How are threshold concepts applied? A review of the literature

Abstract

Funded by a recently awarded NSF RED grant, we aim to transform the curriculum and culture of a large electrical and computer engineering department with a model that foregrounds design and innovation to offer students a variety of pathways to a degree. We are developing a combination of approaches to create a program with disciplinary depth and a range of learning experiences, including a participatory design approach that involves not only curriculum redesign, but also engagement of faculty and students in industry and K-12 outreach. Through these combined approaches, we hope to increase the diversity of students entering the program, the variety of pathways through the program, and the kinds of careers graduates pursue. We begin with the goal of effectively employing the Threshold Concepts Framework to identify transformative targets for curricular revisions. Our first step in approaching the RED grant from the perspective of curriculum develop includes a literature review that both systematically canvases existing resources and summarizes and synthesizes themes that enable us to answer the following questions: 1. What research findings have been reported about threshold concepts across disciplines, in the field of engineering, and in electrical engineering, computer engineering, and computer science? 2. What are the perceived strengths and weaknesses of the threshold concepts framework, both in theory and practice? 3. Which methods are most effective for identifying threshold concepts? 4. How have threshold concepts been used to enact change? In exploring these questions, we investigate the history and evolution of the threshold concepts framework with attention to sociotechnical patterns such as whether and how "professional" and "technical" concepts are delineated. In terms of methodology, we consider whether data collection prompts guide people away from the center of their discipline, and whether there is less of a dichotomy between social and technical than often portrayed in engineering education narratives. Finally, we are employing a participatory design process in which we are not only asking department stakeholders to identify sites of threshold concepts, but also to enroll them in a grassroots, transformative effort. To that end, we explore ways that the process of understanding threshold concepts serves as an opportunity for dialog that can kick-start the culture shift of the department. This paper will be framed as a literature review beginning with the seminal three volume collection on threshold concepts (edited by subsets of the team Ray Land, Jan Meyer, Jan Smith, Caroline Baillie, and Michael Flanagan), a search of ASEE and Frontiers in Education proceedings, then concluding with the Education Research Complete database for other relevant articles between 2003 and 2016. In this review, we will (1) summarize the theory of threshold concepts, (2) identify what threshold concepts have been proposed in both Electrical and Computer Engineering, (3) explain how the concepts have been used in curriculum development to enact change, and (4) discuss how the existing literature will inform our participatory design process in revolutionizing the ECE department.