Professor Emeritus Chip Bruce will return to the iSchool this summer to teach Inquiry-based Learning (LIS 590IBL). In this online course, students will examine the nature of inquiry and inquiry-based learning, engage in inquiry-based learning, and consider obstacles to learning, including those related to management, assessment, basic skills, cultural differences, and pedagogical goals.
"The course is recommended for community informatics and writing studies but should be of interest in other programs as well," Bruce said. "One aspect that's been especially useful in past semesters is to have students bring their own experiences and questions from fields such as library youth services, art education, kinesiology, technology-enhanced learning, computer-mediated communication, philosophy, and other areas."
He plans to share some of his own experiences, including a two-month trip to Nepal last fall, where he worked with local people on building a progressive education system for students in kindergarten through college.
This month Bruce also will present two brownbag sessions, sponsored by the iSchool and the College of Education, to explore the true meaning of knowledge and the progressive education efforts in Nepal.
Prior to his semi-retirement in 2011, Bruce had appointments in Education, Bioengineering, the Center for Writing Studies, and the Center for East Asian & Pacific Studies. During 2007-08, he held a Fulbright Distinguished Chair at the National College of Ireland in Dublin. His research goals include contributing to a conception of democratic education, meaning both the development of critical, socially engaged citizens and of learning environments, which are themselves democratic.
He looks forward to his return to campus.
"I continue to have warm feelings for my time in Illinois and at the iSchool; if anything, I've only come to appreciate it more after leaving. I’m looking forward to reconnecting with people in both a social and an academic way, and to learning about the changes in their lives," he said.