This document provides an overview of a workshop on enquiry-based, experiential learning. The workshop aims to explore a range of practices related to situated teaching and support several learning outcomes related to identifying and applying enquiry-based techniques. The workshop agenda includes presentations, open discussions, design exercises, and opportunities to practice hands-on techniques. Key themes that will be explored are enquiry-based learning, experiential learning, and situated learning. Examples of approaches that will be discussed include action learning, action research, project-based learning, and problem-based learning. Criteria for evaluating practices, such as scholarship models and professional standards frameworks, will also be examined.

1. PCLTAHE
Cranfield University
Enquiry-based, experiential learning
October 2010
George Roberts
Senior Lecturer
Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development (OCSLD)
Oxford Brookes University
1 Aim
The aim of this session is to provide
 rich content and support to Module 2 of the PCLTAHE curriculum, particularly focusing on
situated teaching practices and skills;
o this session complements other practice-based workshops on Course, Module and
Session Design, Assessment, Open and Distance Learning, eLearning, and also
supports ILOs 2, 3, 4 & 5.
 brief information about enquiry-based, experiential, situated learning and teaching practices
and a guide to subsequent pursuit of subjects of interest
 a preliminary reading list
 an opportunity to practice, hands-on with enquiry-based techniques for
professional/academic/scholarly communities of practice/inquiry/assessment
 a consideration of the similarities and differences in scholarship between research
(scholarship of discovery) and enquiry based learning
2 Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)
 Identify that range of practices which might, broadly be included under a rubric of enquiry-
based, experiential, situated learning
 Relate that range of practices to underlying social, institutional, pedagogical, political,
philosophical, historical events
 Identify criteria by which practices might be valued (validation, QA, certification, etc)
 Identify techniques associated with valued practices, and using knowledge of techniques and
your current discipline/training programme show how you might incorporate enquiry-based,
experiential learning into your practice, or show that it is already there.
o Conversely, you might argue against the implicit proposition that offered techniques
meet the value criteria, in general, in which case expect to offer other approaches that
might meet similar or restated value criteria
 Explain assessment. governance, ethics, autonomy, resourcing, stakeholders, wider risks and
benefits as might apply to enquiry-based, experiential educational developments.

2. 3 Programme
0930 – 0945 Introductions
 Aims, Outcomes
 Context
0945 – 1030 Presentation Lecture with trigger questions,
 Reflective learning structured and open discussion
 Range of practices
1030 – 1045 Coffee
1045 – 1130 Open space, taster Open-space technology,
 affective recall participatory approaches;
 identifying the questions and contexts shaping the design exercise.
that matter for EBL
 Professional values
1130 – 1230 World Cafe, taster World-cafe approach; shaping
 addressing the questions in context the design exercise: 3 x 15
 assessment/evaluation criteria minute turns + debrief
1230 – 1330 Lunch
1330 – 1430 Design exercise: curricular case studies
 Implementing EBL
1430 – 1500 Feedback & questions:
 wider risks and benefits
 assessment, governance, ethics,
autonomy, resourcing, stakeholders,
4 Reflective learning
There are three key themes underlying and unifying this workshop:
 Enquiry-based learning (Berthiaume 2009, p.268)
 Experiential learning (Fry et al. 2009, pp.15, 450)
 Situated learning (Lave & Wenger 1990)
Reflective learning and practice support these themes. All share a qualitative, practitioner-centred
evaluative and self-evaluative perspective of educational pragmatism, founded in an idealist,
enlightenment, social utilitarianism, (Dewey 1916; Dewey 1997; Garrison 2001; R. Scollon & S. W.
Scollon 2001; Pickles & Greenaway n.d.; Smith 2009; Kolb 1984) The approaches are predominantly
social: taking place in groups.
 Social learning ideas arise from Russian Constructivists (Vygotsky & Luria 1934; Leont'ev
1978),
 Community (of Practice) Theory (Wenger 1998),
 Network learning theory (Dutton 2007; Fox 2002; Goodyear et al. 2005; Siemens 2005b;
Siemens 2005a),
The range of practices reflect a broad series of qualitative turns in the social sciences:
 social linguistic (Lillis 2003)
 discursive (Fairclough 2001; R. Scollon 2001; R. Scollon & S. W. Scollon 2001)
 biographical (Chamberlayne et al. 2000),
 critical (Barnett 1997; Brookfield 2005; Brookfield 1995; Brookfield 2003; Freire 1970; Freire
1974),
 affective (Clough 2007)
 post colonial (Bhabha 2004; English 2005).

