We look forward to meeting you at the Tenth Biennial Threshold Concepts Conference 2025 in beautiful Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada at The University of British Columbia – xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) Unceded Territory.
The conference begins at 9:00 AM on Wednesday, July 2, 2025 and runs through early afternoon on Friday, July 4, 2025. The schedule is available to download here: 250701_Conference Schedule DAY BY DAY
Registration is OPEN – Information on how to register is below. Early Bird Rates HELD OVER!
TC25 Registration information
For information on travel to Vancouver and accommodation at the conference click – TC25 Travel and Accommodation
Keynote speakers
Leif Martin Hokstad (Norwegian University of Science and Technology) will be give the opening keynote “Liminality Revisited”.
Abstract: Liminality is a central theme in the threshold concepts framework, along with the complementary and related concepts of ambiguity and uncertainty. In this presentation we will revisit some previous work on liminality, as well as more recent work, on the role of liminality in an educational context. The theme of ´thinking with liminality´, will be connected to the theme of the conference, New Horizons. Recent events and developments in science, technology and politics, have revitalized the usefulness and necessity of the descriptive and analytical lens of liminality.
The presentation will draw on the Scandinavian – German concepts of Didaktik and Bildung to position liminality in a broader educational context. The perspective is that of an educational developer, having worked across several disciplines. To illustrate some of these possible understandings of liminality and its usefulness in educational design, examples will be drawn from current and ongoing projects, including architecture education, medical education and military education. These also include various forms of simulation and VR/XR. Applying liminality as a lens may also shed light on how present and emergent technologies may be perceived. The presentation will conclude with the question of what, if at all desirable and possible, would constitute and contribute to a ´pedagogy of liminality ´.
Anne M. Tierney (Heriot Watt University) will give the closing keynote, “The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education: Have we been the architects of our own demise?”
Abstract: The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) (Boyer, 1990) is officially 35 years old this year. This is a landmark date because it is around the length of time it takes to establish a new field or discipline (Becher & Trowler, 2001). What has the trajectory for SoTL been in terms of establishing a new field? In the past decade especially, “scholarship” has been embedded into universities’ business across the (English-speaking) globe. However, there remain many contradictions and unresolved tensions around “scholarship” and SoTL which have not been resolved in over two decades (Boshier, 2009; Hutchings, 2007). These contradictions affect teachers in higher education who aim to be SoTL scholars, often adversely. SoTL, which is meant to support and elevate teaching within the academy has become a political football. Institutions embed “scholarship” in reward and recognition schemes yet are hesitant to agree to an evidence-based definition (Kreber, 2002). We subscribe to “The Big Tent” (Chick, 2014; Hamilton & MCollum, 2024) but seem unable to progress beyond it. We put old wine in new bottles and call it “innovation” (Webb, 2016). And as a sector we are unable to come to consensus around the definition of “scholarship” and SoTL.
Exploring these thorny issues through the lens of Threshold Concepts (Meyer & Land, 2005; A. Tierney, 2019; A. M. Tierney, 2017; Webb, 2016) gives us the opportunity to reflect on the past thirty five years of SoTL and the past twenty years of Threshold Concepts themselves. What can we learn from the past? How does that affect teaching in higher education in the present? And what can we do to impact on the future of SoTL and higher education? And have we backed ourselves into a corner?
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