Keynote session

Virginia S. Lee

The Power of Inquiry as a Way of Learning

Since the publication of the 1998 Boyer report, Reinventing Undergraduate Education, inquiry-guided learning has been very much "in the air."  Twelve years later, however, confusion still exists about what it really is.  Many campuses adopt inquiry-guided learning without really knowing what it is!  This session introduces a framework and repertoire of tools for implementing inquiry-guided learning anywhere in the undergraduate curriculum.  Participants will engage in an actual inquiry, consider selected examples of courses that use inquiry-guided learning, and experiment adapting semester patterns of inquiry in one of their own courses.

Virginia S. Lee, Ph.D., is principal and senior consultant of Virginia S. Lee & Associates, a consulting firm based in Durham, NC, specializing in teaching, learning,and assessment in higher education.  She has special expertise in faculty/educational development, inquiry-guided learning, course and curriculum development, and the planning and implementation of institution-wide undergraduate education reform efforts including quality enhancement plans.  Over the past five years she has worked with approximately 70 colleges and universities in the United States, Canada, Qatar, and Turkey.  She is a Former President (2007-2010) of the Professional & Organizational Development Network in Higher Education, the largest professional organization for faculty and educational developers in higher education in the world.  She was selected as a Fulbright Specialist in 2010 for a term of five years.