Threshold Concepts: FROM PERSONAL PRACTICE TO COMMUNITIES OF PRACTICE COMMUNITIES OF PRACTICE TO FROM PERSONAL PRACTICE Concepts: Threshold NAIRTL National Academy for Integration of Research, Teaching and Learning Acadamh Náisiúnta um Chomhtháthú Taighde, Teagaisc agus Foghlama About NAIRTL: Our vision is one where research and teaching go hand in hand; where students and academics work in inclusive research, teaching and learning partnerships; where opportunities are created Threshold Concepts: year of undergraduate studies; where students enjoy the highest possible quality learning experience. FROM PERSONAL PRACTICE TO Such a vision calls for renewed efforts to develop research-based teaching and learning practices, to generate knowledge which is constructed and negotiated in partnership. It calls for more COMMUNITIES OF PRACTICE inclusive relationships between students and staff, and the pursuit of academic professionalism by both students and academics. Through the promotion of a vision of higher education where all teachers and learners are scholars, lifelong learners and lifelong inquirers, the National Academy will contribute to making Ireland an attractive place for students to study and for academics to work. WZK/E'^K&d,Ed/KE>Dz͛^ About this The National Academy's sixth annual conference and the fourth biennial Threshold Concepts publication: conference, Threshold Concepts: from personal practice to communities of practice, was held at ^/yd,EEh>KE&ZEEd,&KhZd, Trinity College Dublin in June 2012. The proceedings comprise a selection of conference papers and workshops along with keynote presentations. /EE/>d,Z^,K>KEWd^KE&ZE ΀ͲƉƵďůŝĐĂƟŽŶ΁ PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY’S SIXTH ANNUAL CONFERENCE SIXTH ANNUAL ACADEMY’S PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ISBN 978-1-906642-58-7 9 781906 642587 Editors: Catherine O’Mahony, Avril Buchanan, DĂƌLJK͛ZŽƵƌŬĞĂŶĚĞƫĞ,ŝŐŐƐ THRESHOLD CONCEPTS: FROM PERSONAL PRACTICE TO COMMUNITIES OF PRACTICE Proceedings of the National Academy’s Sixth Annual Conference and the Fourth Biennial Threshold Concepts Conference [E-publication] Editors: Catherine O’Mahony, Avril Buchanan, Mary O’Rourke, and Bettie Higgs January 2014 PUBLICATION INFORMATION Threshold Concepts: from personal practice to communities of practice. Proceedings of the National Academy’s Sixth Annual Conference and the Fourth Biennial Threshold Concepts Conference, January 2014. Editors: Catherine O’Mahony, Avril Buchanan, Mary O’Rourke and Bettie Higgs Published and distributed by NAIRTL Copyright © NAIRTL 2014 The Irish National Academy for Integration of Research, Teaching and Learning promotes innovation, supports development and sustains good practice that links research with teaching and learning in thirty-seven higher education institutions. The Academy is a collaborative initiative between University College Cork (lead partner), Cork Institute of Technology, National University of Ireland Galway, Trinity College Dublin and Waterford Institute of Technology. It is supported by the Higher Education Authority under the Strategic Innovation Fund. For further information on other educational activities undertaken by NAIRTL please email [email protected] or write to: NAIRTL Distillery House North Mall Cork, Ireland www.nairtl.ie ISBN: 978-1-906642-59-4 Original Works The separate and original works comprising this collection are subject to copyright by their individual authors. The aggregation of the works into the collection and all ancillary original works are copyright by the editors. All these original works are made available under the Creative Commons Licence (http://creativecommons.org/) identified as Attribution- Non-Commercial-ShareAlike 3.0. Informally, this means that you are free: to share – to copy, distrubute and display the work, and to remix – to make derivative works under the following conditions: Attribution. You must give the original author(s) credit. Non-commercial. You may not use this work for commercial purposes. Share Alike. 