Weekly Reflection Blog Post #1

What obstacles do educators often face when they try to change pedagogy?

I have both seen and heard how systemic factors often limit educators’ attempts to change and evolve their pedagogy. As learning has been traditionally defined by linear paths, power imbalances in the teacher-student relationship, and standardization, attempts to jump outside the status quo are not often welcomed with open arms by various remnants, parts, and people of the system, such as front-ified classroom environments, curricular expectations, or even other educators.

What concerns and/or excites you about this approach?

By far, what excites me the most about open-inquiry driven learning is the authenticity that can potentially be involved in the learning process. Students get to investigate questions they genuinely have interest in or care about, and thus learning becomes deeply internally motivated rather than feeling like an obligation.

At the same time, I am concerned about age appropriateness. Open inquiry necessitates strong knowledge about digital literacy, such as when forming a reference list, finding sources, or even formulating a research question that can be subjected to the scientific method; self-regulation skills in order to stay on task (both in the short- and long-term), and reflective skills. These skills take time to develop, and many of our younger learners are still in the process of building them.

What are the risks or roadblocks?

I believe that one risk of inquiry-based learning is students conducting superficial inquires – work that appears student-centred and viable but lacks depth, rigor, and clear learning intentions. Without guidelines in place – such as having student-teacher progress meetings – student-inquiry can lose its educational richness.