It is a simple idea: focus on the core concepts that once mastered will allow the student to comprehend, understand, interpret; the intellectual abilities above mere knowledge memorization and recipe recitation.

The term threshold is used to imply the point of learning that makes sense for the student to have achieved in order to progress or not. It is not about marks for knowledge memorization and recipe recitation. The focus is explicitly lowered on secondary knowledge or algorithms that do not have to be memorized and which can always be looked up. It is about ‘what matters’ at the end of the day and not what is easy to teach and assess. It is about ensuring that the student understands the fundamentals and can have a platform for live-long learning. It is about ensuring that the student knows when to use something, when not to, any important assumptions, and what the underlying necessary and sufficient conditions are.

While it is easy to propose, it is not that easy to look at a program or course and come up with the core, threshold concepts. In some cases, the stated outcomes can help, but it is possible that the stated outcomes are biased by what has been decided by the knowledge and recipes taught.

To have a student learn at this level requires a conscious and deliberate approach to teaching the core concepts and this includes careful introduction, motivation, explanation, exploration, and reinforcement (practice, feedback, reflection, and repetition). This takes time to teach. It takes effort to assess. And, it is probably safe to say that few current instructors have been taught with this philosophy. Most instructors will know how to teach facts, knowledge, and recipes. They will not know how to teach comprehension etc., nor know how to assess it. This makes it difficult for instructors to embrace and execute. Not impossible, but there has to be institutional support whenever the threshold concept approach is adopted.

It will be difficult for instructors who do not really understand the material themselves at the deeper level and are only comfortable at the knowledge and recipe level. Not all instructors will have this problem, but some will.

Suggestions…

• Study how to teach and assess comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation; this will take more than a couple weekends (sorry). Look for short courses. While the Bloom report does not discuss how to teach the intellectual abilities, it has excellent ideas and suggestions for how to assess for them.
• In theory, the journey starts with the program’s desired outcomes and cascades down each term to the first year courses: what does the department want the students to know and be able to do upon graduation, and at what levels of mastery should they be able to demonstrate in this knowledge domain and skill set. That is, the cognitive abilities found in Bloom’s Taxonomy need to be consciously discussed and the course outcomes aligned. This should provide the necessary insights about threshold concepts. It is not likely that an existing curriculum and existing outcomes would be satisfactory; unless it was thought through with core concepts in mind from the start.

• Start with the first year course(s). Be transparent and discuss the concept of threshold concepts and how they will be taught and assessed. Stress that there are different forms of ‘learning’ and memorization and recipe recital are just two. Introduce Bloom’s Taxonomy and discuss the levels of learning.
• For the course, identify the core concepts and logical sequence for introduction. Work with someone else who will challenge you and debate with you.
• Do not start with the current course outline and course notes.
• One technique to help rationalize the content is: in two or three years, what do you want the students to remember from your course? This might help sift through the noise. Another is to consciously think about vertical integration and what is needed by the sequel or downstream courses at the concept level.
• Time and pace the concepts so that they are introduced, have time to sink in, have exercises or lessons that allow the students to understand relationships and assumptions, and have multiple assessment, feedback, and reflection moments. Ensure that the concept is referred to multiple times during the term and its relationship to other concepts well understood.
• Have some planned ‘free’ lectures where you can go back over and try it again; if the concept is not understood on the first pass, try it again using different (not the same) methods. If the concept is truly core, you want to make sure that 80% of the students understand 80% of the points, assumptions, etc. They will not get it all and do not expect that, but they should have a foundation for future learning.

Co-dependencies & The Necessary and Hopefully Sufficient

• It is probably not wise to introduce this method in later years. It should be introduced in first year and then pipelined through the program with this initial cohort. The students need to understand that they are still learning when there is less to memorize. The student need to understand that they can still get a good grade when there is less to memorize. This is easier to introduce in first year than later.
• There will be some courses with almost 100% focus on knowledge and facts and this is ok. There are ways to deal with this. There will be some courses which are 100% core concepts and there are ways to deal with this too. The problem will be mixed courses with ‘lots’ of knowledge and more than just one or two core concepts. The curriculum needs to be designed so that sufficient memorized knowledge is ‘removed’ and time given to the threshold concepts.

• Teaching with the threshold concept will likely require changing downstream courses as well. The instructors of these courses will need to know how the concepts were introduced and include reinforcement material (discussions, exercises etc.,) as it is not usual for something like a threshold concept to be a one-and-done type learning moment. There are different levels of mastery and cognitive science would suggest that the first course with a threshold concept will get them to a novice level (perhaps) and not above.
• The subsequent courses that use or rely on the threshold concept need to provide some practice and conscious reflection on the concept. This does not mean re-teach it. But it means that some time is needed on the threshold concept when relevant and the students must be engaged and encouraged to think about it.
• The department should be aware that a threshold concept approach is being introduced into a course and have some way of knowing that the instructor is suitably skilled to do the task and that the course has been appropriately designed.
• There will be instructors in the department who will not be happy with the threshold concept; for the courses they teach or courses other teach. A consensus approach will be needed within a program (majority, not unanimous view of the word consensus) and all of the instructors will need to then sign up.

Further reading

• Meyer, J. H.F. and R. Land (2005), Threshold concepts and troublesome knowledge (2): Epistemological considerations and a conceptual framework for teaching and learning. Higher Education, 49, pp. 373-388.
• Land, R., Cousin, G., Jeyer, J.H.F., and P. Davies (2005). Threshold concepts and troublesome knowledge (3): implications for course design and evaluation. In Rust, C. (ed) Improving Student Learning Diversity and Inclusivity, Oxford: Centre for Staff and Learning Development.