The document presents a study analyzing student e-portfolios in an online BA social work program through the lens of threshold concepts, aiming to assess whether students cross professional thresholds and to refine impact study methodologies. Findings reveal significant threshold crossings in students' professional development, highlighting changes in attitudes and integration of theoretical knowledge into practice. Limitations include challenges in coding diverse portfolio content and the need for further refinement of methodology for ongoing impact assessment.

1. Crossing professional thresholds with networked
learning? An analysis of student e-portfolios using
the threshold concept perspective.
Patricia Arnold1 /Swapna Kumar2
1Munich University of Applied Sciences, Germany
2 School of Teaching & Learning, University of Florida, USA
Networked Learning Conference 2014, Edinburgh
Partially funded by

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Networked Learning Conference 2014
Patricia Arnold, arnold@hm.edu
1. Research Aims
2. Context – Online BA Degree Program Social Work
3. Threshold Concepts as Analytical Framework
4. Methodology - E-Portfolio Analysis
5. Findings – Threshold Crossings & Refinement of Methodology?
6. Conclusions
Overview

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Networked Learning Conference 2014
Patricia Arnold, arnold@hm.edu
1. To gain evidence whether or not professional students
“cross professional thresholds” in an online degree program in
social work
2. To develop a method for regular impact studies in this setting
(explorative pilot study)
Research Aims

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Networked Learning Conference 2014
Patricia Arnold, arnold@hm.edu
Context - Online Degree Program BA Social Work
Context
 75% online modules, 25% on-site seminars
 Requirements: minimum of 3 years work
experience in the social field, working in the
social field alongside the study program
 Networked cooperation with 7 universities
across Germany
 www.basa-online.de
Learning environment
 Learning Management System OLAT
 Live Classroom Adobe Connect
 Peer-to-peer counseling Kokom.net
 Mahara for e-portfolios
 On-site seminars a week-end per month
BA Social Work

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Networked Learning Conference 2014
Patricia Arnold, arnold@hm.edu
Context - Module Scientific Theory & Practice Transfer
Content Task
1 peer-to-peer counselling Discuss real-life challenge, using -peer-to-
peer counselling
2 Key concepts of social work
(inclusion, empowerment etc.)
Produce guidelines, resource website for
practitioners
3 Professional identity Discuss role-conflict, using -peer-to-peer
counselling
4 “Reflection-on-action”
Create e-portfolio : look back, reflect and
evaluate personal learning trajectory
Assessment

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Networked Learning Conference 2014
Patricia Arnold, arnold@hm.edu
Figure 1: Structure of e-portfolios
***************Comprehensive narrative on personal learning trajectory across the module************
Learning Product A Learning Product B Learning Product C
Student's comments as to selection,
significance, production process
and context, etc.
Student's comments as to selection,
significance, production process
and context, etc.
Student's comments as to selection,
significance, production process
and context, etc.
Feedback by peers, lecturers or
retrospective self-evaluation
Feedback by peers, lecturers or
retrospective self-evaluation
Feedback by peers, lecturers or
retrospective self-evaluation
Context - Structure of E-Portfolios

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Networked Learning Conference 2014
Patricia Arnold, arnold@hm.edu
Image: Land / Meyer 2010
pax intrantibus, salus exeuntibus (1609)
Threshold Concepts as Analytical Framework
Threshold concepts …like a „portal“

8. Slide 8
Networked Learning Conference 2014
Patricia Arnold, arnold@hm.edu
Image: Land / Meyer 2010
(Meyer & Land, 2003)
Threshold Concepts as Analytical Framework
Threshold concept
 “a new and previously inaccessible way of thinking”
 “a transformed way of understanding, or interpreting,
or viewing something”
 Transformative – Integrative – Troublesome -
Irreversible

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Networked Learning Conference 2014
Patricia Arnold, arnold@hm.edu
Image: Land / Meyer 2010
Threshold Concepts as Analytical Framework
Threshold crossings
 “as students’ changed way of thinking, perceiving or
behaving in their practice, the field of social work”
 (in alignment with Hays 2008)

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Networked Learning Conference 2014
Patricia Arnold, arnold@hm.edu
Do students cross thresholds during the online degree program in social work?
 Connection to Content :
Relating content to one’s own person (C1)
 Relating content to one’s professional experience (C2)
 Academic Knowledge & Social Work Profession :
Commenting on relationship between theories and practice in social work (A1)
 Describing the significance of scientific knowledge for profession (A2)
 Transformation (T 1):
 Changed way of thinking (T1)
 Changed way of acting (T2)
Qualitative content analysis, unit of analysis a sentence or an image, mutual
reviewing to enhance trustworthiness, open for emergent categories (Carley, 1993)
Methodology - E-Portfolio Analysis

