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Inventory of Inquiry-Rich Courses
A component of the QEP

Purpose:

One endeavor of the Texas A&M University Mission is that "of providing the highest quality undergraduate and graduate programs", which "is inseparable from its mission of developing new understandings through research and creativity". The singular purpose of the Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP) is to demonstrably achieve this aspect of our Mission. We seek to enhance student learning through research and scholarly activity. One of the greatest advantages of education at Texas A&M University is the opportunity for students not only to acquire knowledge, but also to participate with faculty in the discovery, creation and application of knowledge. We believe that by increasing awareness and opportunities for inquiry/research based courses we will enhance student learning and better achieve our educational mission.

Now, as part of our QEP process, the QEP Council asks you to identify the inquiry-rich courses in our inventory. Inquiry/Research-based courses provide students with the skills to assimilate facts, recognize unanswered questions, formulate strategies for seeking answers, investigate appropriately, and draw valid conclusions. Once we have established a baseline inventory of courses we will provide incentives for improving and increasing the inventory.

Rationale:

Our accreditation by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) requires Texas A&M University to have a Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP) tied to the institution's mission and long-term goals. The overarching requirement is to be as effective as possible in the delivery of our educational objectives. This requirement has two components: program outcomes and student learning outcomes. This is where our QEP will have the greatest impact. The QEP is a plan to enhance the quality of student learning at Texas A&M through inquiry/research-based education; a plan to assess the attainment of program outcomes and student learning outcomes; a plan to continuously improve the education of our students.

In the accreditation process, we select a theme or imperative that will improve the quality of student learning thereby increasing our effectiveness in providing a better education for our students. This theme must have the potential for broad and sustainable institutional impact. As institutional long-term goals both the Task Force on Enhancing the Undergraduate Experience and the Murano Committee recommended making inquiry/research-based learning a standard paradigm in our classrooms and proposed that all undergraduates have a summary research experience (see http://www.tamu.edu/president/taskforce.html).

Our QEP of inquiry/research-based education reflects the confluence of these and other recommendations all of which are inseparably tied to our university's long-term goals and Mission. The underlying assumption of the QEP is that undergraduate learning experiences are enriched through inquiry-rich opportunities during the whole of their undergraduate education. These inquiry-rich experiences stem from a variety of classroom practices that encourage the student to move increasingly toward independent inquiry/research-based experiences and the explication of multiple solutions for complex problems.

Each program, department and college has the freedom to develop its own assessment plans but, if they cast their efforts within the focus of the QEP, they will have access to additional resources. We have developed an implementation plan (see below) to help guide this process of focusing our institutional efforts on improving student learning through inquiry/research-based learning.

What is an inquiry-rich course?
Why teach inquiry?
What features characterize the inquiry approach?

McMaster University has been involved in teaching inquiry for over twenty years and has a wealth of information on its web site:
http://www.mcmaster.ca/cll/inquiry/whats.unique.about.inquiry.htm
Below we quote extensively from them and from the task Force on the Undergraduate Experience.

A variety of methodologies and strategies can be used to facilitate inquiry/research-based learning. In fact, the only teaching strategy that does not support inquiry-guided learning is the use of lecture exclusively or lecture with questions that have only one right answer (Lee, V. L. (Ed), 2004, Teaching & learning through inquiry: A guidebook for institutions & instructors. Sterling, VA: Stylus). It is likely that most faculty members are already utilizing some degree of inquiry-guided learning in their classrooms. Inquiry courses are skill-driven rather than content-driven, focusing on the skills required to perform effectively in university, in advanced levels of academic research, and in situations well beyond the university. Inquiry is a form of self-directed learning. Inquiry aims to build research skills in students. This seems a most appropriate outcome for students who graduate from a research-intensive university like Texas A&M. Moreover, successful graduates need to be skilled in self-directed learning because, if they continue in the discipline, they will need to keep current, and if they work outside the discipline, self-directed learning skills will be all the more important.

Inquiry is a form of self-directed learning. Inquiry aims to build research skills in students. This seems a most appropriate outcome for students who graduate from a research-intensive university like Texas A&M. Moreover, successful graduates need to be skilled in self-directed learning because, if they continue in the discipline, they will need to keep current, and if they work outside the discipline, self-directed learning skills will be all the more important.Teaching through inquiry involves engaging students in the research process with instructor support and coaching at a level appropriate to their starting skills. Students learn discipline specific content but in doing so, engage and refine their inquiry skills. This involves more emphasis in the following:

Experiential inquiry and design
Questions
Skills
Student as leader
Out-of-classroom learning
Integration of theory with practice
Collegial and group learning
Long-term, coherent, planned activities
Creating knowledge
Open-ended problems and solutions

The inventory is designed to identify inquiry-rich components of existing coursework. This activity will mark the starting point for future QEP activities in the program. The information from all the submissions will be aggregated to prepare a report on the current state of inquiry-rich experiences for undergraduates at TAMU.
Date Due: December 2006

How might the report be used?

Improving courses:
A useful outcome of the QEP process is to identify courses or components of courses that focus on different areas of student preparation. Information from an individual course could be used to identify (1) the extent to which a course is designed to engage students in inquiry-rich tasks, (2) students actually engaged in inquiry-rich tasks, (3) students exhibiting inquiry skills, (4) and inquiry skills that are explicitly taught.

For example, the responses in the Inventory could be analyzed using a rubric to determine where in the course emphasis is on learning about, learning to perform, or learning with inquiry. If an instructor wanted to increase the emphasis in a particular area of preparation for the students, an analysis of the data could be used to identify where student learning outcomes might be adjusted and explicit teaching or new inquiry experiences might be added.

Improving Departmental programs:
Preparing undergraduate students for research experiences requires coordinated efforts across the courses in a degree program. Although every course in a program need not address every skill involved in preparation for inquiry, each skill should be addressed somewhere in the program and the individual inquiry-rich experiences should, as much as possible, connect into a cohesive whole. Data from a sequence of courses designated for a major or minor or some component of core curriculum could be aggregated to identify where in the sequence each of the major components of inquiry is addressed and to what extent that component is addressed. Departments then could identify places in the program where development of inquiry skills might be added or rearranged in order to better prepare students for a capstone research experience. The Inventory could be used to collect data before and after the program change to identify impacts on instructional components and on actual student learning outcomes.

Improving College programs
Each college identifies and adapts inquiry-intensive student learning outcomes that will be used as a basis for evaluating learning in existing inquiry-intensive courses. Using the list of outcomes, the college develops and executes a plan for carrying out a baseline assessment in the existing inquiry-intensive courses. The baseline assessment will serve as the starting point for future QEP assessment activities.

master the depth of knowledge required of a discipline
critically analyze
communicate effectively in writing and speaking
possess personal integrity
contribute to society