Eighteenth International Conference on New Directions in the Humanities

Abstract

There are over 40 million victims of Human Trafficking worldwide, supplying a $150 billion dollar industry. Adults, children, men and women are all victims, and vulnerable populations are especially at-risk. This horrific form of modern slavery includes: forced Labor, sexual exploitation, child soldiers, and organ harvesting, among others and is found throughout the world. In order to effectively identify, understand, intervene, and eradicate Human Trafficking, citizens, paraprofessionals, and professionals need to be fully informed. This requires education that is comprehensive, human-centered, and developed for depth and breadth by an interdisciplinary team. Interdisciplinary teams are rarely used in academia to create content due to the high number of resources expended. In addition, the culture of academia has often reinforced competition between departments and professions rather than collaboration among them. However, global, complex problems and the needs of the current workforce are changing, and employers expect employees to think creatively, critically, and innovatively. Organizations need employees who can think broadly beyond their own discipline to solve multifaceted problems and who can work collaboratively and efficiently with other disciplines. This paper showcases an interdisciplinary team’s development, work processes, course product, and evaluation results. Specific elements deemed essential for success will are described, including: commitment from departments and colleges, respect and endorsement of multiple disciplines, human-centered philosophy, technology and learning design, etc. Challenges and suggestions for future interdisciplinary endeavors are discussed.