Inquiry-Based Learning YELC6151

Inquiry-Based Learning 

A constant challenge that teachers/educators face is keeping their students’ interest in a given topic and getting them actively engaged in the learning process. Inquiry-based learning (IBL) empowers students to take control of their learning by allowing them to actively engage with the teaching materials. Students’ ideas, opinions, questions, and observations are central to the learning experience. IBL encourages students to be critical thinkers and problem solvers. Knowledge is constructed through experience, experimentation, and exploration. 

This six-week course will allow participants to explore IBL in some depth, starting with what it is, the benefits of adopting this active learning approach, the activities associated with it and reflections on situations it might be appropriate for participants to adopt. We will then discuss the model of four levels of inquiry (confirmation, structured, guided, open), and discuss examples from each one of them. This will be followed by an in-depth examination of four approaches through which IBL is commonly applied, providing participants the opportunity to learn how to design and facilitate structured debates, project-based learning, simulations/role playing, and experiential learning. 

This seminar counts as a 1-credit elective in the Certificate of Teaching in Higher Education. 

Prerequisites: the current version of Foundations of Teaching in Higher Education (YELC 6101 and 6103) and Learning by Design (YELC 6105) or the older version of Foundations (CATL 6007)