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Hi Martin
I think both Len and Kim
make important points – both point to the usefulness of opening up for
discussion how learning itself is being ‘framed’ – and I must
say, after Glynis Cousin’s keynote at our Nottingham conference (see her related
article in the JLDHE at http://www.aldinhe.ac.uk/ojs/index.php?journal=jldhe&page=index
), I’ve been re-enthused to use the notion of Threshold Concepts as a useful
starting point in discussions with subject-focussed academics.
By opening (‘charmingly’
as Kim suggests!) with questions about what might be the salient ‘TCs’
in the relevant situation/ at the level or stage in question, we give back the
authority around learning to the academic and avoid falling into the trap of
taking sole responsibility as LDers for ‘skills’.
It provides a great basis for a re-conceptualisation of ‘academic skills’
as co-evolutionary with and not separate from the teaching and learning
activities of the course.
Glynis talks of the “oscillation
of understanding” and links it to Land and Meyer’s notion of liminality. In LD at Plymouth we’ve used a spiral model
for critical thinking that stresses the recursive nature of the enterprise –
and I think most academics will acknowledge, if asked, that they themselves didn’t
get their own “academic skills’ perfect by the end of level 1”
... or level 2 ... or 3 for that matter ... anyway it’s the opening up of the discussion
about learning that matters – and it seems to me that TCs offer a way to
do this that has the potential for examining identity/practices too
Best for now
John
From: learning development in higher education network
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Kim Shahabudin
Sent: 26 May 2010 14:11
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: a familiar story?
Interestingly we've had the opposite
experience - quite a few more enlightened conversations recently with
increasing numbers of academic tutors recognising the need for
continual development - or, at least, acknowledging the repeated step
changes in academic understanding that students need to make between Part
1 and 2, undergrad and postgrad, Masters and PhD.
In terms of practical ways of promoting this
understanding amongst tutors, I'd be inclined to go on a charm
offensive - tell them it would be really useful for you to know
what they (as subject specialists) think are the 'threshold concepts' in
study practices in their discipline as students move up through levels of
study. I suspect that many teaching academics don't ever surface these notions themselves,
relying on a more instinctive 'feels right/wrong for this level'
approach when assessing or teaching. (I certainly did when I was teaching.)
Kim
Dr
Kim Shahabudin, Study Adviser & LearnHigher Research Officer
Room
107,
From: Leonard Holmes
Sent: Wed 26/05/2010 13:12
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: a familiar story?
Yes, a familiar story.
But I would suggest that it's partly a consequence of the possessive-instrumentalist understanding that the skills discourse tends to generate. (note the use of the word "acquisition")