University_of_TorontoX: INQ101x Teaching With Technology and Inquiry: An Open Course For Teachers

About INQ101x

INQ101x is designed with K-12 teachers in mind. Teacher candidates, higher education instructors, and other educators may also find it relevant. We discuss some of the major themes and challenges of integrating inquiry and technology as a community of practitioners. We collect and share resources and exchange ideas about what works for specific topics and age groups.  We also support design groups to collaboratively develop a new lesson.

About the Instructors

Jim Slotta is an Associate Professor of Education at The University of Toronto, where he holds the Canada Research Chair in Education and Technology. From 1997 - 2005, he led the design and development of the Web-based Inquiry Science Environment (http://wise.berkeley.edu) at the University of California, Berkeley. Since coming to Toronto in 2005, he has directed the ENCORE lab (http://encorelab.org) - a team of students, designers and developers who investigate new models of collaborative and collective inquiry in K-12 science.  His research investigates new forms of inquiry for K-12 science classrooms, where students engage with simulations and visualizations, collaborate with peers, and work as a knowledge community to investigate phenomena, contribute their own ideas, develop designs, and create scientific arguments. His research is conducted in close collaboration with teachers, ensuring their role as a learning partner and transforming their classrooms into creative and active learning environments.  Professor Slotta maintains collaborations in Europe, North America and Asia, and has published and presented widely on the international stage.

Rosemary Evans is the principal of University of Toronto Schools, a secondary school for high achieving students affiliated with the University of Toronto. She received her BA in history from the University of Western Ontario and her MA, BEd, and MBA from the University of Toronto. She has served as a teacher, department head, and subject coordinator for the Peel Board of Education, and later as a vice-principal in the former East York Board of Education. During her time as an instructor in the Initial Teacher Education Program at OISE, Rosemary was the recipient of a Teaching Excellence Award. She later accepted the role of Academic Head at Branksome Hall, where she oversaw the implementation of the International Baccalaureate Programs from junior kindergarten to grade twelve. Rosemary is the author of a number of history textbooks, and has given presentations locally and internationally on topics such as assessment and evaluation, critical thinking and inquiry based learning, and global education.

Learning Outcomes 

• Connecting theory to practice
• Student learning through inquiry
• The role of the teacher in inquiry classrooms
• The role of technology in supporting students and teacher during inquiry
• Integrating inquiry into instruction
• How much, when, and for what purposes?
• Assessment: revealing and responding to student ideas 
• Design: teacher as curriculum designer and action researcher
• Enactment: things that can go right and wrong during the inquiry lesson
• Elements of inquiry designs
• Collaboration
• Integration of internet resources
• Incorporating mobile devices
• Collective inquiry and student-contributed content
• Support for teachers in a school community
• The role of school administrators and technology staff
• The role of peers within your school and in wider virtual communities

Participation paths in INQ101x 

• Special Interest Groups (SIG):  
• Based on your grade-level/subject-matter interests, you will join a SIG where you will collaborate, share ideas, and reflect on lesson design and other projects with other teachers/educators.
• Participation Strands: 
• The primary form of participation is the Foundations strand, where participants engage in reflection, peer discussion, and lesson design evaluation.  
• The Foundations strand is all that is required for the verified certificate.
• In addition, we offer a complementary Design Strand where each week (after completing the Foundations activities) you can engage in lesson design with your peers, with critical review from the wider community.

Weekly Activities

In each week of the course, we examine one theme related to the integration of technology and inquiry in teaching and learning. Each week in the “Courseware” section of the EdX Web site, you will find:

1. A short lecture (video) on the theme by Professor Slotta, approximately 10 minutes.
2.  A school community discussion (video) by UTS administrators, also about 10 minutes.
3. A case study of a UTS teacher’s classroom practice, relevant to the theme.
4. Inquiry activities designed to engage you in active reflection and exchange.
1. Activities include self-reflections, peer review, and discussion forum participation, and are outlined in the following sections of the syllabus.
5. Resources: links to relevant papers, videos, and teaching/learning technologies.

Course topics and timeline

Please keep in mind that we might make small changes to the syllabus as the course starts to make the learning experience more relevant to you.

