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Centre for Excellence in Enquiry-Based Learning

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Learning through Enquiry: Theory and Practice
Thursday 29 June 2006

This first Annual Conference of the Learning through Enquiry Alliance of CETLs was a one-day conference hosted by the Centre for Excellence in Enquiry-Based Learning at the University of Manchester. The founder members of the LTEA are:

Aims of the conference

Papers/Presentations from the day

Keynote  
Professor Norman Jackson, University of SurreyKeynote
Prof Norman Jackson, SCEPTrE, University of Surrey
Presentation Sessions  
'The Multicultural Society in the Netherlands: Inquiry-based learning in an inter-institutional context using blended learning’
Eddy Verbaan, University of Sheffield
At the University of Sheffield, a collaborative teaching project ‘The Multicultural Society in the Netherlands’ has been running for four years with increasing levels of success. It was developed within the framework of the Virtual Department of Dutch (VDD), an IT based collaboration between the Dutch departments in Cambridge, Hull, Sheffield and UCL. It is now running under Sheffield’s CILASS to help further develop the inquiry-based learning approach. This presentation aims to share the experience gained in inquiry-based learning in an inter-institutional project that uses blended learning environments.
‘Enquiry in the Creative Arts’
Alison Shreeve, University of the Arts London
Enquiry based learning is what art and design students do, but do we really understand what works and why it works and when it doesn’t work? As there is variation in the conceptions and approaches of both students and tutors to learning and assessment in art and design (eg Drew 2002. 2004; Shreeve et al 2004) we need to develop a better understanding of supporting students to undertake their studies and to maximise and develop the opportunities for learning which such an enquiry based approach can offer.
Phil Levy, University of Sheffield‘Developing Living Theory in Inquiry-Based Learning: A community of practice approach’
Dr Philippa Levy, CILASS (Sheffield)
The theory that arises out of inquiry-based practice can be thought of as ‘living’ theory – that is, a form of dynamic theory-in-process that is always open to further refinement and elaboration through further iterations of purposeful, critical inquiry (Levy, 2003; McNiff et al. 1996).  This presentation will offer a discussion of CILASS’s approach to facilitating the development of ‘living’ theory in inquiry-based learning at the University of Sheffield, through a range of different but related evaluation and research activities that are being taken forward within a participatory, community of practice framework.
Terry Barrett, University College Dublin'Learning in PBL as Hard Fun'
 Terry Barrett, University College Dublin
Sixteen lecturers were completing a module on problem-based learning that was part of a staff development Postgraduate Diploma in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education. The lectures were problem-based learners for the module and worked in two PBL teams. Both the content and the process of the module was problem-based learning. The research question for this paper is ‘How did lecturers as problem -based learners talk about their learning in the PBL tutorials? This research is part of a wider doctoral study that is investigating how two teams talked about four of the key characteristics of PBL, namely the problem, the PBL tutorial, the PBL process and learning.
‘Inquiry-Based Learning and the History of the French Language’
Prof. Penny Eley and Dr Penny Simon, University of Sheffield
This presentation will provide an overview of the first phases of a two-year initiative designed to promote inquiry-based learning within a second-year undergraduate course on the development of the French language.  The aim is to implement and evaluate different ways of enhancing group project work undertaken during the second semester of the course, with a key emphasis on encouraging effective research and collaboration.  Group project work has been part of FRE205/6 History of the Language since the early 1990s. The original projects were based on an electronic dictionary, and aimed to enhance IT skills; to promote independent study on a course that was otherwise a lecture-only format, and to encourage the development of transferable teamworking skills.
‘Fathoming the Unfathomable? The uses of inquiry-based learning in Literature teaching’
Dr Rhian Davies, University of Sheffield
This paper will outline my experiences teaching the novels of the major Spanish author Benito Pérez Galdós (1843-1920) to second-year students at the University of Sheffield. It will convey my understanding of what inquiry-based learning involves and my plans for the future, with the aim of encouraging participants to consider how my practice could be relevant to their disciplines and practice.
‘Five Years After: Where do we go from here?’
Janet Medforth, University of Sheffield
Our department delivers both a three year Advanced Diploma and an 18 month Bachelor of Medical Science (Hons) Midwifery Pre-Registration programme, preparing selected individuals for entry onto the Professional Midwifery Register (NMC 2000). In 2000 a decision was made to re-write these programmes using an IBL strategy throughout their delivery.
'The Introduction of Enquiry-Based Learning to Undergraduate Dietetics Students: Joined up learning for joined up practice’
Dr Kathryn Hart, University of Surrey
EBL has been introduced to 2 successive cohorts of undergraduate dietetics students at the University of Surrey, within a new module specifically developed to consolidate and build on the practical skills and knowledge they gain during their placement year and in recognition of the increased pressure placed on students to ‘perform’ within the new placement structure.  The EBL is delivered in the form of a short, full time 4 week module shaped by the use of real life clinical triggers.  This programme is supported by the ‘Learning to Learn’ project at the University of Surrey and the role of wider institutional support in the implementation of new teaching strategies will be discussed. 
‘Inquiry-Based Directed Study Hydraulics Laboratories’
Dr J. B. Boxall and S. J. Tait, University of Sheffield
Presentation of a current initiative to develop Enquiry Based Learning Practical laboratory work is a major component of many civil engineering degree courses, with laboratory classes using scaled physical models to demonstrate phenomenon to students in a very formal and structured manner. This project is to develop teaching material on the appropriate and safe use of experimental equipment and background knowledge of important hydraulic phenomena. This will provide students with the capability to engage in self directed, inquiry based laboratory sessions in which they will be able to devise laboratory conditions/tests and then conduct small investigations of important hydraulic phenomena under their own initiative. 
‘The Cheshire Cat and Cinderella: Squeezing problem-based learning into initial teacher training’
Dr Jon Scaife, University of Sheffield
Problem-based learning (PBL) is internationally established in medical, engineering and related disciplines. The same can hardly be said for PBL in teacher education. This is puzzling, as PBL is compatible with learner-focussed, facilitative teaching and with constructivist views of learning – things one would expect to find in University Schools of Education. This presentation describes how and why PBL was introduced into a one year postgraduate initial teacher education (ITE) course and how it has evolved over a six year period. It reports the outcomes of student evaluations and the ensuing changes in the way PBL was built into subsequent courses.
‘Tales of Transitions: Supporting the development of enquiry-based learning’
Andrew Ginty and Caroline Marcangelo, St Martins College, Lancaster
A major role for the Centre for the Development of Teaching & Learning (CDLT) within St. Martin’s College is to support academic staff in developing modes of teaching and learning within their courses. Congruent with the recently published HEA standards , a particular emphasis is placed on research and scholarship in pedagogy, and in continuing professional development using a constructivist approach and a reflective practitioner orientation . This presentation focuses on three particular case studies where course teams have been supported in moving their use of EBL forward, and reflects on the different needs of the participants involved.
Workshops  

'Criteria for the Evaluation of a Coherent Educational System: Do these criteria differ for the different disciplines?'
Prof Charles Engel, University of London; Dr Peter Dangerfield, University of Liverpool, Dr Gaynor Sadlo, University of Brighton
The aim of the workshop was to enlist the experience of colleagues from a wider range of disciplines, in order to identify the spectrum of different approaches to a coherent educational system, based on the precepts of PBL as practised by the different disciplines.
Workshop‘What is Enquiry-Based Learning? Discourse, fractals and a bowl of cherries’
Paul Tosey and Juliet McDonnell, University of Surrey
The FDTL5 Learning to Learn project, which started in early 2005, promotes innovation in educational practice through supported enquiry-based learning (EBL). The project is based on established postgraduate practices at the University of Surrey and it seeks to support related developments in undergraduate programmes.
‘What do you think of it so far? Evaluating the student learning experience’
Ivan Moore, CEEBL, University of Manchester
This workshop addressed the issue of how to devise a relevant evaluation methodology that can provide useful information to support a teaching approach or to inform development, based on the student learning experience. It looked at how a simple, but effective and comprehensive evaluation form can be designed, based on some internationally recognised methodologies developed by Ramsden (course experience questionnaire), Scrivens (goal free evaluation), and Kirkpatrick.		  
CILASS workshop‘Information Literacy: Essential skills to facilitate learning through inquiry’
Philippa Levy, Sheila Corrall, Peter Stubley, Clare Scott, Pam McKinney, CILASS, University of Sheffield
This workshop will explore that the close synergies between information literacy and Inquiry-based learning and participants will be invited to examine the competencies that students need to develop in order to become effective Inquirers. We propose to ask colleagues to participate in an innovative focus group activity which will involve personal reflection on Inquiry-based learning and information literacy coupled with the opportunity to work collaboratively to develop a shared concept map of the issues identified. We will facilitate discussion of existing case studies of information literacy within the context of IBL as seen at the University of Sheffield, with the aim of highlighting the pedagogies that can be used to build IL competencies through IBL.