Conference and seminar sessions in Threshold concepts in Economics

Transformative learning and teaching in Economics

Higher education providers are offering a diverse and dynamic range of business-related specialisations where an entry-level economics course is standard. The challenge for economics curriculum designers is to ensure that their entry-level course is relevant – catering to the diverse student cohort as well as the dynamic avenues of career choices. However, entry-level economics has proven to be static and homogeneous across institutions and across time. This cohort needs to be equipped with transformative concepts that diverse graduates can integrate into a dynamic society. When a curriculum is traditionally content-driven and content-heavy, attention to the discipline’s threshold concepts are a useful tool in guiding curriculum re-design. The benchmark UK higher education economics curriculum framework is formulated around the threshold concepts of economics. Relevance is created for graduates, as threshold concepts are those that transform the way one views the world, and these are the concepts that can be integrated into graduates’ everyday experiences and challenges. Through a literature review of the application of threshold concepts in economics, the author has systematically re-designed an entry-level economics course. The threshold concept framework was utilised to transform the design of the course structure, the learning and teaching activities, as well as the assessments, while keeping the final examination format and standards unchanged. The course grades noted an improvement in the achievement of the students’ learning outcomes. Student surveys indicated an improvement in the student experience of the curriculum design and the course activities.

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