{"id":35242,"date":"2024-01-25T15:32:05","date_gmt":"2024-01-25T23:32:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/?p=35242"},"modified":"2024-01-25T15:33:49","modified_gmt":"2024-01-25T23:33:49","slug":"from-knowledge-acquisition-to-transformative-perspectives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/from-knowledge-acquisition-to-transformative-perspectives\/","title":{"rendered":"From Knowledge Acquisition to Transformative Perspectives"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">I love the rich visual imagery in liminality, crossing a threshold from one room to another and embracing the experience of the known past, gathering it with the unknown future. As I read \u201cOvercoming Barriers to Student Learning\u201d, I appreciated that Jan H. F. Meyer and Ray Land did not explain the nature of any universal threshold for all, but offered the learning process to build in some space for students to define and attend to the unknown and troublesome elements they encounter so that new perspectives could emerge.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">When the opportunities for working through emotional, logical or praxis-oriented gaps are build into the learning, it is often transformative. One way I have heard this expressed along the way is by philosopher Alfred North Whitehead. He pronounced that \u201cthe only simplicity to be trusted is the simplicity to be found on the far side of complexity.\u201d24 [1]. And in Jane Vella\u2019s work, she explores this through the lens of \u201cDialogue education\u201d, building on the work of Brazilian pioneer in Adult Education theory, Paulo Freire [2]. Both of these, along with Meyer and Land, incorporate the mystical wonder that comes by doing what Robert Coven calls \u201creinstating the browse\u201d [3]. It is not enough to offer knowledge to be acquired or consumed. I want to be engaged in <\/span><span class=\"s2\">active, social <\/span><span class=\"s1\">and <\/span><span class=\"s2\">creative<\/span><span class=\"s1\"> learning and teaching that attend to generative and constructivist paradigms [4].<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">One of the most significant threshold concepts I have encountered in my life as a Christian minister is the disciple-making paradigm for the Christian journey. I previously thought of discipleship in a \u2018<\/span><span class=\"s2\">bookish\u2019<\/span><span class=\"s1\"> way, and like many others, locked it into teaching and preaching. But as I began to explore the life-on-life, whole-life dimensions of following and helping others follow Jesus, I began to build in more contextual awareness. As I walked with others, I was able to see my role not as knowledge keeper or knowledge dispenser, but wayfarer. I learned this term from Antonio Machado, who wrote, \u201cWayfarer, there is no way, we make the way by walking\u201d 1 [5]. Jennifer Booth\u2019s chapter \u201cOn the mastery of philosophical concepts\u201d in Meyer and Land\u2019s work draw out three features of a threshold concept: transformative, irreversible, and integrative [6]. For me, the joy and wonder of following Jesus, and helping others do the same have become more of a \u201cchoose your own adventure\u201d than a rigid set of guidelines and teachings set out in a linear fashion. As a result, I have not become a better quantitative leader, but qualitatively, I have seen the fruit in the lives of many parishioners, fellow sojourners, and students who are incorporating this threshold concept in their lives too.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">_______________<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">[1] Seamands, Stephen A. (2005). <\/span><span class=\"s2\">Ministry in the Image of God\u202f: The Trinitarian Shape of Christian Service<\/span><span class=\"s1\">. Downers Grove, Ill: IVP Books, 113.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"s1\">[2] Vella, Jane. (2007). <\/span><span class=\"s2\">On Teaching and Learning : Putting the Principles and Practices of Dialogue Education into Action<\/span><span class=\"s1\">. Somerset: John Wiley &amp; Sons, Incorporated.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"s1\">[3] YouTube. \u201cBreaking Through: Threshold Concepts as a Key to Understanding | Robert Coven | TEDxCaryAcademy,\u201d n.d. https:\/\/youtube.com\/watch?v=GCPYSKSFky4&amp;si=h6o_HJeOxkWPrY9o.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"s1\">[4] Meyer, J., &amp; Land, R. (2006). <\/span><span class=\"s2\">Overcoming Barriers to Student Understanding: Threshold Concepts and Troublesome Knowledge<\/span><span class=\"s1\"> (1st ed.). Routledge, 34.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"s1\">[5] Vella, 1.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"s1\">[6] Meyer, 175.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I love the rich visual imagery in liminality, crossing a threshold from one room to another and embracing the experience of the known past, gathering it with the unknown future. As I read \u201cOvercoming Barriers to Student Learning\u201d, I appreciated that Jan H. F. Meyer and Ray Land did not explain the nature of any [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":203,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2969,3020,1429],"class_list":["post-35242","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-dlgp3","tag-thresholdconcepts","tag-meyer","cohort-dlgp03"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35242","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/203"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35242"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35242\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35246,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35242\/revisions\/35246"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35242"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35242"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35242"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}