Transdisciplinary 15-point Requirement Course Pilots  

In Semester 2 2024, we are offering two pilots, which will provide an opportunity to test and refine the Transdisciplinary 15-point Requirement Course framework.
The 2024 pilots address two areas with wide appeal and broad reach across staff, students and faculties:

  • Our Environmental Futures: Te Taiao Tāngata
  • Democracy in the 21st Century.

The experiences of staff implementing and delivering these pilots and the students enrolled in them will inform and guide the development of additional Transdisciplinary 15-point Requirement Courses in 2025 and 2026.

We plan to build time for reflection and iteration into the design and continued operation of the Transdisciplinary 15-point Requirement Courses.

PILOT COURSE TITLE:

Our Environmental Futures: Te Taiao Tāngata

Description

Explores the complex relationships between environmental systems and humans. Working in teams, students examine environmental, social, economic and cultural perspectives in the real-world contexts of waitā (sea), waitī (freshwater) and whenua (land). Students will respond to environmental issues by recognising ora (wellbeing) and Ki Uta ki Tai (the interconnectedness of ecosystems) and develop a transdisciplinary mindset to tackle current and future environmental challenges.

PILOT COURSE TITLE:

Democracy in the 21st Century.

Description

Examines the challenges to democracy in New Zealand and globally arising from high inequality, the changing information environment, and authoritarian movements. Uses a transdisciplinary approach to understand the interplay of economic, legal, technological, and cultural factors. Explores innovative ideas for ensuring democratic integrity and building more inclusive, equitable, and participatory democracies.

Semester 2 2025

In 2025 a further four pilot courses will be introduced:

  • Artificial Intelligence and Society

  • Migration Futures

  • Tagata Moana, Tangata Whenua: Designing Hawaiki Futures

  • The Future of Food

PILOT COURSE TITLE:

Artificial Intelligence and Society.

Description

Explores the impacts of Artificial Intelligence on society. Working in teams, students will investigate how Artificial Intelligence systems work and their impacts on the legal, social, ethical, and indigenous systems. Using the health sector as an example, students will use a transdisciplinary approach to propose solutions for developing Artificial Intelligence systems that are equitable for all groups in society.

PILOT COURSE TITLE:

Migration Futures.

Description

Explores systems, patterns and experiences of international migration, globally and in Aotearoa New Zealand. Transdisciplinary and critical understandings of migration are developed to examine governance, economics and politics; health, wellbeing and identity; climate change; and social justice in diverse societies. Addresses the workings of migration policy, the experiences and stories of migrants and the cultural spaces of migrant communities.

PILOT COURSE TITLE:

Tagata Moana, Tangata Whenua: Designing Hawaiki Futures.

Description

In the wake of over a century of colonialism and the ravages of global capitalism, Māori and Pacific peoples are still here and are working to create the conditions within which their visions for the future can flourish. This is the work of Indigenous futurities, or the futures that are designed, enacted, and embodied in the present. Recognising the impacts of the past, and the challenges of the present, this course engages with current circumstances and envisions beyond them, focusing on sustainable communities and environments, physical and cultural wellbeing, and social justice and equity.

PILOT COURSE TITLE:

The Future of Food.

Description

Embark on a global food system journey with a focus on Aotearoa New Zealand. This transdisciplinary course explores future food from the perspectives of sustainability, health, sovereignty, culture, science, and technology.