Involved-Inverted-Inquired Pedagogy: An Integrated Framework of Engaged Learning Practices

Dr. Adrian Lo, Director, Urban Design & Development (International), Thammasat University

Dr. Adrian Lo is Director of the Urban Design and Development International program at Thammasat University, Thailand. With a PhD from the University of Auckland, his research explores interstitial spaces in architecture and informal practices in cities. He has taught across Nepal, Thailand, New Zealand and Australia and brings global academic and professional experience into teaching architectural theory, design, and urban studies.

Evolving Priorities and the need for Involvement

In light of the recent changes and developments in education, from the global pandemic and its associated shifts in how teaching and learning have been conducted to the evolving trends and even values of education itself, the need for more engagement is becoming more critical in a rapidly changing pedagogical landscape. Based on extensive research and experience with regards to engaged pedagogical practices, I have synthesized three integrated approaches to teaching the emerging Generation Z, currently in higher education, which can be put forward into a new framework called Involved-Inverted-Inquired pedagogy.

The principle of ‘involved learning’ is premised on a famous quote supposedly attributed to Benjamin Franklin, “tell me and I will forget, teach me and I will remember, involve me and I will learn.” This implies if we involve the students, they become more conducive to learning. The current generations of students in higher or tertiary education crave engagement and interaction. Sitting in front of a lecture, whether in person or online, can cause students to lose interest due to a lack of engagement and stimulus. However, if we start to ask questions and turn the lecture into a conversation or discussion or even do away with lectures altogether and instead facilitate structured inquiry sessions where students have to think on their feet, learning can be stimulated and become a more interactive experience. Involved learning extends from active or experiential learning, aka, learning by doing, but with an added stimulus and emphasis on instant feedback with the prompting of particular types of responses or thought processes.

“involved-inverted-inquired pedagogical approaches can pave the way towards more supportive and inclusive educational environments, which can encourage maximum participation, open up higher-order thinking processes”

‘Inverted Learning’ is a variation of the flipped classroom model or flipped learning approach, which is premised on the traditional teacher-led monologue as not necessarily being the best way to impart knowledge. Flipped learning is about providing more engagement for students during class time, such as activities that involve higher-order thinking or knowledge production, provided that they complete particular pre-class or outside-class learning, typically through readings or videos. This conventional flipped learning model can overlap with the principles of blended learning, which combines in-person teaching with digital, mainly online, components, such as pre-recorded lectures, quizzes, assessments, etc.

However, inverted learning goes beyond this conventional and broadly construed flipped learning approach, as it is not solely about what happens in or outside of the physical classroom or class time, but rather it is about how the learning takes place. Essentially, inverted learning (or inverted teaching) means less teaching and more learning. Here, the lecturer or instructor becomes a facilitator for learning, putting the learning into the hands of the students, thus allowing students to have more involvement, ownership and responsibility for their education.

Empowering Students through Inquiry and Dialogue

‘Inquired Learning’ is fundamentally Inquiry-Based Learning, or IBL, which is a form of guided, structured, or semi-open inquiry where students are potentially given a question and the teaching facilitates how to go about answering this question. As per involved and inverted learning approaches, the key issue here is that the students take ownership of the answering and inquiry process and thus their learning.

This inquired learning process is student-centric, such that students question, explore, investigate, share and discuss key issues, allowing them to develop problem-solving and critical thinking skills so that they can make their own connections about what they are learning. IBL is even more effective in groups, whereby multiple students can progressively construct new knowledge together and become more engaged in the learning process. More than a teaching strategy, pedagogy by inquiry is a way of training students to think and develop a mindset of inquiry.

By combining involved learning and inverted principles in inquired pedagogical approaches, students can develop original ideas through facilitated question-and-answer sessions, whereby thought processes to learn new ideas or principles and the development of an argument are done together simultaneously. Such modes of inquiry are essential and effective to trigger and develop higher-order thinking as per Bloom’s Taxonomy, such as understanding, applying, analyzing, or even evaluating cognitive processes.

Classroom Applications of the Integrated Framework

This integrated involved-inverted-inquired pedagogical framework has been implemented in my recent teaching, from in-class discussions and brainstorms to debates and international comparative research. In-class discussions can range from brainstorming that allows students to share and discuss their insights based on their own backgrounds to voicing their opinions about a particular reading or lecture topic. Class debates in my undergraduate urban environment and technology course involved research, argumentation and critical thinking about climate justice. Whereas in my postgraduate comparative urbanisms subject, students with their individually developed research topics and methods conducted international fieldwork, data collection and analysis, which were then compared to develop original findings.

Overall, involved-inverted-inquired pedagogical approaches can pave the way towards more supportive and inclusive educational environments, which can encourage maximum participation, open up higher-order thinking processes and provide a platform to affirm diverse viewpoints.

Cognitive