Threshold Concepts and the ACRL framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education.
Threshold Concepts
First of all we need to understand what the term "threshold concepts" mean. According to Vocabulary.com "A threshold takes you from one place into another, and when you're about to start something new, you're also on a threshold." (http://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/threshold)Many liken threshold concepts to passing through a portal that opens up a previously inaccessible way of thinking. Land & Meyer terms it as the core ideas and processes that relate to a specific discipline.
Criteria for Threshold Concepts:
- It is transformative: it changes the way you see things. New thinking becomes part of the self. Students start to think like a professional instead of student.
- It is integrative: it brings together different concepts/ disciplines. It exposes hidden inter relatedness
- It is irreversible: Once understood it cannot be unlearned
- It is bounded: It defines academic territories.
- It is troublesome: It is usually difficult to unlearn old methods of doing things and the reversal of old methods can be uncomfortable. Concepts in themselves are difficult to understand.
Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education
There are six (6) frames of Information Literacy for Higher Education:- Scholarship is a conversation: There are no easy or single answer in scholarly research, as it is ongoing and discoveries give rise to new ideas and new discoveries. Students are given the opportunity to become conversant in a discipline. It is a practice where ideas are discussed, debated and formulated.
- Research as Inquiry: students have to rethink, rework, test and explore concepts of their discipline. They need to be taught how to identify unresolved issues and frame questions. This process includes various research methodologies
- Authority of text is contextual and constructed: It is dependent on the origin, information need and context within which information will be used. The information need help determine the level of authority needed. It is acknowledged that certain views will be elevated (favouring certain authors). All sources are not equal.
- Information creation as a process: Information is created to convey a message via various formats.
- Searching as exploration: Search strategies are not straightforward and involves inquiry, discovery. Discovery of one source may lead to another. Students should be able to match informational need and search strategies with the appropriate search tool.
- Information has value: Students should understand the legal and ethical obligation to cite work of others and to give proper acknowledgements when using ideas of others. Students should be able to understand the differences between copyright, open access and public domain.
I am still a little bit in the dark as to how we are going to implement this information in our practices as librarians and what impact it will have, For now it is still abstract concepts based on information we already have. It is nevertheless very interesting to learn and I can't wait to see where this journey will take us. Hopefully I will soon cross that threshold, and see the light
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteCharlene I think that there is always light at the end of the tunnel and you must know that students have a greater role and responsibility in creating new knowledge, in understanding the contours and the changing dynamics of the world of information, and in using information, data, and scholarship ethically. Teaching faculty have a greater responsibility in designing curricula and assignments that foster enhanced engagement with the core ideas about information and scholarship within their disciplines. Librarians have a greater responsibility in identifying core ideas within their own knowledge domain that can extend learning for students, in creating a new cohesive curriculum for information literacy, and in collaborating more extensively with faculty.My question is how might the library build instruction support and services to help learners move past the threshold in their disciplines and/or the thresholds for information literacy?
ReplyDeleteThank you for the succinct manner in which you unpacked the idea of threshold concepts Charlene. Yes I agree that at this stage of your learning, the idea of using threshold concepts to teach students appears foreign and almost impossible. Once we give life to these very abstract concepts in the Framework, by applying them in teaching scenarios, I am sure that you will gain more clarity.
ReplyDeleteGrace, you are spot on with your emphasis on teachers as being the key role players in this Framework. They are the ones essentially to introduce this into their teaching practices....but more discussion about this in class!