Realising the threshold of employability in higher education

Procter, CT; Harvey, VM

Abstract

A substantial body of work has tested and developed ‘Threshold Concepts’. A Threshold Concept may be considered “akin to a portal, opening up a new and previously inaccessible way of thinking about something . . . it represents a transformed way of understanding, or interpreting, or viewing . . . without which the learner cannot progress” (Meyer and Land, 2003). Little research however exists on the relevance of the concept to employability. Employability is fundamental to Higher Education, yet its role in the curriculum is unclear and contested. Our practice suggests that developing knowledge about employability is a threshold which, when reached, empowers and gives confidence to the student. To achieve this means embedding this knowledge in the curriculum. The paper discusses the delivery of a large module with this aim, explaining how the design of assessment was fundamental in guiding students to a transformed way of understanding employability.

Citation

Procter, C., & Harvey, V. (2018). Realising the threshold of employability in higher education. In J. Carter, M. O'Grady, & C. Rosen (Eds.), Higher Education Computer Science : A Manual of Practical Approaches (203-220). Switzerland: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-98590-9

• Online Publication Date: Sep 22, 2018
• Publication Date: Sep 22, 2018
• Deposit Date: Sep 28, 2018
• Publicly Available Date: Sep 22, 2020
• Publisher: Springer
• Pages: 203-220
• Book Title: Higher Education Computer Science : A Manual of Practical Approaches
• ISBN: 9783319985893
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-98590-9
• Publisher URL: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-98590-9
• Related Public URLs: https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-319-98590-9