THE TIES (THEMATIC INTERDISCIPLINARY EXPERIENTIAL SEMESTER) PROGRAM: A NEW CONCEPT IN EXPERIENTIAL IMMERSION EDUCATION

The University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire places a major emphasis on high-impact educational practices in a concentrated effort to place itself on the cutting edge of experiential learning and transformative education. A new initiative integrates the University’s existing strengths in project-based pedagogy, interdisciplinary studies, collaborative student/faculty research and service learning. The TIES (Thematic Interdisciplinary Experiential Semester) is designed to be a truly transformative experience that includes participation in a rigorous, challenging, interdisciplinary, project-based immersion program designed to examine a central theme from a variety of scientific, cultural, economic and political perspectives. The fundamental concept is place-based, with the central theme being a national or international locale (Argentina, Vietnam, Cuba, Washington, D.C.) that is focus of an integrated, interdisciplinary ,modular-block, field-based experiential examination.

The pilot program, TIES Argentina, was launched in Spring 2011 as a collaborative interdisciplinary experience offered by faculty in geology, biology, economics and Latin American studies focusing on the spectacular setting of the south-central Andes Mountains in Mendoza, Argentina. The pilot program involved a vibrant living-learning community of 17 students selected from across disciplines and across age groups. The courses were taught collaboratively by both UW faculty and local experts, who provided a critical cultural integration. Courses were designed in 3.5 week concentrated blocks for project-based inquiry, with overlap and integration between the blocks to provide interdisciplinary linkages. One of the blocks involved students examining the geologic evolution of the Andes, including a ‘source to sink’ project that investigated construction of the Malargue fold and thrust belt and basin evolution in the adjacent synorogenic Atuel basin. Other blocks investigated the d the biologic diversity of the Andes, economic evolution of western Argentina and the history and culture of the region. The design teaches scientific methodology and interpretation in a real time setting to undergraduate students from a number of different disciplines.