Blog post #2- Learning design II

Instructional approach: Inquiry-based learning

According to Queen’s university, inquiry-based learning harness the curiosity of learners. The responsibility for learning is often placed on the students, encouraging them to arrive at an understanding of concepts by themselves. (Queen’s University, 2023).

This learning approach makes learners more inquisitive and prompts them to find the answers to their questions, hence increasing their knowledge and competencies. Learners are active and they discover information individually, in pairs or groups. As an instructor, it is a good idea to choose topics that are of interest to the students, hence they will be more motivated to find out more about the subjects and learning becomes more meaningful. It is a also great opportunity for learners to share their knowledge and skills in the learning environment. Another Important element of inquiry-based learning is reflection and feedback from peers and instructors as it is a way to check learning. Inquiry-based approach encourages students to become self-directed learners and they learn to work collaboratively.

Inquiry-based learning aligns well with one of the blue print task on “Influence of social media users on us and our self-esteem”. Students will conduct research to answer a couple of guiding questions, which will be provided by the instructor. They will also analyse those guiding questions and create some sub questions that would be relevant to the guiding questions. Then, they will devise their own questions to find out about things that are of interest to them but making sure it is relevant to the topic. Coffman encourages instructors to “facilitate inquiry throughout the learning process to guide students in higher order thinking by having students question and reflect on their findings” *(Coffman, 2017, p.18); I will implement this in the research task because it is always good to evaluate information that we receive. Finally, students will communicate their findings in a blog post on Word Press.

For the blueprint, another member of the group is implementing the open pedagogy approach and I find that this is another interesting approach. Instead of being consumers of information, students become creators of information.

Inquiry-based approach is becoming more and more popular in the world of education; for example, International Baccalaureate schools find great value in this method.

Coffman, Teresa . Inquiry-based Learning. 3rd ed., Rowman and Littlefield, 2017.

Queen’s University . “Inquiry-based Learning.” Centre for Teaching and Learning, www.queensu.ca/ctl/resources/instructional-strategies/inquiry-based-learning#:~:text=What%20is%20Inquiry%2DBased%20Learning,by%20themselves.%20Lee%20et%20al. Accessed 23 Jun. 2023.