Engineering education, research and design: breaking in and out of liminal space

Abstract: Liminality is presented as a concept familiar to engineering educators, researchers and designers, as a state of challenge and discomfort that we must flux in and out of in order to advance our respective aims. Common areas for discussion in familiarising engineering learners with liminality are sought. Threshold concepts, divergent-convergent thinking, and the concept of design, research and education as iterative processes associated with breaking in and out of liminal space are explored. The duality of learning is discussed through the acquisition and participation metaphors. The use of design courses in leading learners in to and out of liminal space, and in particular the Group Design Projects on the Imperial Civil Engineering MEng degree are discussed. In closing the informed creative, as opposed to routine design process, viewed from an engineering and a psychology perspective is briefly characterised, along with the skills and experiences that the engineering community would wish engineering graduates to have.