Lonergan's insight and threshold concepts: students in the liminal space

Heading, D.; Loughlin, Eleanor

doi:10.1080/13562517.2017.1414792

Cited by 9 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…As researchers have noted, transitions are never static; they occur over time and typically produce an anticipated outcome. Recently, scholars have begun to theorize the generative processes of student transitions through higher education (Heading and Loughlin 2018;Rantatalo and Lindberg 2018). For all students in higher education, the university experience is a limited period of time that produces encounters where individuals' identities actively evolve.…”

Section: Liminality As a Framework For Transitionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Transitions of Student Military Veterans into Engineering Education

et al. 2021

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As student veterans transition to four-year institutions from the military, they navigate pathways that are often neither linear nor easy. Using Turner’s theory of liminality, we examine student veterans’ perspectives of the transition from military to civilian life. Interviewees include 60 student veterans from all military branches from four universities in the USA. Student veterans describe successes and challenges as they matriculate into engineering education as transfer students. Analyses of qualitative data yield original findings about the importance of mentors and student veteran networks for fostering student veterans’ educational interests and in promoting their persistence. This study uses a framework of liminality to highlight the bridge between prior military position and a forthcoming reentry into society with a new professional identity as an engineer. In describing their studies, student veterans greatly valued military-learned skills, such as patience, discipline, and technical skills, that give them an advantage in their engineering studies. These findings will be relevant to researchers studying transitions in general and researchers investigating veterans or other populations experiencing transitions. University leaders, including student affairs administrators, faculty members, and others who serve the student veteran community will also benefit from the results.

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Section: Liminality As a Framework For Transitionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Transitions of Student Military Veterans into Engineering Education

et al. 2021

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“…Fellows were encouraged to work on research teams that employed a variety of disciplinary perspectives and research or evaluation methods [49]. Thus, one of UWW's most important contributions was its ability to use technology as a "liminal learning space" [50] between the concrete every day of the student, the concrete every day of community organizations, and the broader disciplinarian thought, so learners could interact and challenge each other to think about how to address problems and move to feasible solutions. The program emphasized the importance of fostering a community of learners who understand different disciplines and perspectives.…”

Section: Experiencing Community Intersectionality and Interdisciplinaritymentioning

confidence: 99%

Universities without Walls: A Blended Delivery Approach to Training the Next Generation of HIV Researchers in Canada

Ibáñez-Carrasco

Worthington

Rourke

et al. 2020

IJERPH

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(1) Background: Although HIV has not diminished in importance in Canada, the field of HIV research remains small, and the graduate students who decide to pursue careers within it feel isolated and uncertain about their professional skills and opportunities. Universities Without Walls (UWW) was created in 2009 to help redress these shortcomings. This paper presents a case study of UWW, a non-credit training program for emerging HIV researchers in Canada. In particular, we focus on the possibilities of experiential learning via online and blended delivery. UWW uses both online and in-person teaching modalities to teach engaged scholarship, interdisciplinarity, community-based research (CBR), intervention research, and ethics. (2) Methods: Using a case study, we elucidated the research question: “What are the factors that make Universities Without Walls a viable training environment in the contemporary HIV/AIDS field?” Focus groups were conducted with 13 UWW key stakeholders in 2012 during a program mid-point evaluation; in 2014, telephone or in-person interviews with the three directors were conducted by a UWW fellow (the 4th author of this paper), and in 2019 the authors analyzed the information and anecdotal evidence, which had been incorporated as thick description. In addition, fellows’ self-assessments via portfolio and results from formal learning assessments were included. We also thematically analyzed 65 student self-reports (2009–2015). (3) Results and Discussion: Each UWW cohort lasted 9 months to one year and was comprised of: a) sustained mentorship from the co-directors (e.g., phone conversations, assistance with grant writing, letters of reference, etc.); b) fortnightly online webinars that aim to develop fellows’ knowledge of community-based research (CBR), research ethics, intervention research, and interdisciplinary research; c) community service learning in the form of a “field mentoring placement”; d) face-to-face engagement with fellows and mentors, most notably at the week-long culminating learning institute; e) a stipend for fellows to carry out their training activities. The UWW pedagogical framework features experiential learning, critical pedagogy, and heutagogy made manifest in the field mentoring placements (community service learning), mentorship mediated by technologies, and in-person learning institutes. Our analysis showed that experiential learning was imparted by UWW’s a) transparency about its “implicit curriculum”, the attitudes, values, character, and professional identity imparted in the program as well as the overarching programmatic elements, such as commitment to diversity, the inclusion of those with lived experience, the flexible admissions policies and procedures, interdisciplinary faculty, flexible team, administrative structure, and valuing of technology in conducting research, learning, and teaching; b) curriculum co-designing and co-teaching, and c) sustaining a community of practice. The main results reported in our case study included significant “soft outcomes” for UWW fellows, such as developing a “social presence” as a precursor to lasting professional connections; learning to experience community-based research, intersectionality, and interdisciplinarity by interacting online with persons living with HIV, leaders in the field, and a variety of stakeholders (including nonprofit staff and policymakers). (4) Limitations: While fellows’ self-evaluation data were collected by an independent assessor and anonymized to the extent this was possible, the co-authors inevitably bring their preconceptions and positive biases to UWW’s assessment. As UWW was developed to function outside of traditional academic structures, it is unlikely that the UWW program could be transferred to a post-secondary environment in its entirety. UWW was also built for the socio-political environment of HIV health research. (5) Conclusions: The experiences of those involved with UWW demonstrate that explicit curricular components—such as interdisciplinarity, community-based research, intervention research, and applied ethics—can be learned through a blended delivery when combined with opportunities to apply the knowledge in ways, such as a field mentoring placement and a learning institute. Related to this outcome, our case study describes that implicit curricular components in the formation of a professional—the sense of self in the field as a researcher, student, and community member—can also be delivered through a blended model. However, the tools and activities need to be tailored to each student for their context, while pushing their disciplinarian and professional boundaries.

