverse and complex. Students' lifestyles and values have to be respected for teachers to explore WTP. The chapter evaluates the perceptios of students from different discilinary training such as soft or hard fields. The student and faculty interviews revealed the following results:

1.Business Information Systems - New subjects such as tourism and envirinmental studies do not have a cohesive WTP and an interdisciplinary perspective might improve the WTP of these new disciplines. 2. English for Academic Purposes (EAP) - WTP can help provide a framework to understand the student needs in areas such as english language teaching.

Cognition can happen through non academic materials such as dance and music performances because performing art experience is intuitive. The following you tube clip demonstarates how a person gathers knowledge and grows from it.

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2b3hFCIkGLc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfG0YqhAgjI Students willingly discuss their disciplinary areas with confidence and fluency, but students also look at the role of WTC as a germane feature with unconventional disciplines, courses involving two or more academic disciplines, and transactions within a particular profession.
 * The Challenge of "New" and Interdisciplinary Subjects** (10/10/10)



The Challenge of 'New' and Interdisciplinary Subjects The chapter discusses the need to incorporate interdisciplinarity in subjects such as tourism and environmental studies because interdisciplinary approach enhances synthesis and higher ordr thinking skills much needed in higher education.

Implication of WTP for Teaching - English Language Teaching, Management, Construction Management, Architecture Students enrolled in construction management, for example, need to be exposed to practical training as opposed to mere theroretical exposure in classrooms. If students can build structures instead of just talking about structures, they can grasp the subject quickly and put that learning to use by desigining simple structures on their own.

Conclusion Ways of thinking and practicing (WTC) is a concept that promotes student engagement through faculty involvement.