Key Theories Defined

Something I’ve been working on is writing my own definitions for four theories central to my PhD project. As these will be shared during my soon-to-begin data collection process, it was deemed necessary to make a public claim to them by first publishing them all to the internet.

Without further ado then, here are my definitions:

Community of Practice

“Learning is a social activity through which we build and shape our identities. People in a community of practice have a shared learning need and interact with each other as they learn, pooling their expertise to support one another’s learning journeys.”

Transformative Learning

“When learning provides a new perspective on previously held assumptions, which can cause a re-evaluation of things that are key to one’s identity or view of the world. This new perspective cannot be unseen, and can lead to significant life changes.”

Threshold Concept

“A troublesome concept that must be fully understood before the learner can progress further within a discipline. Once understood, it is as if the learner steps over a threshold in the mind and thereby gains access to a profoundly different perspective, as well as a deeper understanding that opens up previously unavailable learning.”

Knowledge Object

“A knowledge object is when abstract concepts such as ideas and information start to form an integrated unit in someone’s mind as the learner gains clarity on the concept. This unit of knowledge can be experienced almost as if it was tangible or visible as a single object in the mind.”

If you are interested reading into any of the theories defined above, here are the sources that inspired my definitions:

• Entwistle, N. and Marton, F. (1994) ‘Knowledge objects: understandings constituted through intensive academic study’, British Journal of Educational Psychology, 64(1), pp. 161–178.
• Meyer, J.H.F. and Land, R. (2003) ‘Threshold Concepts and Troublesome Knowledge: linkages to ways of thinking and practising within the disciplines’, in Improving Student Learning - Ten Years On, pp. 1–16.
• Mezirow, J. (1991) Transformative Dimensions of Adult Learning. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
• Wenger, E. (1998) Communities of practice: Learning, meaning, and identity. Cambridge University Press.
• Wenger-Trayner, E. and Wenger-Trayner, B. (2015) Introduction to communities of practice. Available at: https://wenger-trayner.com/introduction-to-communities-of-practice/ (Accessed: 23 February 2020).