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Networked Learning Conference 2014
Patricia Arnold, arnold@hm.edu
Findings – Overview of E-Portfolio Analysis
Indicator # EP
(n=21)
Example( P = e-portfolio)
C 1 one’s own person 12 “Method of 'reframing' applied to myself: 'perfectionist' then
becomes 'target-oriented‘ ”(P19)
C 2 professional experience 18 “Team leading skills applied to the team I manage at work” (P6)
A 1relationship between T & P 12 “Theory and practice 'feed' each other mutually” (P17)
A 2 significance of T for P 14 “Only with theory-based knowledge is possible to negotiate with
authorities for funding” (P15)
T 1 changed ways of thinking 17 “(I realized that) social work does not only happen face-to-face
but also behind desks and within online platforms”(P9)
T 2 changed way of acting 15 “Deep change: I tend to ask for the sources of any information
presented to me, regardless of the context, even at a party” (P2)

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Networked Learning Conference 2014
Patricia Arnold, arnold@hm.edu
Findings - Threshold Crossings (Cont.)
Changed attitudes towards their role as social workers – new ways of
thinking, reframing and questioning their professional work:
 “my aspirations for the social work profession changed from being a
„Lichtgestalt“ (all mighty angel“) to a competent human being” (P17)
 “I will not let myself instrumentalized as a buffer zone” (P2)
 Student included an online petition in e-portfolio to document her grown
awareness of the importance of social workers to engage themselves in
socio-political issues (P14)

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Networked Learning Conference 2014
Patricia Arnold, arnold@hm.edu
Findings - Limitations & Refinement of Methodology
 16/21 e-portfolios at least one research memo documenting coding issues:
 e-portfolios part of the educational design, with many degrees of freedom in
producing it, not produced as research data
 Only identifies threshold crossings manifested in e-portfolios
 Challenge 1 : diverse language and writing styles
- impersonal styles, only alluding to points, non native speakers, etc.
 Challenge 2: coding multimedia elements
- strong visual effects by images with snappy captions possible distortions?
 Extending set of indicators – emergent category troublesomeness of new
knowledge
 Conflicts with colleagues at work due to changed insights
 Struggle to come to terms with concepts – reducing self-assertiveness at work
for a while

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Networked Learning Conference 2014
Patricia Arnold, arnold@hm.edu
Findings - Limitations & Refinement of Methodology

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Networked Learning Conference 2014
Patricia Arnold, arnold@hm.edu
Conclusions
 Impact of networked learning programs in social work education:
 evidence of threshold crossings in professional development
 Methodology for impact assessment
 With further refinements methodology can provide a way to
analyze impact on a regular basis
 Further research :
 Which elements of the educational design contribute to the crossings?
 How to integrate method into quality management for networked learning?

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Patricia Arnold, arnold@hm.edu
 Carley, C. (1993). Coding Choices for Textual Analysis. A comparison of content analysis and
map analysis. Sociological Methodology, 23, 75-126.
 Hays, M. (2008). Thresholds and transformation. European Journal of Management, 8(3), 24-46.
 Meyer, J., & Land, R. (2003). Threshold concepts and troublesome knowledge: linkages to ways
of thinking and practising within the disciplines. Occasional Report 4, ETL Project, Universities
of Edinburgh, Coventry and Durham, 2003.
 Land, R. , Meyer, J. & Baillie, C. (2010). Editors' preface. Threshold Concepts and
Transformational Learning. In: J. Meyer, R. Land & C. Baillie (Eds). Threshold concepts and
transformational learning, ix-xlv.
 Meyer, J., Land, R. & Baillie, C. (2010). Threshold concepts and transformational learning.
Netherlands: Sense Publishers.
 Image source
 Land, R. and Meyer, J.H.F. (2010) Threshold concepts and troublesome knowledge,
Keynote Presentation at issotl10 (International Society for Scholarship of Teaching and
Learning) Conference, Liverpool, UK, October 19-20, 2010: http://issotl10.indiana.edu/pres/tc.ppt
References & Image sources

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Networked Learning Conference 2014
Patricia Arnold, arnold@hm.edu
Thank you very much…
…..for your attention!
Contact:
Patricia Arnold, Professor of Socio-Informatics
Munich University of Applied Sciences
arnold@hm.edu
http://patriciaarnold.wikispaces.com/
Partially funded by