Abstract
An important element of the California State University Channel Islands (CI) mission is to promote cross-disciplinary thinking in its graduates. This is accomplished in part by requiring each student to complete three upper division interdisciplinary general education (UDIGE) courses. The CI faculty worked across disciplines to create and offer many UDIGE courses, including a pair of courses focusing on two social institutions, art museums and zoos (Costache and Muraoka, 2004; Muraoka, 2009). These courses were developed and are offered in partnership with the institutions. Many class sessions are held off campus and students undertake culminating projects involving the institutions. This paper provides an update of these courses and information about new courses developed using this model that now include courses focusing on libraries, national parks, colleges and universities, and music museums. Finally, the paper presents lessons learned from offering these courses and challenges in sustaining these courses.