How are Threshold Concepts Applied? A Review of the Literature
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 K12 outreach.
We begin with the goal of effectively employing the Threshold Concept framework to identify transformative sites to target for curricular revisions. Our first steps include a thorough 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 in particular?
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, or 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 grass-roots, 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.
Dr. David Reeping is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Engineering and Computing Education at the University of Cincinnati. He earned his Ph.D. in Engineering Education from Virginia Tech and was a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow. He received his B.S. in Engineering Education with a Mathematics minor from Ohio Northern University. His main research interests include transfer student information asymmetries, threshold concepts, curricular complexity, and advancing quantitative and fully integrated mixed methods.
http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6654-2337
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
[biography]
Lisa D. McNair is a Professor of Engineering Education at Virginia Tech, where she also serves as Deputy Executive Director of the Institute for Creativity, Arts, and Technology (ICAT).
Steve Harrison is the Director of the Human-Centered Design Program at Virginia Tech, an associate professor of practice in Computer Science, and co-director of the Social Informatics area of the Center for Human-Computer Interaction. Design – and in particular, participatory approaches to design – has shaped his approach to teaching and research: he is a registered architect in California, studies the practices of design, has created tools for design collaboration, and is an award-winning designer. He has edited two books, authored numerous peer-reviewed publications, designed award-winning interactive STEM exhibits, chaired the ACM SigCHI Design subcommittee, organized the ACM Design of Interactive Systems ("DIS") conference in 2014, and is the director of the ACM DIS Conference Steering Committee. Before coming to Virginia Tech, he was a research scientist at the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (“PARC”). Website: http://people.cs.vt.edu/~srh/
R. Benjamin Knapp is the Director of the Institute for Creativity, Arts, and Technology (ICAT) and Professor of Computer Science at Virginia Tech. ICAT is a university level research institute that seeks to promote research and education at the boundaries between art, design, engineering, and science.
For more than 20 years, Dr. Knapp has been working to create meaningful links between human-computer interaction, universal design, and various forms of creativity. His research on human-computer interaction has focused on the development and design of user-interfaces and software that allow both composers and performers to augment the physical control of a musical instrument with direct sensory interaction. He holds twelve patents and is the co-inventor of the BioMuse system, which enables artists to use gesture, cognition, and emotional state to interact with audio and video media.
In previous positions, Dr. Knapp has served as a Fulbright Senior Specialist at University College, Dublin, and chief technology officer of the Technology Research for Independent Living Centre. As the director of technology at MOTO Development Group in San Francisco, Calif., he managed teams of engineers and designers developing human-computer interaction systems for companies such as Sony, Microsoft, and Logitech. He co-founded BioControl Systems, a company that develops mobile bioelectric measurement devices for artistic interaction. Dr. Knapp has also served as professor and chair of the Department of Computer, Information, and Systems Engineering at San Jose State University.
Luke F. Lester, an IEEE and SPIE Fellow, received the B.S. in Engineering Physics in 1984 and the Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering in 1992, both from Cornell University. He joined Virginia Tech in 2013 as the Head of the Bradley Department of Electrical a
Tom Martin is a Professor in the Bradley Department of Electrical and
Computer Engineering at Virginia Tech, with courtesy appointments in
Computer Science and the School of Architecture + Design. He is the
co-director of the Virginia Tech E-textiles Lab and the Associate Director of
the Institute for Creativity, Arts, and Technology. He received his Ph.D. in
Electrical and Computer Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University and
his B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Cincinnati.
His research and teaching interests include wearable computing, electronic
textiles, and interdisciplinary design teams for pervasive computing.
In 2006 he was selected for the National Science Foundation's Presidential
Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) for his research
in e-textile-based wearable computing.
Annie Y. Patrick received her Master of Science in Network Technology and graduate certificate in Information Assurance from East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina in 2016. At present, she is a PhD student in Science and Technology Studies
Matthew Wisnioski is an interdisciplinary historian of innovation, engineering, and the politics of technology. He is Associate Professor of Science and Technology in Society and a Senior Fellow of the Institute for Creativity, Arts, and Technology at Vir
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