Interesting lecture on the 28th of July about a concept that has been great influence with regards to all disciplines. The term 'Threshold Concepts', and at it's most basic form it merely means or refers to a certain journey one need to go through ones this occurs a person may fiuratively look back and see an older version of ones point of view or perspective. An example of such an occurence is us being the first ones to go through studying IL in this new framework. It is a journey but on the other end of this portal or pathway we can look back as pioneers, people who paved the way for others with a new understanding of what this framework is about and we would be knowledgeable about this and capable of informing others about it.

My question is however, we mostly spoke about disciplines as in subject fields, law, accounting,  medicine etc. I am thinking about in terms of other fields though as in where people create gimmicks such as in music eg. Dr. Dre could this be a characterisitic of Threshold Concept specifically the characteristic of Boundedness. Because Dr.Dre is a gimmick a stage name and not a real doctor in any sense of the word. So Dr is a self-given name but everyone knows that this man did not study to be a doctor so in the field of music he is known as Dr.Dre and known for putting life into music and curing beats etc. Just a question.


This concept has me thinking about various examples and it's frustrating.


Transformative: Refers to how once something is learned it transforms a persons way of thinking, his way of perceiving. An example I can think of at this moment is how psychiatric patience of Dr Michael Scott Peck felt after being in a few sessions with the Doctor. At first they are ignorant of the things that they are going through and then after he explains to them what is happening within them they are immediately aware of the processes that our minds go through and this brought awareness to the patience and they are immediately transformed in the sense that when they see live foreign objects they should not get scared and freak out, rather they must be aware that the mind sometimes does this due to chemical imbalances etc. Thus they are instantly not afraid when it occurs again.


It is also irreversible in the sense that once you learn it you cannot forget it or unlearn it.


It is integrative also in how various disciplines can learn from other disciplines and thus better their performance in their areas of expertise.


It is also troublesome which means that understanding and grasping a concept or idea or phenomenon it doesn't come without it's difficulty in understanding. It's a struggle to get to understanding, because it's a constant back and forth.


After each lecture I find myself extremely tired but also in a process of metathinking.


I am shaped by various topics, such as the frames for Information Literacy for Higher Education.


1.) I am very honest with the fact that I got a bit of a scare when I came across the first frame in Threshold Concept. Scholarship is a conversation. Everyone knows that people have a lot to say and their are no shortage of experts in any field. So there are a lot of conversations going on about any one specific topic and that is scary since you need to learn all points of view before deciding on which one or ones suits you best.
New insights and ideas are constantly shared during this conversation and it always gives light to more new ideas, there's no definite asnwer that's why research is always done to try to reinvent or further progress certain ideas.

2.)  Research as Inquiry. This refers to research as a process of interacting. A researcher constantly has to rethink, rework, and explore concepts. Students need to learn how to identify unresolved issues and frame appropriate questions that deals with solving or answering them.

3.) Authority of texts is contextual and constructed. This means that authority of a source or discipline depends on its origin, information, need and context within which information will be used. Eg. Dr Michael Scott Peck is a psyciatrist this alone basically gives him great authority so any advice he gives will probably be used. But if he says in order to cure a mental illness you need to walk through a literal fire then one would immediately question whether or not this is legitimate. So it is dependent on context as well as information.

4.) Information Creation as a process.

This refers to the various formats available to a person at any point in time. It refers to also the ways of sharing information. Eg. scholarly facebook pages etc.

5.) Searching as exploration. Search strategy is not straightforward and sequential. It involves inquiry, discovery and serendipity. Discovering one source can lead to the discovery of other sources or avenues.

6.) Information has value. Students should understand their obligation to cite and acknowledge the idea of others. .