The potential of combining phenomenography, variation theory and threshold concepts to inform curriculum design in higher education
Theory and Method in Higher Education Research II
ISBN: 978-1-78350-999-7, eISBN: 978-1-78350-823-5
Publication date: 25 April 2014
Abstract
This chapter describes an innovative method of curriculum design that is based on combining phenomenographic research, and the associated variation theory of learning, with the notion of disciplinary threshold concepts to focus specialised design attention on the most significant and difficult parts of the curriculum. The method involves three primary stages: (i) identification of disciplinary concepts worthy of intensive curriculum design attention, using the criteria for threshold concepts; (ii) action research into variation in students’ understandings/misunderstandings of those concepts, using phenomenography as the research approach; (iii) design of learning activities to address the poorer understandings identified in the second stage, using variation theory as a guiding framework. The curriculum design method is inherently theory and evidence based. It was developed and trialed during a two-year project funded by the Australian Learning and Teaching Council, using physics and law disciplines as case studies. Disciplinary teachers’ perceptions of the impact of the method on their teaching and understanding of student learning were profound. Attempts to measure the impact on student learning were less conclusive; teachers often unintentionally deviated from the design when putting it into practice for the first time. Suggestions for improved implementation of the method are discussed.
Acknowledgements
Acknowledgements
Funding for the trial project was provided by the Australian Learning and Teaching Council, an initiative of the Australian Government Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations.
We would like to thank Keith Trigwell from the University of Sydney, who worked with the authors as an educational researcher/developer in the project, and Camille McMahon, who conducted the independent evaluation of the project.
Particular thanks go to the law and physics academics who participated in the project trial, and whose involvement in the interview design, interview analysis, curriculum design and implementation led to the illustrations of potential outcomes provided in this chapter: Judith Jones and Paul Francis, Australian National University; Susan Carr-Gregg, Leanne Houston and Les Kirkup, University of Technology, Sydney; Rachael Field, Darren Pearce and Cheryl Treloar, Queensland University of Technology; and Manjula Sharma, University of Sydney.
Citation
Åkerlind, G., McKenzie, J. and Lupton, M. (2014), "The potential of combining phenomenography, variation theory and threshold concepts to inform curriculum design in higher education", Theory and Method in Higher Education Research II (International Perspectives on Higher Education Research, Vol. 10), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 227-247. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1479-3628(2014)0000010017
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2014 Emerald Group Publishing Limited