Author Faculty (Discipline)

Education

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

10-11-2019

Early Online Version

3-21-2018

Journal

Higher Education Research and Development

Volume Number

38

Issue Number

7

Page Numbers

1417-1431

ISSN

1469-8366

Embargo Period

7-18-2020

ANZSRC / FoR Code

130103 Higher Education| 130306 Educational Technology and Computing| 130313 Teacher Education and Professional Development of Educators

Avondale Research Centre

Centre for Advancement of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning

Reportable Items (HERDC/ERA)

C1

Abstract

The use of threshold concepts to define key points of curricula is a relatively recent development in educational research. Threshold concepts represent crucial stages of learning, the acquisition of which enables learners to progress from one level of achievement to another. In this context, the learner is described as passing through an unsettling liminal space in which they may encounter troublesome knowledge and experience uncertainty or anxiety. When applied to online pedagogy in higher education contexts, academic staff become the learners as they extend their on-campus teaching knowledge into the online realm. In this setting, the identification of threshold concepts has the potential to inform the content of professional development (PD) programmes for novice online teachers. Because little research has yet been reported on threshold concepts associated with online teaching, this study identified these threshold concepts and investigated their specific nature. Funded by an Office for Learning and Teaching Australia Grant, the project employed a mixed-methods research approach. A mixture of qualitative and quantitative data was gathered from responses to questionnaires and reflective journal entries provided by university educators who were teaching in online contexts. Also, experts in the fields of PD, online teaching and threshold concepts were consulted using a modified Delphi technique that incorporated two rounds of surveys. Results of this study are discussed in association with potential applications to PD design for novice online educators, informed by the most fundamental learning experiences encountered by their more experienced colleagues.

Link to publisher version (DOI)

https://doi.org/10.1080/07294360.2018.1450360

Peer Review

Before publication

Grant Number

SD15-5203

Comments

© 2018 HERDSA

Available for download is the Author’s Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis Group in Higher Education Research & Development on 21 Mar 2018, available online: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/07294360.2018.1450360

Staff and Students of Avondale College may access the full text of this article from library PRIMO search here

This article received the HERDSA/Taylor & Francis/Routledge HERD Article of the Year, 2020.

Associated Research Project

https://research.avondale.edu.au/research_documentation/13/

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Associated Research Project

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