Week	Theme	Goals	Foundations Strand	Design Strand
Week 0: June 12 - 30	Introduction and Orientation.	Get to know each other before the official start of INQ101x.	Take the Entry Survey; Join a Special Interest Group; Submit resources.	Nothing yet!
Week 1: July 1 - 11 (July 1 and July 4 are holidays)	Inquiry and student-centred pedagogy.	Review definitions of inquiry; Discuss challenges and opportunities, and role of technology.	Short lectures on student learning in inquiry; Case study: Middle school science teacher adopts WISE heat and temperature inquiry project; Inquiry activity: Add and critique technology resources.	Create design teams; brainstorm lesson ideas.
Week 2: July 12 - 18	Designing inquiry activities and assessments.	Discuss challenges of designing and integrating inquiry into your curriculum; Reflect on learning goals, formative assessment and content coverage.	Short lectures on inquiry design and curriculum integration; Case study: High school science teacher designs and enacts a NearPod activity on electric circuits; Inquiry activity: Critique lesson design ideas	Articulate learning goals, technology resources and main topics.
Week 3: July 19 - 25	Collaborative learning.	Review the challenges of designing for collaboration and examine design approaches to promote student engagement.	Short lecture on collaboration and inquiry learning; Case study: A visual arts teacher and a language teacher explain how they integrate collaboration into inquiry; Inquiry activity: Critique lesson designs for collaboration	Add collaboration into your designs; work on activity structure.
Week 4: July 26 - August 1	Handheld/mobile devices.	Consider the challenges and opportunities of integrating handheld and mobile devices into inquiry designs.	Short lectures on the possible role for mobile devices in inquiry activities; Case study: A biology teacher reflects on her design and enactment of a lesson that uses a mobile app. Inquiry activity: Critique lesson designs for use of mobile and handheld activities.	Add handheld and mobile activities into your designs; work on activity structure and assessment
Week 5: August 2 - 8	Knowledge co-construction and student-contributed content.	Explore the potential of student-contributed knowledge, particularly for purposes of whole-class or collective inquiry.	Short lectures on the nature of collective inquiry, Web 2.0, and student contributed content; A math teacher and researcher share their design of a “big data” statistics lesson that emphasizes knowledge co-construction; Inquiry activity: Personal plan for integrating inquiry	Add student contributed content and collective inquiry into your designs; complete activity structure and assessments.
Week 6: August 9 -15	Inquiry Enactment	Consider the challenges of classroom management and student engagement when enacting a technology enhanced inquiry lesson; examine strategies to respond to such challenges, and roles for school support.	Short lecture on enactment and the role of the teacher in inquiry lessons; Case study: A high school geography teacher explores his use of games for learning, and discusses the concerns and strategies for success; Inquiry activity: Critique lesson designs for enactment concerns and the role of the teacher.	Finalize designs, including teacher enactment notes.
Afterward	Sustained reflection and community	Resources and lesson designs will remain available to participants	Links will be provided to all lessons from the design strand, inviting final review and comments

Grading Policies

Activities completed within the week for which they are assigned will receive full credit.  Activities completed late will not receive any credit toward the verified or honor code certificate. 

			Will be available from
Course	Theme	Assignment	Toronto	UTC
Open	Introduction and Orientation.	- Take the Entry Survey; - Join a Special Interest Group; - Submit resources.	June 12, 8 AM	June 12, 12 PM
Week 1	Inquiry and student-centred pedagogy.>	- Personal reflections (10 pts) - Online discussions (10 pts) - Resource sharing, review (10 pts)	July 1, 8 AM	July 1, 12 PM
Week 2	Designing inquiry activities and assessments.	- Personal reflections (10 pts) - Online discussions (10 pts) - Lesson critique (10 pts)	July 13, 8 AM	July 13, 12 PM
Week 3	Collaborative learning.	- Personal reflections (10 pts) - Online discussions (10 pts) - Lesson critique (10 pts)	July 20, 8 AM	July 20, 12 PM
Week 4	Handheld/mobile devices.	- Personal reflections (10 pts) - Online discussions (10 pts) - Lesson critique (10 pts)	July 27, 8 AM	July 27, 12 PM
Week 5	Knowledge co-construction; student-contributed content.	- Personal reflections (10 pts) - Online discussions (10 pts) - Personal planning (10 pts)	August 3, 8 AM	August 3, 12 PM
Week 6	Inquiry Enactment	- Personal reflections (10 pts) - Online discussions (10 pts) - Final Lesson Review (10 pts)	August 10, 8 AM	August 10, 12 PM
End			August 28, 8 AM	August 28, 12 PM

Course policies

• With the exception of Week 1, each week is released Monday at 12 UTC (8 AM Toronto time)
• To earn a certificate – either verified or honor code – you must achieve a score of at least 60% on all activities, as described above.
• Any curriculum design products that are created in this course will be added to a wiki that is open to the public, and as such will be offered under a Creative Commons license.