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The purpose of this paper is to enhance understanding of the experience of qualified nurses managing the process of learning through work when enrolled on a work-based learning module.

The study was based on constructivist grounded theory using semi-structured interviews with purposive and theoretical sampling of 13 health professionals across acute and community settings. Constant comparative method of data analysis used.

A core category revealed a social process of learning to learn through work as the nurse shifted from a relatively passive view of the self in the workplace to one that actively constructed an environment that facilitated the realisation of learning objectives. The outcome was the development of metacognition skills of learning to learn promoting intentional learning behaviour towards a lifelong learning attitude.

If knowledge generated from work-based learning is to nourish the organisation, there needs to be opportunities for knowledge exchange in the workplace, consistent mentor support, protective time and a positive attitude to learning in work from colleagues. The study did not include master's students.

While studies have highlighted the influence and impact of organisations on the quality and scope of learning through work, less is known about how health care professionals, in particular qualified nurses, learn to learn in the workplace. This study is of value to those investigating and supporting individuals learning through work-based learning. Threshold concepts and troublesome knowledge introduce a creative perspective to explore the meaning of learning through work.

This chapter explores the potential of grounded theory research methods for eliciting threshold concepts. It begins with an overview of threshold concept theory, then reviews current methodological approaches, as well as challenges encountered, when researching threshold concepts. The discussion argues for the suitability of grounded theory for this purpose, using a specific case for illustration. Specific elements of the research design that strengthened the use of grounded theory in the exploration of threshold concepts are described. The case example used is of graduate students and practicing professionals’ learning experiences when acquiring expertise in the online environment. The case is used to demonstrate the grounded theory method’s efficacy for eliciting evidence of transformative learning experiences, leading to implications for improving curriculum design.

Economics is catering to a diverse student cohort. This cohort needs to be equipped with transformative concepts that students can integrate beyond university. When a curriculum is content-driven, threshold concepts are a useful tool in guiding curriculum re-design. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

The evidence for this pedagogic need can be seen in the UK’s higher education economics curriculum framework which is formulated around the threshold concepts of economics. Through a literature review of the application of threshold concepts in economics, the researcher has systematically re-designed an entry-level economics course. This research has been applied to the course structure, the learning and teaching activities, as well as the assessments. At the end of the semester, students students were surveyed on the student experience of the curriculum design and the course activities. The course grades noted the achievement of the students’ learning outcomes.

When comparing the survey responses and the student course results to the previous semesters, there is a significant improvement in student experience as well as student learning outcomes of the course curriculum.

This research provides curriculum developers with a benchmark and the tools required to transform economics curricula.

An engaging, transformative and integrative entry-level economics course is often the only exposure most business graduates have to the economics way of thinking and practice.

This is the first comprehensive study that applies a curriculum re-design based on threshold concepts across an entry-level economics course.

When a student chooses a career, they already have views/stereotypes about what that role constitutes. This also applies to students who choose a career in any health profession. This theoretical paper likens mental health to a threshold concept within interprofessional learning and, with it, the act of engaging in learning together as 'troublesome knowledge', which challenges their originally held notion of what it is to be a health professional both positively and negatively. It is felt that, although the development of professional identity remains progressively evolutionary through one's career, this paper intends to consider the journey of ‘troublesome knowledge’ for the health professional student appreciating mental health within interprofessional learning as a necessary challenge, in order to rediscover the true meaning of being a health professional. Challenging the previously held assumptions of the health professional students and their professional acquisition of knowledge about their chosen career and understanding of mental health is not only important to develop their skills within a varied team, but vital to the centrality of the patient.

If the core purpose of transformative education is to challenge and reposition knowledge through a range of opportunities, then surfacing and attending to forms of student misconceptions (for example, through confusion, disequilibrium) are a necessary part of learning and teaching. We have come to understand that arriving at a clear view of a concept may involve a process of working through a range of misconceptions about a phenomenon or experience that may or may not create a threshold experience in a learner. We argue that the journey through conceptual change and thresholds requires a more nuanced emphasis on liminal spaces, where misconceptions and thresholds may reside. We offer a revised thresholds concept generic model that helps to identify student misconceptions as cycles within and through pre-liminal, liminal and post-liminal spaces. Two practice examples demonstrate the application of this model: (1) teaching and learning botanical literacy through a technology-rich, real-time mobile app and (2) embedding and measuring cultural competence as a graduate learning outcome in Australian universities. Each context offers a specific emphasis on highlighting the need to make all liminal learning spaces safer, as learners surface and engage with conceptual change. The conclusion suggests that conceptual change in student learning offers a form of threshold misconception.