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“…Therefore, this literature was used as support when forming the data collection procedures used in the case studies. The literature suggests that both students' and teachers' opinions should be considered (Entwistle, 2009;Smith, 2013;Heading and Loughlin, 2018). The use of multiple methods is suggested by e.g.…”

Section: Rq2 and Rq3 -Identify And Overcome Thresholds For Learning Tmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Providing examples from economics and history, Entwistle (2009) notes that students can use concept maps to gain insight into how they perceive a subject such as which topics are seen as essential and difficult. Heading and Loughlin (2018) argue that although students' perceptions are important, teachers' own experiences concerning student difficulties are also valuable. Knight et al (2014) report on how thresholds were investigated in an undergraduate hydraulics course.…”

Section: Identification Of Learning Thresholdsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Total Cost Analysis in Logistics : Practical Execution, Learning, and Teaching in Higher Education

Oskarsson

2019

Linköping Studies in Science and Technology. Dissertations

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Cost is considered a crucial factor in much decision-making in private and public organisations. Therefore, the ability to calculate total estimated costs for different alternatives is important. However, such total cost analysis is a challenging task. Providing students with the knowledge and skills needed for total cost analysis is therefore relevant in several disciplines within higher education. Within logistics management, total cost analysis is for decades by several scholars regarded as a 'cornerstone', a fundamental part of the discipline. However, except for describing the basic steps and presumptions, the literature does not give much support concerning how to conduct such analyses, or which the difficulties associated with total cost analysis are. This blank space in literature is not limited to the logistics discipline, it stretches throughout many disciplines. Neither does literature cover how to teach to support students' learning of total cost analysis. Hence, to address the lack of research, the purpose of this thesis was formulated as follows: To contribute to the understanding of conducting, learning, and teaching total cost analysis. Three research questions were shaped to address each part of the purpose: conducting, learning and teaching. RQ1 What challenges are connected to the process of conducting total cost analysis? RQ2 What thresholds are there for learning how to conduct total cost analysis? RQ3 How can total cost learning be supported by suitable educational methods? The research questions are connected to each other in the sense that the challenges of conducting total cost analysis (RQ1) indicate within which areas total cost learning is difficult, and thereby where thresholds are to be investigated (RQ2). Further, knowledge about the learning thresholds is needed to discuss suitable educational activities (RQ3). The research was conducted by a combination of literature reviews and multiple case studies at four Higher Education Institutions, where both teachers and students were approached. The findings for RQ1 were developed in an abductive procedure walking back and forth between literature and cases. A twelve-step process for total cost analysis was defined, and specific challenges associated for each of these steps. Regarding learning thresholds (RQ2), perceived difficulties with learning total cost analysis were identified in the case studies. These difficulties were then analysed against threshold characteristics available in literature. This resulted in the identification of four total cost learning thresholds. Literature on constructivist-based teaching was used to suggest teaching methods to support learning (RQ3). These types of activities proved to match the ones most appreciated by teachers and students in the studied cases.

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Lonergan's insight and threshold concepts: students in the liminal space

Cited by 9 publications

References 12 publications

Transitions of Student Military Veterans into Engineering Education

Transitions of Student Military Veterans into Engineering Education

Universities without Walls: A Blended Delivery Approach to Training the Next Generation of HIV Researchers in Canada

Total Cost Analysis in Logistics : Practical Execution, Learning, and Teaching in Higher Education

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