Staff profile

Ray Land is Professor of Higher Education at Durham University and Director of Durham’s Centre for Academic Practice. He previously held similar positions at the Universities of Strathclyde, Coventry and Edinburgh. He has been a higher education consultant for the OECD and the European Commission and has recently been involved in two European Commission higher education projects in Europe and Latin America. He has published widely in the field of educational research, including works on academic development, learning technology and quality enhancement. He is best known for his theory (with Jan Meyer) of Threshold Concepts and Troublesome Knowledge. His latest book (with George Gordon) is Enhancing Quality in Higher Education: International Perspectives (Routledge 2013). He has given presentations on his research in over forty countries across six continents.

'Completed Supervisions since (2008)'

Threshold concepts in research andevidence-based practice: Investigatingtroublesome learning for undergraduate nursing students.#

Civilian to Officer: Threshold Concepts in Military Officers’ Education.

“More than just a Teaching Fellow”: The impact of REF and implications of TEF on Life Science Teaching-Focused Academics in UK HEIs.

The Threshold Concept

http://www.ee.ucl.ac.uk/~mflanaga/thresholds.html

• Higher and Further Education

• Development of professional skills via participative EVALuation and SIMulation using Web tools
• iBAR

• 2012: DCI-ALA/2011/10 'DevalSlimWeb-Desarrollo de competenclas professionales a traves de la evolucion participative y la simulacion utilizando herramientas web(£51755.08 from Universidad de Cadiz)
• 2012: IBAR - Identifying barriers in promoting the European Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance at Institutional level and making recommendations as to how these might be addressed(£97416.18 from European Commission)

Chapter in book

• Land, R. (2017). Enhancing quality to address frailty. In Pedagogic Frailty and the University. Kinchin, I.M. & Winstone, N.E. Rotterdam: Sense Publishers. 179-194.
• Land, R. (2016). Learners and organizations: competing patterns of risk, trust, and responsibility. In Organizing Academic Work in Higher Education: Teaching, learning, and identities. Leišytė, L. & Wilkesmann, U. London New York: Routledge. 151-168.
• Rattray, J. (2016). Affective Dimensions in Liminality. In Threshold Concepts in Practice. Land, R., Meyer, J.H.F. & Flanagan, M.T. Rotterdam: Sense Publishers. 67-76.
• Martindale, L., Land. R., Rattray, J. & Anderson, A. (2016). Exploring Sources of Trouble in Research Learning for Undergraduate Nurses. In Threshold Concepts in Practice. Land, R., Meyer, J.H.F. & Flanagan, M. T. Rotterdam, Taipei & Boston: Sense Publishers.
• Land, R. (2016). Toil and Trouble: Threshold Concepts as a Pedagogy of Uncertainty. In Threshold Concepts in Practice. Land, R., Meyer, J.H.F. & Flanagan, M.T. Rotterdam: Sense Publishers. 11-24.
• Syed Mohamed, A.T.F., Land. R & Rattray, J. (2016). Ambivalence, Hybridity and Liminality: The Case of Military Education. In Threshold Concepts in Practice. Land, R., Meyer, J.H.F. & Flanagan, M. T. Rotterdam, Taipei & Boston: Sense Publishers.
• Land, R. (2015). Facilitating the Academy through Threshold Concepts and Troublesome Knowledge. In On the Facilitation of the Academy. Wiewiura, J. & Westergaard, E. Rotterdam: Sense Publishers. 17-29.
• Land, R. (2015). Preface. In Naming What We Know: Threshold Concepts of Writing Studies. Adler-Kassner, L. & Wardle, E. Boulder, CO: University Press of Colorado & Logan, UT: Utah State University Press.
• Rattray, J. & Smith, J. (2015). Principles for reviewing the taught postgraduate induction curricula. In Masters Level Teaching, Learning and Assessment: Issues in design and delivery. Kneale, P. London: Palgrave.
• Land, R. & Rattray, J. (2013). Policy drivers and barriers to implementation: Context and practice. In Drivers and Barriers to Achieving Quality in Higher Education. Eggins, H. Sense: Rotterdam.
• Land, R. & Gordon, G. (2013). Meanings of Enhancement. In Enhancing Quality in Higher Education: International Perspectives. Land, R. & Gordon, G. Routledge.
• Land, R. & Gordon, G. (2013). Enhancing the Future: context and fidelity. In Enhancing Quality in Higher Education: International Perspectives. Land, R. & Gordon, G. Routledge.
• Land, R. & Gordon, G. (2013). 'To See Ourselves as Others See Us': The Scottish Approach to Quality Enhancement. In Enhancing Quality in Higher Education: International Perspectives. Land, R. & Gordon, G. Routledge.
• Land, R. (2012). Crossing tribal boundaries: Interdisciplinarity as a threshold concept. In Tribes and territiories in the 21st century: Rethinking the significance of disciplines in higher education. Trowler, P., Saunders, M. & Bamber, V. Routledge: London.
• Land, R. & Meyer, J.H.F. (2011). The Scalpel and the 'Mask': Threshold concepts and Surgical Education. In Surgical Education. Theorising an emerging domain. Fry, H. & Kneebone, R. Springer. 2: 91-106.
• Land, R. (2011). Speed and the Unsettling of Knowledge in the digital University. In Digital Difference: Perspectives on Online Learning. Land, Ray & Bayne, Siân Springer. 50: 61-70.
• Land, Ray Meyer, Jan H.F. & Baillie, Caroline (2010). Editors’ preface: Threshold concepts and transformational learning. In Threshold concepts and transformational learning. Land, Ray Meyer, Jan H.F. & Baillie, Caroline Rotterdam: Sense Brill. 42: ix-xlii.
• Land, R. (2010). Educational Developers: Identity in paradox? In Creating a Profession - Building Careers in Educational Development. Boon, S., Matthew, B. & Sheward, L. SEDA, London.
• Land, R & Meyer, JHF (2010). Threshold Concepts and Troublesome Knowledge (5): Dynamics of Assessment. In Threshold Concepts and Transformational Learning. Meyer, JHF, Land, R & Baillie, C Sense Publishers. 42: 61-80.
• Meyer, J.H.F., Land, R. & Davies, P. (2008). Threshold concepts and troublesome knowledge (4): Issues of variation and variability. In Threshold concepts within the disciplines. Land, R., Meyer, J.H.F. & Smith, J. Rotterdam and Taipei: Sense Publishers. 59-74.
• Land, R. (2008). Academic Development: Identity and Paradox. In Changing Identities in Higher Education: Voicing Perspectives. Barnett, R. & DiNapoli, R. Routledge.