3. 4.1 Action Learning
Modeled on an internal consultancy. The object of study is a real problem for a team of professionals
conceived as an “Action-Learning Set” . The output of the internal consultancy and assessment
artefact is a group consultancy report with recommendations for action; signed off by management.
Assessed in partnership with validating bodies and training facilitators. May require individual
reflective commentary on contribution to team performance. May include team self assessment, even
forms of 360 assessment. (CIPD 2010)
Example
4.2 Action Research
Workplace-based reflective learning cycle applied, in professional development and education
research to teacher-led local programmes of curricular improvement; rich descriptions of highly local
practices. (Hulme et al. 2009; Kindon & Elwood 2009; Esposito & Evans-Winters 2007; Dick 2006)
Example
4.3 Project-based learning
As above but from within a situated project-based perspective, displaying and using knowledge of
project teams, plans, reporting, operating systems, aims and objectives, risks and benefits; articulates
internal and external factors. (Roberts et al. 1996; Berthiaume 2009)
Example
4.4 Problem-based learning
General learner centred educational strategy; any learning environment where the problem drives the
learning. Inductive learning and teaching approaches in contemporary Engineering and Medicine
curricula using authentic problems to build solutions, and to generalise solutions to other domains; set
against more traditional deductive approaches. Can be implemented at all scales using simulations
and models. Problems may be “authentic”: to the learner’s present situation, to the situation of the
discipline and curriculum, or to the situation of practitioners in the field. (Maggi Savin-Baden n.d.; R. A.
Ellis et al. 2005; M. Savin-Baden 1998; Margetson 1991; Macdonald 2005)
Example
4.5 Developmental Work Research (DWR)
Well elaborated methodology, based on expanded activity theory (Engeström 1999; Avis 2009;
Engeström 2008). Assumes team with common goals. Used in teacher education (V. Ellis 2008)
Example
4.6 Peer and self-organised learning
Access to academies; autonomous working; self-directed learning. Enquiry-based approaches in self-
organised professional communities of practice:
 world cafe (TWC n.d.; Vogt et al. 2003)
 open space technology (Herman 1998)
 bar camps (Many 2010)
Example
4.7 (Auto-) anthropologies, ethnographies and biographies
Learner voice studies (JISC n.d.; Conole 2008; JISC n.d.; Massey & Bairstow 2009)
Example

4. 5 Value Criteria
5.1 Scholarship of teaching and learning
Boyers model of scholarship (Nibert n.d.; Boyer 1997):
 Discovery
 Integration
 Application
 Teaching
5.2 HEA Professional Standards Framework
Value systems, such as The HEA Professional Standards Framework for teaching in higher
1
education , may influence the way that programmes and courses are designed, delivered, assessed
and evaluated. The course asks that participants demonstrate understanding of and engagement with
these professional values:
1. Respect for individual learners
2. Commitment to incorporating the process and outcomes of relevant research, scholarship
and/or professional practice
3. Commitment to development of learning communities
4. Commitment to encouraging participation in higher education, acknowledging diversity and
promoting equality of opportunity
5. Commitment to continuing professional development and evaluation of practice
5.3 Instrumental and other-directed values
Instrumental v. end-state values; self-directed v. other-directed values (see Rokeach 1973)
 Compassion
 Determination
 Professionalism
 Resourcefulness
 Respect
 Solidarity
5.4 QCF Level descriptors
M-level = Level 7: post graduate certificate, diploma and MSc
 Ability to reformulate and use relevant methodologies and approaches to address problematic
situations that involve many interacting factors
 Taking responsibility for planning and developing courses of action underpinning substantial
change
 Critically analyse, interpret and evaluate complex information, concepts and theories as they
apply to current developments that affect the areas of work or study
(QAA n.d.; QAA n.d.; QAA n.d.; QCF n.d.)
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HEA UK Professional standards framework: www.heacademy.ac.uk/ourwork/policy/framework

