17 comments on “Introducing the Inquiry Hub”

1. Congratulations Dave and Stephen. This will be an exciting journey. I’m happy to be a part of this unusual (for public schools) and student centered approach.

   Brian

2. Sign me up as a potential collaborator, visiting “expert,”supplemental librarian, whatever!

3. Brian, it’s fantastic to have you on the team! I too love the idea that we are doing this in public education!

   Diane, we will be looking to connect our students to mentors around their interests and passions, so we will likely take you up on your offer and give you a ‘digital’ tap on the shoulder once we get underway in the fall. 🙂

4. Fantastic! I will be following this closely as I have been a long time supporter of this movement (funny we even chose the same name)

   http://www.brokenairplane.com/p/hub-proposal_3182.html

   Good luck and I hope you will share often to inspire and support others.

5. Thanks for sharing you proposal link Phil!
   This really resonated with me:
   “The traditional concept of a school as being a place where students come together to learn in the same physical environment is not a concept that should be abandoned. Rather, public educators need to change their preconceptions of how and when students come together to learn so that their education can support this new type of technology driven classroom.”
   I can’t take any credit for the term ‘Hub’ as it came up in a conversation that I wasn’t involved in, but I have to say that it really works well with the concept!
   Funny that you use the term ‘movement’, I’ve got a blog post draft with that as my theme. 🙂

6. Dave, How exciting to read more about what you have been up to. I am going to follow the progress of this great endeavour closely. So proud that Canada is leading the way….

7. David, a different learning model that I would like to learn more about! In particular, I am intrigued about what role educators play in supporting the educational journey and how post secondary institutions will consider students when they are ready for their next steps in the journey of learning.

   Martin Goldberg
   @postdewey

8. Finally! A pedagogy that empowers students to learn and grow through authentic learning experiences in authentic learning environments.
   Congratulations on a compelling presentation. I am glad we have true visionaries in visionary roles. I am with you both all the way.

   Dave

9. Pingback: Square Peg in a Round Hole

10. Dang, I’ve been late on the uptake…CONGRATULATIONS!!! Whoo hoo! There is hope for education in the world because of people like you and your colleagues. Thank you for your dedication.

11. I am very interested to hear more about how this will take shape in our district. I was very jealous of the Maple Ridge school district and the Environmental school- for offering such an innovative “alternate” program, especially since I was doing my masters at SFU at the time and heard a lot about the pedagogy behind it (they were just about to launch the idea). In reading this I am very excited about how this inquiry-based approach will “take off” on a larger scale. I am sure it will go beyond our expectations! Congrats:)

12. Heather,
    It was great meeting you at the Flat Classroom Conference in Beijing last year! I think there may be room in the Inquiry Hub for our ‘Reportizens’ project to be launched… but wouldn’t it be far more interesting if students rather than teachers launched it? 🙂

    Martin,
    Teachers will be mentors and co-learners first, and still they will wear the many hats that teachers must wear! What they won’t be is classroom teachers at the front of the room, but that certainly doesn’t exclude them from direct instruction to groups of students at times either.
    As for universities, we hope to be working with Simon Fraser University through a grant, and also as a ‘prototype’ (read ‘pilot’) school with the Board of Education. Students will still get high school credits and do the essential courses. What those courses look like might be very different than in a typical high school, but we have no intention of doing something that would hinder a student from future opportunities.

    And to Dave, Amaila and Jonathan (imaginefunleanring)… Thanks! We are pretty excited too and look forward to future sharing, discussing and learning from each other.

13. David, congrats on your preso! I’m curious about the beginnings of the conversation that led to this preso, how you built the relationships that allowed this to even come into being….

    With appreciation,
    Miguel Guhlin
    http://mguhlin.org

14. Greetings Miguel,

    Forgive the long response, but this is a great question that deserves being explored.

    With respect to relationships, I think I first have to commend my Principal, Stephen Whiffin, for ‘pitching’ this concept to our Superintendent, Tom Grant. Quite simply, no relationships matter if there isn’t a vision of what’s possible set into play. Stephen recognized both a need for a truly ‘blended’ learning environment, (he is Principal of our ‘Open Learning’), and our inherent ability to enhance a small program with available staffing and online teaching support that we already have… In essence, we have more capacity to meet student needs in the Inquiry Hub than a small school normally would. I think it is important to admit this ‘advantage’ we have, as this may not be something others have, as more schools/programs like this are started.

    Relationships:

    * Our school district has a vision of “Learning Without Boundaries” spearheaded by our Superintendent.

    * Our Trustees on our Board of Education were recently all re-elected and they too share the vision of “Learning Without Boundaries”, and they have continued to be very supportive of new and exciting initiatives in our district.

    * Our Secretary Treasurer supports this initiative and even tried to support a similar project in another district about 15 years ago.

    * Our Assistant Superintendent is in charge of technology and fully supportive.

    * Our Manager of Information Services has helped support one of the most ‘open’ districts in Canada and is working on developing the best infrastructures we can afford.

    * Our District Parent Advisory Council President also has a vision for Learning Without Boundaries, and openly shares ideas of educational reform with parents in our district.

    * Our fellow administrators and teaching staff are really excited about the possibilities and we’ve already begun conversations about how our inquiry into inquiry can benefit all schools. We are also building relationships with nearby high schools who may provide some elective options for our students that would not be possible in our school.

    * Stephen has initiated conversations with nearby Simon Fraser University who are looking into grant possibilities to really tie in an educational research component to what we are doing.

    * Stephen has also initiated conversations with the BC Ministry of Education to get pilot status (now called ‘prototype status’) for our first year. This is important because high school credit in BC is funded course-by-course and the model we are building does not fit the funding definitions of traditional classes or online/distributed learning. Fortunately, we are doing this at a time when the Ministry has implemented a new Educational Plan and our school fits perfectly with their Personalized Learning, Flexibility & Choice, and Learning Empowered by Technology mandates.

    We just had our first information session a couple nights ago and the response from families was excellent. As we move forward, we are looking for greater input from teachers, parents and of course students!

    I look forward to sharing more of the adventure and hope that others can benefit from the sharing. Please feel free to ask more questions! 🙂

    ---

    **UPDATE: Please see Miguel Guhlin’s post response to this comment:

    Relationships…MATTER. #edchat #cbchat #edtech  

15. Just out of curiosity, will the project include special needs children or is this for the future?

16. Great question Vicit,

    Initially it would be challenging to meet certain special needs… especially since we are starting small and with a wide range of grades. If you are referring to special needs children that require special support structures beyond what a classroom teacher would normally give, then early on this would indeed be challenging to meet.

    From our website: http://inquiryhub.org

    —

    Who is the Inquiry Hub for?

    The Inquiry Hub is for all types of learners who share a passion for knowing and investigation and have an interest in using technology to seek answers to their questions. The Inquiry Hub will appeal to families who are seeking a smaller, cooperative learning environment where students can focus on their interests individually and in small teams – those who:

    * Want a chance to apply their learning in a practical way
    * Are interested in research and learning with technology
    * Find structured classes do not meet their learning needs
    * Are interested in learning through social networks
    * Desire to work on projects which make a difference

    —

    I know that we will be able to meet a variety of needs of students who legitimately want to learn as described above. I also think we would be challenged to meet a student’s needs if they are put into our school and their interest to learn in this way is not inherent… Especially as we try to build a learning culture that, for many students, would be significantly different than what they have been used to in the past.

    Please feel free to contact us if you have any further questions.
    Dave.

17. Pingback: The School Becomes An Inquiry Hub | Classroom Aid

Comments are closed.