Exploring transformative dimensions of threshold concepts - Sydney, 1-2 July 2010

The University of New South Wales, in collaboration with the University of Sydney, is hosting the 3rd Biennial Threshold Concepts Symposium. This will take place in Sydney, Australia on July 1 - 2, 2010.

This symposium will build on the previous two symposia to further explore practice and research into threshold concepts and the changes these are bringing across the higher education sector.

The symposium theme aims to encourage the exploration of thresholds and transformations. When Meyer and Land first coined the expression threshold concepts in 2002 they highlighted their transformative nature: "where they can be considered as akin to a portal, opening up a new and previously inaccessible way of thinking about something…representing a transformed way of understanding, or interpreting, or viewing something without which the learner cannot progress". They claimed that once understood, their "potential effect on student learning and behaviour is to occasion a significant shift in the perception of a subject, or part thereof". They found transformation went beyond perception and learning and extended to the affective domain around personal identity and perspective, including "a shift in values, feeling or attitude".

Outcomes from the extensive research conducted across multiple contexts and disciplines throughout the world reveal that the transformative nature of 'thresholds' extends to other dimensions beyond learning - from the transformation of how disciplines view knowledge and how curricula are shaped, through to changes in how academic development is understood and practised. These dimensions, outlined in detail under the theme, will be explored through a variety of formats including paper presentations, panel discussions, round table discussions and workshops.