5. 6 Curricular case studies
to be developed in the workshop

6. Reading list
The following were consulted in the preparation of this workshop.
Educational Theory of John Dewey. Available at:
http://www.newfoundations.com/GALLERY/Dewey.html [Accessed October 6, 2010].
Avis, J., 2009. Transformation or transformism: Engestrom's version of activity theory? Educational
Review, 61(2), 151-165. Available at:
http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=39982269&site=ehost-live.
Barnett, R., 1997. Higher education: a critical business, Buckingham, UK/Bristol, PA: The Society for
Research into Higher Education & Open University Press.
Berthiaume, D., 2009. Teaching in the disciplines. In H. Fry, S. Ketteridge, & S. Marshall, eds. A
handbook for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education: Enhancing Academic Practice. London and
New York: Routledge.
Bhabha, H., 2004. The Location of Culture, Abingdon: Routledge.
Boyer, E.L., 1997. Scholarship Reconsidered: Priorities of the Professoriate, San Francisco: Jossey-
Bass.
Brookfield, S.D., 2003. A Critical Theory Perspective on Accelerated Learning. New Directions for
Adult & Continuing Education, (97), 73. Available at:
http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=9299168&site=ehost-live.
Brookfield, S.D., 1995. Becoming a Critically Reflective Teacher, San Francisco: Jossey-Bass
Publishers.
Brookfield, S.D., 2005. The power of critical theory for adult learning and teaching, Maidenhead: Open
University Press, McGraw Hill Education.
Chamberlayne, P., Bornat, J.B. & Wengraf, T., 2000. The turn to biographical methods in social
science : comparative issues and examples, London: Routledge.
CIPD, 2010. Action learning. Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development. Available at:
http://www.cipd.co.uk/subjects/lrnanddev/general/actionlearning.htm [Accessed July 23, 2010].
Clough, P.T. ed., 2007. The affective turn: theorising the social, Durham, NC and London: Duke
University Press.
Conole, G., 2008. Listening to the learner voice: The ever changing landscape of technology use for
language students. ReCALL, 20(02), 124-140.
Dewey, 1916. Democracy and education: an introduction to the philosophy of education, New York:
Macmillan.
Dewey, J., 1997. How we think (unabridged republication of the 1910 edition), Mineola, NY: Dover
Publications.
Dick, B., 2006. Action Research Resouces. Available at:
http://www.scu.edu.au/schools/gcm/ar/arhome.html.
Dutton, W., 2007. Through the Network (of Networks): The Fifth Estate, Available at:
http://webcast.oii.ox.ac.uk/?view=Webcast&ID=20071015_208.
Ellis, R.A., Marcus, G. & Taylor, R., 2005. Learning through inquiry: student difficulties with online
course-based Material. Computer Assisted Learning, 21, 239-252.
Ellis, V., 2008. Developmental work research as a methodology for teacher educators’ expansive
learning: From boundary crossing to boundary transformation. In the American Educational Research
Association, New York: Oxford Centre for Sociocultural and Activity Theory Research.

7. Engeström, Y., 2008. Enriching activity theory without shortcuts. Interacting with Computers, 256-259.
Available at: http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=30017830&site=ehost-
live.
Engeström, Y., 1999. Learning by Expanding: An Activity - Theoretical Approach to Developmental
Research (later edition). Available at:
http://communication.ucsd.edu/LCHC/MCA/Paper/Engestrom/expanding/toc.htm.
English, L.M., 2005. Third-Space Practitioners: Women Educating for Justice in the Global South.
Adult Education Quarterly, 55(2), 85-100. Available at:
http://aeq.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/55/2/85.
Esposito, J. & Evans-Winters, V., 2007. Contextualizing critical action research: lessons from urban
educators. Educational Action Research, 15(2), 221-237. Available at:
http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=25084829&site=ehost-live.
Fairclough, N., 2001. Language and Power, second edition, Harlow: Pearson.
Fox, S., 2002. Networks and communities: an actor-network critique of ideas on community and
implications for networked learning. In Networked Learning 2002, proceedings of the 3rd international
conference, Sheffield, 26 - 28 March 2002. Lancaster University and University of Sheffield, pp. 119-
127.
Freire, P., 1974. Education: the practice of freedom, Writers and Readers Publishing Cooperative.
Freire, P., 1970. The Pedagogy of the Oppressed, London: Penguin.
Fry, H., Ketteridge, S. & Marshall, S., 2009. Understanding Student Learning. In H. Fry, S. Kettridge, &
S. Marshall, eds. A Handbook for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education: Enhancing Academic
Practice. Routledge, pp. 8-26.
Garrison, J., 2001. An Introduction to Dewey's Theory of Functional "Trans-Action": An Alternative
Paradigm for Activity Theory. Mind, Culture & Activity, 8(4), 275-296. Available at:
http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=6677377&site=ehost-live.
Goodyear, P. et al., 2005. Networked learning in higher education: Students' expectations and
experiences. Higher Education, 50(3), 473-508. Available at: ://000231995600005.
Herman, M., 1998. About Open Space. Open Space World. Available at:
http://www.openspaceworld.org/cgi/wiki.cgi?AboutOpenSpace [Accessed July 23, 2010].
Hulme, R., Cracknell, D. & Owens, A., 2009. Learning in third spaces: developing trans-professional
understanding through practitioner enquiry. Educational Action Research, 17(4), 537-550. Available at:
http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=45020139&site=ehost-live.
JISC, Learner experiences of e-Learning: Phase 2 : JISC. Available at:
http://www.jisc.ac.uk/whatwedo/programmes/elearningpedagogy/learnerexperience.aspx [Accessed
August 25, 2009].
JISC, The learner's voice. Available at:
http://www.jisc.ac.uk/whatwedo/programmes/elearningpedagogy/learneroutcomes/learnervoices.aspx
[Accessed January 17, 2010].
Kindon, S. & Elwood, S., 2009. Introduction: More than Methods—Reflections on Participatory Action
Research in Geographic Teaching, Learning and Research. Journal of Geography in Higher
Education, 33(1), 19-32. Available at:
http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=36591465&site=ehost-live.
Kolb, D., 1984. Experiential Learning: experience as the source of learning and development, New
Jersey: Prentice-Hall.

