Bruce to teach inquiry-based learning course this summer

Chip Bruce
Chip Bruce, Professor Emeritus

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.

Tags:
Updated on
Backto the news archive

Related News

iSchool to present research at TPRC 2025

iSchool faculty, staff, and students will participate in the Research Conference on Communications, Information and Internet Policy (TPRC 2025), which will be held from September 18–20 in Washington, DC.

New handbook offers in-depth exploration of information history

A new book co-edited by Professor Emeritus Alistair Black and Associate Professor Bonnie Mak, along with Toni Weller (De Montfort University) and Laura Skouvig (University of Copenhagen), provides a field-defining, comprehensive study of information history. The Routledge Handbook of Information History, released last month by Routledge, examines how society, politics, culture, and technology have shaped information practices over millennia. The 638-page volume features more than forty contributors from around the world.

New grant to help Multiple Sclerosis patients manage depression

Associate Professor Jessie Chin has received a $215,000 grant from the National Multiple Sclerosis Society (NMSS grant RFA-2411-44091) for a two-year project to improve how people with multiple sclerosis (PwMS) manage depression. 

Jessie Chin

Record number of instructors ranked as excellent

Fifty-seven iSchool instructors were named in the University's List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent for Spring 2025—a record number for the School. The rankings are released every semester, and results are based on the ratings from the Instructor and Course Evaluation System (ICES) questionnaire forms maintained by Measurement and Evaluation in the Center for Innovation in Teaching and Learning. Only those instructors who administered ICES at least once during the semester and who released their data for publication are included in the list. 

The double arched wooden doors at the entrance of the iSchool, a brick building at 501 E Daniel

Knox recognized as a University Scholar

Interim Dean and Professor Emily Knox is among the five professors at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign who have been named 2025 University Scholars in recognition of their achievements in teaching, scholarship, and service.

Emily Knox