Threshold Concepts in the Moment

In the twenty years since Ray Land and Erik Meyer published their first paper on Threshold Concepts, there has been a steady stream of papers mulling over their original suggestions that learning, far from proceeding in an orderly fashion, is instead a process of struggle – perhaps alienation and confusion – that puts students in a troublesome liminal ‘in-between’ state. As their understanding develops, liminality gives way to transformational insight whereby a whole field of study comes, often quite abruptly, into focus. There is a gain but often also a loss: in this new world, old certainties, assumptions and even aspects of our identity can be left by the wayside.

Threshold Concepts in the Moment is the sixth collection in the series on the subject of Threshold Concepts, following the 8th Biennial Conference held in 2021, anchored at London’s UCL but running online across the world. Its contributors, who range from ‘old hands’ to new members of the community finding their feet, mull over the insights of the threshold concepts framework in higher education, scrutinise their own fields of study, explore the implications of liminality for pedagogy and becoming professional practitioners, and consider the broad implications for pedagogy of factoring in the troublesomeness of knowledge and learning.

Jason P. Davies, Ph.D. (1999), UCL, is Associate Professor (Teaching) at UCL. He has published on ancient history, interdisciplinarity, HE pedagogy, and threshold concepts. He co-edited Teaching and Learning in Higher Education: Perspectives from UCL (UCL IOE Press, 2018).

Elia Gironacci, Ph.D. (2018), University of Warwick, is Director of Studies in Civil and Environmental Engineering. His recent publications and practice focus on students learning in traditional undergraduate degrees and work-based learning in degree apprenticeships programmes.

Susannah McGowan, Ph.D. (2014), University of California, Santa Barbara, is Director of Curriculum Transformation Initiatives at The Red House, Georgetown University. Her most recent research includes articles on academic hope, online engagement practices, and academic staff labor.

Abel Nyamapfene, Ph.D. (2006), University of Surrey, Ed.D. (2018), University of Exeter, is Professor (Teaching) at UCL. As Academic Lead (Mathematics) for UCL's Engineering Sciences faculty, he leads and publishes on probem- and scenario-based pedagogy in research-intensive environments.

Julie Rattray, Ph.D. (2001, University of Dundee), is Professor of Higher Education at the University of Durham, UK. Her most recent publications have focused on threshold concepts, conceptions of Teacher Care in HE, and issues of quality in medical education.

Anne M. Tierney, Ph.D. (2016, Durham University), is Assistant Professor in the Learning and Teaching Academy, Heriot-Watt University, Scotland. Her most recent publications focus on misconceptions in SoTL and challenges faced in scholarship promotion pathways.

Andrea Webb, Ph.D. (2015, University of British Columbia), is Associate Professor of Teaching at UBC. Her research interests are in teaching and learning in higher education, specifically projects related to Threshold Concepts, and the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning.