Taking Inquiry-Based Learning Online: Possibilities and Challenges

Abstract

The online environment offers an ideal setting for inquiry-based learning: students are free to work at their own pace, with a wealth of resources at hand, and the opportunity to share and compare their discoveries with other learners. However, many of the emerging protocols for online learning and assessment assume an information-transfer model of learning, in which the instructor and/or curriculum are responsible for providing content, and students are responsible for mastering, and demonstrating mastery, of that content. This presentation uses an online group investigation of disciplinary conventions assignment from English 302 (Advanced Composition) as a case study of how distance-learning students can be guided through the process of discovering information for themselves, comparing and synthesizing results, and then applying their findings to another assignment: in this case, an individual paper that employs some of the disciplinary conventions they have discovered. The presentation will address the challenges of introducing inquiry-based learning to students who may be more used to seeing the teacher as disciplinary authority and content provider, and of conveying the goals and learning outcomes of inquiry-based assignments in the context of assessment and accreditation reviews.