This paper aims to examines responsible management (RM) practice and the learning processes that underpin its development. It presents a conceptual framework to highlight the relationship between the learning experience of the individual and their capacity to develop responsible practice.

This conceptual paper synthesises knowledge from studies of how managers learn for ethical and responsible practice. A scoping review of peer-reviewed academic papers was conducted using key search terms that included “responsible management learning” (RML), “ethics”, “Human Resource Development (HRD)”, “responsible management (RM)”, “responsible leadership (RL)” and “work-based learning”. Analysis resulted in development of a conceptual framework of RML processes.

The review of studies concerned with how individuals learn to manage “responsibly” identified a range of learning processes that are necessary for the development of responsible practice. These learning processes are presented in a conceptual model that offers insights for the design of HRD interventions. Learning for responsible practice is presented as occurring in learning spaces where the learner/manager experiences a combination of learning processes. These are found to include situated, social and experiential learning that is “transformative”, potentially “troublesome” and “reflexive” such that learners develop responsible values and practices.

The paper contributes to the field of management development by focussing on the intersection between what is known about how individuals learn for ethical and responsible practice and the implications for work-based learning pedagogies. The paper will be of interest to HRD professionals tasked with fostering a responsible and ethical culture within organisations.

For HRD practitioners, this paper highlights the importance of work-based learning intervention design. What is suggested is that not all HRD interventions are likely to provide the learning conditions required for the development of “responsible practice”. A review of research into RML points to the need for interventions that offer a deep, personal, situated and transformative learning experience. There are organisational implications that arise from the type of learning found to develop responsible practice. For example, facilitating managers skills and awareness of how they learn such as: developing reflective practices and supporting developmental/collaborative networks that examine existing workplace practices. HRD professionals will need to recognise the need to support individual's learning for responsible practice given that it may entail questioning existing practice, and confronting troublesome knowledge, such as recognising where areas of irresponsibility exist. This may have implications for wider HR practices such as line management support, reward and performance management.

The paper contributes to the field of management development by focussing on the intersection between what is known about how individuals learn for ethical and responsible practice and the implications for work-based learning pedagogies. The paper will be of interest to HRD professionals tasked with fostering a responsible and ethical culture within organisations.

This chapter examines the case of threshold concepts, as an example of a theory being developed and applied within higher education research. It traces the origins and meaning of the term, reviews its application by higher education researchers and discusses the issues it raises and the critiques it has attracted. This case is of particular interest, as the idea of threshold concepts is little more than a decade old, yet in that time it has attracted considerable attention.

This chapter offers a conceptual perspective of what students need to understand to understand entrepreneurship, and educators’ views on how best to educate students in it, in response to calls for a greater understanding of the learning environment. The research uses the lens of the threshold concept framework to inform a conceptual approach to entrepreneurship education. The threshold concept framework posits that in any academic discipline there are concepts that have a particularly transformative effect on student learning representing a transformed way of understanding something, without which the learner cannot progress.

Research was undertaken in three stages to identify what is distinctive about thinking like an entrepreneur, how to educate students to think like entrepreneurs and how students understand thinking like entrepreneurs. The first and second stages of the study are the focus of this chapter. Candidate threshold concepts in entrepreneurship and educators’ perspectives of effective ways to educate students in entrepreneurship are presented.

Data from 11 individual and group semi-structured interviews conducted with 18 entrepreneurship educators in 10 higher education institutions across the UK was integrated with findings from a Delphi survey with 10 expert entrepreneurs.

By offering the perspectives of entrepreneurship educators and entrepreneurs, this chapter makes a valuable contribution to a conceptually grounded and innovative approach to entrepreneurship education.

Although the literature is clear on what comprises effective project stakeholder management, communication between key stakeholders and project managers is often ineffective. Research is silent on stakeholders' insufficient knowledge of project management terminology, which is a barrier for such effective communication. This paper aims to identify the project management concepts that key stakeholders should understand to improve effective communication.

This paper employs a three-step research design. In the first step, based on threshold concept theory, the authors identify the key project management concepts through interviews with 20 project management practitioners, trainers and trainees. In the second step, the authors confirm the findings from the first step and identify effective approaches to enhance project stakeholders' communication through seven additional interviews with project stakeholders. In the third step, the authors construct a functional model of the research findings by employing a system-level modeling tool.

This research identifies five project management threshold concepts (TC) that are challenging for project stakeholders to understand (1) project benefits, (2) the iron triangle, (3) the critical path, (4) uncertainty and (5) project leadership. Following these knowledge barriers, the paper proposes unique approaches to develop effective project stakeholder communication.

This paper advances project stakeholder management research by identifying knowledge barriers and providing project managers with more effective approaches to better engage with their stakeholders.