Assessing liminality: The use of ipsative formative assessment during a postgraduate taught induction programme to support the development of criticality

Abstract

Threshold concepts represent the most troublesome and transformative knowledge within a discipline and they have been afforded increasing amounts of attention over the past decade. The chapter argues that critical thinking represents a threshold concept and that the principles of ipsative assessment, that emphasise the need to focus on the process not the product of learning, may provide a useful vehicle to support passage through the liminal tunnel en route to threshold transformations. The chapter draws on a case study from a postgraduate taught induction programme for Education students at a research intensive university to support the suggestion that ipsative self-assessment can serve as a useful pedagogical tool to facilitate student progress through the liminal tunnel and subsequent mastery of threshold concepts.