Seeing things again, for the first time

Jason P Davies, UCL (University College London)

It is twenty years since Meyer and Land published their first paper on Threshold Concepts, and launched the threshold concept framework (TCF) into a sector that, in many ways, has changed beyond recognition; but in other ways, it is a case of ’plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose [the more things change, the more they are the same]. Does the TCF, for instance, help us consider how to meet the latest challenge, of the widespread availability of ‘AI’ – Large Language Models?

This talk reflects on how higher education frames (and therefore responds to) broad changes and challenges, and goes back to van Gennep’s original framework of initiation to reflect on why there has (appropriately and somewhat inevitably) been a shift to focus on the self and identity across higher education, contextualising this shift within broader changes in society and universities. It muses on the way we can use TCF to guide our response and our practice, and where we might want to put our focus as teachers over the next twenty years both to enable our students but also to offset the force of some of the wider currents.