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Student learning, . Metalearning. And threshold concepts. E rik M eyer. Helping our students. The challenge. Persuading academics to engage with – and progress beyond – generic student learning theory …. (a limiting view of ‘displaying a scholarly approach to university teaching’).
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Student learning, Metalearning And threshold concepts ErikMeyer
The challenge Persuading academics to engage with –and progress beyond – generic student learning theory… (a limiting view of ‘displaying a scholarly approach to university teaching’)
The dynamics of the interface: *ownership of theory *reflexive practice *disciplinary focus *externalising approaches to variation instudent learning
Evidence-informed practice: A model of engagement with ‘variation’ (Meyer, 2005) Interpretation Description Aversion Evaluative and actionable
‘Theories are never more convincing …than when previously abstract ideas manifest themselves as immediate and concrete evidence... [the assignment] provided compelling, and at times alarming, evidence of what had been up to then, for this learner-teacher at least, the largely theoretical notion of variation in student learning’
Metalearning Awareness of self as learner in context… Control over learning engagement
Models of student learning: Generic c. 1976 Subject or discipline 3 frameworks Topic or concept x variation throughline
Architecture of opportunity Generic Subject or discipline 3 design criteria Scale – web based Topic or concept x Seamless experience Reflective component
How am I learning? The ‘what’, ‘why’ and ‘how’ of learning An interpretive guide given to students to help them reflect on their learning profile
I had always believed that all of the learning I have done up until now was just fact based and just needed to be remembered and reproduced when required. However, from my learning profile it clearly shows that this is not true. [C32 essay one, exhibits level 1 metalearning capacity: awareness.]
[The metalearning experience] has helped me recognise my own learning preferences. It has helped me to identify my strengths and weaknesses and areas to develop. It has helped me to redirect my approaches from … ineffective learning to … effective learning.[S284 essay two, exhibits level 2 metalearning capacity: control.]
By changing my learning methods after the [metalearning experience] through reflection, my approach to learning has been positively changed. I am able to better understand the content and learning outcomes, which not only helps to boost confidence, but also makes learning more enjoyable and productive. Less time is spent in undertaking ineffective tasks such as memorising before understanding.[S278 essay two.]
Threshold concepts Janus, Roman god of gates and doors, symbolising change and transitions; liminality
It is always interesting to observe …how every so often …one particular idea will emerge that…seems to fire the imagination of teachers…this quality…action poetry… seems to arise from conceptual ideas…simple and memorable…also highly generative…Liz Beaty writing in the forward to Meyer and Land (2006)
The basic idea In many disciplines…
There are… conceptual ‘gateways’ ‘portals’
…that lead to a new way of understanding, interpreting or viewing something, a transformed internal view of subject matter, subject landscape, or even world view… without which the learner cannot progress
a new and previously inaccessible view of something may open up
… the world of limits in pure mathematics lim f(x)=l x→a
… the world of equal temperament in music The significance of alternative tuning systems in the development of other musical genres
… the world of opportunity cost in economics The cost of the next best, but rejected, alternative
…a view that for some may be inherently troublesome …the world of particle -wave duality in quantum mechanics
…a lens through which to identify and examine the acquistion of discipline-specific ways of transformative thinking and shifts in ontological position
…a lens through which to identify and examine the acquistion of discipline-specific ways of transformative thinking and shifts in ontological position
Int. 2: Do you think you can think like an economist? D8: Erm…I didn’t six months ago but now find myself talking to people and I think I talk like an economist…I don’t tend to think exclusively like an economist Int. 2: And are you conscious of that? D8: Yeah, yeah, I think so. I’ll talk in economic language [to parents, gives examples] and suddenly I thought I sound like a responsible adult
Threshold concepts provide us with a new analytical lens to focus on critical, and perhaps previously neglected, aspects of variation in student learning
precedent equal temperament parliamentary sovereignty spin signification meiosis deconstruction reactive power proof modularity otherness opportunity cost Liminal variation: variation in the threshold state
The metalearning engagement of thresholdconcept x Liminal Three modes of Preliminal cognitive and ontological shift Sublminal variation throughline
So what can we do with ‘threshold concepts’? Five reflectiveconsiderations
1 analysis A threshold concepts analysis can identify transformative waypoints in students’ learning journeys. These waypoints need to be charted carefully.
2 ontology Internalising a threshold concept is not just about cognitive shift, it may also involve an ontological shift; change in sense of self and identity.Some attention has to be paid to the discomforts of transformative and troublesome knowledge.
3 variation Teaching for understanding requires a knowledge of variation in students’engagement with threshold concepts. Variation in the ‘episteme’, apprehension, provisional understanding, transformation, and sense of self.
4 subversion Simplistic ‘learning outcomes’ models usingsentences like 'by the end of the course students will be able to...’ undermine the complexities of transformtive learning experiences.Threshold concepts are subversive; they ‘rattle the cage’ of a linear, outcomes-based approach to learning.
5 research Threshold concepts open up new research agendas for learning and teaching. They create challenges for established ‘best practices’ in pedagogy and assessment, and they invite engagement with emerging new powerful ideas such as variation theory and the declarative approach.