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Third Party Copyright Works Unless otherwise indicated, all usage of third party copyright works in this collection, by way of quotation or otherwise, is done in good faith under the “fair dealing” and/or “incidental inclusion” provisions of the Irish Copyright And Related Rights Act, 2000 (www.irishstatutebook.ie/ZZA28Y2000. html), sections 51 and 52. Any specific query in relation to such usage should be referred to the individual authors. While every effort has been made to contact owners of copyrighted material, we apologise to any copyright holders whose rights we may have unwittingly infringed. i FOREWORD The 6th Annual Conference of the National Academy for the Integration of Research, Teaching and Learning (NAIRTL) and the 4th Biennial Threshold Concepts Conference was held at Trinity College Dublin on 27-29 June 2012. The conference theme – From Personal Practice to Communities of Practice – challenged us to broaden our views of the idea that there are disciplinary and interdisciplinary Threshold Concepts. We looked at our own practice from new perspectives and extended our understanding of co-existing concepts and frameworks. We were delighted to bring the 4th Threshold Concepts Conference to Ireland. This year’s conference aimed to build on the successes of previous Threshold Concepts conferences which were held in Sydney, Ontario and Glasgow, and to support the development of new connections and collarborations. We welcomed close to 300 delegates, representing sixteen countries on four continents, and feel that many new connections have been made, and the nascent Threshold Concept community in Ireland will develop and flourish. At each Threshold Concepts conference ideas are developed and move forward. This year was no exception as we debated the sub-themes of Engaging Students with Threshold Concepts, Interdisciplinary Threshold Concepts, Threshold Concepts in Professional Development, and New Developments in Threshold Concepts. This publication contains a selection of papers from the conference. The papers provide insights into how we can apply the Threshold Concepts idea to gain a deeper understanding of how students learn, and also how we can use it to gain new ways of looking at our own disciplines. We hope that this publication will be of use to scholars and practitioners who are interested in the idea of Threshold Concepts to advance student learning. Dr Bettie Higgs __________________ on behalf of the Threshold Concepts Conference Steering Committee Conference Steering Committee members Vicky Davies, University of Ulster; Dr Bettie Higgs, University College Cork (Committee Chair); Dr Brian Foley, Trinity College Dublin; Professor Ray Land, Durham University; Dr Sarah Maguire, University of Ulster; Professor Erik Meyer, University of Queensland; and Dr Catherine O’Mahony, NAIRTL NATIONAL ACADEMY SIXTH ANNUAL CONFERENCE ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The financial support of the Higher Education Authority, under the Strategic Innovation Fund, has enabled the wide range of activities carried out by the National Academy for Integration of Research, Teaching and Learning (NAIRTL). We were delighted to host the fourth biennial Threshold Concepts conference in Ireland and we are grateful to Trinity College Dublin for providing the venue and to the many Trinity staff and students for their assistance leading up to and during the event. Particular thanks go to Dr Brian Foley, Jade Concannon and Sarah O'Sullivan who worked closely with the NAIRTL team in organising the conference. Close to 200 abstracts for papers, posters and workshops were submitted for consideration and we wish to express our gratitude to all of those involved in the initial selection process and to the members of the Abstract Selection committee. The conference featured more than 100 presentations and 40 posters, and we are immensely grateful to all presenters and exhibitors, particularly those who took on the Pecha Kucha challenge. The papers published in parts 2-5 of the proceedings were peer reviewed and we are grateful to all who contributed to this process. We wish to thank the following peer reviewers: Dr Barbara Bender, Rutgers University Dr Jonte Bernhard, Linkoping University Professor Patrick Carmichael, University of Stirling Dr David Easdown, University of Sydney Dr Mick Flanagan, University College London Dr Brian Foley, Trinity College Dublin Dr Anne Graham-Cagney, Waterford Institute of Technology Ann Harlow, University of Waikato Leif Hokstad, Norwegian Technical University Dr Sally Male, University of Western Australia Professor Bairbre Redmond, University College Dublin Dr David Pace, Indiana University Dr Charlotte Taylor, University of Sydney Recordings of the keynote presentations are available to view on the NAIRTL website from a link at www.nairtl.ie/conference2012. ABOUT THIS PUBLICATION The e-publication