Conference Paper

• Land, R., Vivian, P. & Rattray, J. (2014), A closer look at liminality: incorrigibles and threshold capital, 4th Biennial International Threshold concepts Conference. Dublin Ireland, NAIRTL, Dublin, 1-12.
• Rattray, J., Land, R., Owen, C., Eggings, H. & Gordon, G. (2013), A winding stair: implementing and establishing a common framework for QA in European higher education, SRHE Annual Research Conference 2013. Newport, SRHE, London.

Edited book

• Land, R., Meyer, J.H.F. & Flanagan, M. T. (2016). Threshold Concepts in Practice. Educational futures: rethinking theory and practice, volume 68. Rotterdam: Sense Publishers.
• Land, R. & Bayne, S. (2011). Digital Difference: Perspectives on Online Learning. Sense Publishers.
• Meyer, J.H.F., Land, R. & Baillie, C. (2010). Threshold Concepts and Transformational Learning. Sense Publishers.
• Land, R., Meyer, J.H.F. & Smith, J. (2008). Threshold Concepts within the Disciplines. Educational futures rethinking theory and practice; 16. Rotterdam and Taipei: Sense Publishers.

Journal Article

• Land, R., Rattray, J. & Vivian, P. (2014). Learning in the Liminal Space: A Semiotic Approach to Threshold Concepts. Higher Education 67(2): 199-217.
• Land, R. (2013). Undergraduate Research in Scotland: An Enhancement-led Approach. Council on Undergraduate Research Quarterly (CURQ) 33(4): 35-41.
• Owen, C., Eggins, H., Gordon, G., Land, R. & Rattray, J. (2013). Is Access to University a Matter of Quality? UK and European Experiences of Widening Participation. Journal of the European Higher Education Area 4: 17-32.
• Land, R. (2011). There could be trouble ahead: using threshold concepts as a tool of analysis. International Journal for Academic Development 16(2): 175-178.
• Hemmi, A., Bayne, S. & Land, R. (2009). The appropriation and repurposing of social technologies in higher education. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning 25(1): 19-30.

Presentation

• Land, R. (2014), Liminality Close-Up. Keynote Speaker Pre-Conference Think Piece for the conference, HECU7, Higher Education Close Up: Research Making a Difference. Lancaster: Lancaster University, UK.

Report

• Land, R. & Gordon, G. (2015). Teaching excellence initiatives: modalities and operational factors. York: Higher Education Academy.
• Kohoutek,J., Land, R. & Owen, C. (2014). Identifying barriers in promoting the European Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance at institutional level (IBAR): Final Synthesis Report. Brussels: European Commission Lifelong Learning Programme.