Teaching as Inquiry REVIEW

TEACHING AS INQUIRY - after Literature Review on Blended Learning

Inquiry Topic is slowly becoming a reality. Started off know that we wanted to inquire further into 'Blended Learning' but was struggling in our group to find a unique direction of our Inquiry. There are lots of readings about Blended or Flipped Learning, and we are thinking that we will either inquire further into the gamification element, to include elements of flow of learning and motivation, or looking further into the effects of Blended learning on Communication, whether it stops communication (face to face or online) and how this affects the levels of effective communication and collaboration.

Our Inquiry Project will build on the literature that we have reviewed, when researching about the “Blended Learning Model”, particularly, ‘How will Blended Learning support Learning in the 21st Century?’  We found that the growing research was in favour of this blend of face to face and online learning. We also noticed that that there was growing acceptance that our assessment methods were not good enough to assess the 21st Century Skills inherent. We built on this idea further,  to conclude that there was more work required on the Lesson, or Task Design to ensure that these sessions lent themselves to exploring learner dispositions, and hence supporting learners to articulate their learning. As we are working collaboratively, we have decided to use ‘The Spiral of Inquiry Framework’ (Kaser, Halsey & Timperley, 2012) for this inquiry project. We have used this model successfully for 3 years now, and are familiar with the different elements/stages of this Model. We also like the way that this model has the potential for Inquiries to build on to or from other inquiries, thereby forming a spiral as an off-shoot of a previous Inquiry. This model also does not have set phases and is much more flexible/malleable, allowing the inquirer to switch between elements i.e. testing hunches at lots of different stages, rather than just after ‘focusing’, but also after ‘new learning’. This allows the inquirer more fluidity in their inquiry.

OUR QUESTION: If we focused on the task design, based on ‘Flipped Learning' particularly on the ‘checking in phase, would that increase the quality of Student’s articulation (explanation) of their learning (in Writing)

We decided to post in the form of a Blog, as we found it fairly difficult to capture the online discussions on Google +, using screen shots, and capturing dates etc, so we thought we would see if it was any better as a Blog.

PLEASE feel free to comment below and share any suggestions, whether readings, videos, or ideas that you have seen at your school or somewhere else. Look forward to your ideas.

Junaid