8. Lave, J. & Wenger, E., 1990. Situated Learning: Legitimate Peripheral Participation, Cambridge, UK:
Cambridge University Press.
Leont'ev, A.N., 1978. Activity, Consciousness, and Personality. Available at:
http://www.marxists.org/archive/leontev/works/1978/intro.htm [Accessed September 27, 2009].
Lillis, 2003. Introduction: mapping the traditions of a social perspective on language and literacy. In S.
Goodman et al., eds. Language, literacy and education: a reader. Stoke on Trent: Trentham Books,
pp. xiii-xxii.
Macdonald, R., 2005. Assessment Strategies for Enquiry and Problem Based Learning. In T. Barrett, I.
Mac Labhrainn, & Fallon, eds. Handbook of Enquiry & Problem Based Learning. CELT.
Many, 2010. FrontPage. BarCamp. Available at: http://barcamp.org/ [Accessed July 23, 2010].
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Challenge of Problem Based Learning. Kogan Page.
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video, JISC. Available at:
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[Accessed October 7, 2010].
Pickles, T. & Greenaway, R., Experiential learning articles + critiques of David Kolb's theory. The
Active Reviewing Guide (Reproduced from LearningWire, a free digest from TrainingZone). Available
at: http://www.reviewing.co.uk/research/experiential.learning.htm [Accessed September 28, 2009].
QAA, Master's level benchmark statements. Available at:
http://www.qaa.ac.uk/academicinfrastructure/benchmark/masters/default.asp [Accessed June 22,
2010].
QAA, Programme specifications - introduction. Available at:
http://www.qaa.ac.uk/academicinfrastructure/programSpec/guidelines06.asp [Accessed June 14,
2009].
QAA, Subject benchmark statements: Engineering. Available at:
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June 22, 2010].
QCF, The Qualification and Credit Framework: an introduction for higher education institutions.
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Energy World, (241), 11-13.
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Savin-Baden, M., 1998. Problem-based Learning, Part 3: Making sense of and Managing Disjunction.
British Journal of Occupational Therapy, 61(1).
Savin-Baden, M., A Practical Guide to Problem-based Learning Online, London: Routledge.
Scollon, R., 2001. Mediated discourse: the nexus of practice, London: Routledge.
Scollon, R. & Scollon, S.W., 2001. Intercultural Communication: a Discourse Approach. Second
Edition, Oxford: Blackwell.
Siemens, G., 2005a. Connectivism: A Learning Theory for the Digital Age. Journal of Instructional
Technology and Distance Learning, 2(1). Available at:
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9. Siemens, G., 2005b. Describing “community”. elearnspace. Available at:
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Vogt, E., Brown, J. & Isaacs, D., 2003. The art of powerful questions: catalysing insight, innovation
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