C. Pierce Salguero set the bar high on the first day of a new class, LA497, at Penn State Abington: "This will be one of the most interesting and exciting courses any of you will ever take in college."
With that bold statement, Salguero and his seven teaching teammates started down a rabbit hole of sorts, immersing 24 hand-picked students in a groundbreaking model of integrated teaching and learning.
"Whether you came here as scientists, programmers, historians or artists, all of you will experience a highly stimulating range of approaches and will learn how these can enrich one another," Salguero, assistant professor of Asian history and religious studies, said at the first course meeting. "You will learn to speak in a different language and engage in interdisciplinary thought, which is the future of education and your future as thinkers."
The point of departure for the team-taught course is a fifth-century Chinese Buddhist text on visualization meditation. Students and faculty will explore the concept through the lenses of history, religious studies, art, digital media, psychology, neuroscience, information sciences and technology, and library and information science.