Unlocking Threshold Concepts: Transforming Student Identities through an International ‘Year-Out’ Multidisciplinary Design Education Programme

Abstract

Industry demands that graduates excel in their academic disciplines while creatively solving problems and challenges across various contexts, while collaborating effectively as part of a multidisciplinary team. This paper reflects on key learnings and implications from delivery of an innovative and novel “year-out” multidisciplinary design education programme for third-year undergraduate students from multiple disciplinary backgrounds. The programme's core aim was to facilitate learning and application of a range of design tools and methods, while concurrently allowing students to apply knowledge and skills from their home disciplines. Bringing together students from a range of disciplines helped to create novel solutions to complex problems while fostering critical thinking, creativity, adaptability, communication and collaboration – key skills for graduate employability. This paper derives and interrogates key learnings associated with two years of programme delivery. With a focus on pedagogical approaches through the lens of Threshold Concepts, we provide recommendations that support students to develop their own agency, to make this transition possible.