I am writing to invite you to participate in a research study entitled, Faculty Support: Doctoral Student Threshold Concepts. Gale Parchoma and I, from Lancaster University's Educational Research Department, Centre for Studies in Advanced Learning Technology (CSALT), are undertaking this project to better understand the experiences of faculty members who work with doctoral students -- at least in part via information and communications technology (including email and/or Skype communications) or technology-enhanced learning or e-learning (including use of learning management systems) -- and who have identified threshold concepts (i.e., ah-ha moments, trouble spots, breakthrough areas, or defining moments of epistemological or ontological shift that may be pivotal in one’s identity development) for their students and helped their learners through this troublesome knowledge. Participation in this study will involve: 1) an approximately one-hour interview via telephone or Skype, and 2) approximately one hour of your time to review and potentially revise your interview transcript. We will be organizing our interview schedule as soon as we receive confirmation of participants. We anticipate interviews taking place between December, 2010 and January, 2011. We hope to be able to return transcripts to participants before the end of February, 2011. A complete description of the study, along with the participant consent form, can be found on our research web page. Thank you for your consideration. Jeffrey Keefer Doctoral Student in e-Research & Technology Enhanced Learning Centre for Studies in Advanced Learning Technologies Department of Educational Research Lancaster University Dr Gale Parchoma Lecturer in e-Research & Technology Enhanced Learning Centre for Studies in Advanced Learning Technologies Department of Educational Research Lancaster University