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 What is OILEs?

 1.Conditions

 2.Inquiry Module

 3.Support Systems

 4. Community of
 Inquiry

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3. Design of the "Nurturing Envrionments" (Support Systems)

All of the following elements of nurturing environments are not necessarily required to design nurturing environments. Some elements might not be necessary or feasible depending on the availability of technical support, resources, and fund. However, the essential parts are My Work Space, Resources, Tools, and Facilitator. These elements are important in the sense that they help learners go through inquiry process directly. Therefore, maintain the essential elements even if there is not much content for the elements. The other elements such as About Inquiry, Inquiry in Action, and Inquiry Modules provide indirect support to learners' inquiry. Based on the needs of the learners and the instructor, ignore or minimize the indirect supporting elements.

3.1. My Work Space:

3.1A Design My Work Space as a personalized space in the OILE. Allow learners to access the page at any time they need. It is a place for information that the learners have done in the OILE.

3.1B Include the following information:

• Profile of the learner
• Information on the inquiry modules taken and currently being taken by the learner.
• Information on the inquiry modules that the learner has developed and is developing.
• For each module, problems articulated by the learner (data transferred from the Ask phase), inquiry plan by the learners (data transferred from the Design phase), solutions by the learners (data transferred from the Explore and Construct phase), feedback by the learners as well as by facilitators and peers (data from all phases), an artifact or report (data from the Construct page), evaluation sheet and grade (data from the Reflect phase), and progress information of the learners.
  

3.2. About Inquiry:

3.2A Include information on inquiry and inquiry-based learning. The description should be succinct and practical. Use the language for teachers. Do not use heavy, academic language to explain inquiry. For the learners who might be interested in academic matters, provide further links to academic sites and open directories.

3.2B Provide examples and non-examples to explain inquiry and inquiry based learning. Learners tend to misunderstand inquiry and inquiry-based learning to be simple questioning. Show them real classroom practices using case studies or videos.

3.3. Inquiry Modules:

3.3A If there are more modules, provide a list of the inquiry modules. Categorize them in meaningful ways. Provide brief description of each module.

3.4. Inquiry in Action:

3.4A If there is a project(s) using an inquiry-based approach, provide the information here. If not, search the web and find out relevant projects to be included here. In this case, the starting point might be found at the Inquiry Page.

3.5. Resources:

3.5A Provide resources to help learners explore without leaving the OILE. Provide two different kinds of resources: generic resources including open directories and specific resources for the particular module.

3.5B Encourage learners to search the web, add their own resources to the existing list, and share these with their peers.

3.5C Encourage learners to review and to criticize the resources. Create an evaluation page and let them rate the resources in terms of trustworthiness, usefulness, comprehensiveness, and accessibility. Also, set up a discussion forum for this purpose. In the forum, encourage learners to review and criticize the resources so that they can share their findings with others.

3.5D Encourage learners to be competent with one or more search engines. In addition to the generic search engine like Yahoo and Google, request them to use a specific search engine, especially in their professional area. If necessary, provide a manual, online help, or an inquiry module. It might be helpful to let them go through an inquiry module for "how to search on the web."

3.5E For teachers who are designing an inquiry module, provide information and examples of various scaffolding. One example is to use three types of scaffolding developed by Bernie Dodge (see http://projects.edtech.sandi.net/staffdev/patterns2000).

3.6. Tools:

3.6A Provide various cognitive tools. Many tools might be used for both generic and specific purposes. Check the availability of tools as well as usefulness. Try to find inexpensive, useful tools. Note-taking tools, templates, rubrics, or checklists might be used without any additional expenses. Tools for brainstorming, concept mapping (such as Inspiration software), and collaborative working might be expensive and require technical knowledge to manage them.

3.6B Provide a help system for learners to use the tools, especially the sophisticated ones.

3.6C For teachers who are designing an inquiry module, provide a template, rubrics, or EPSSs to help them design a module without sophisticated technical skills.

3.7. Facilitator:

3.7A Use a facilitator(s) to encourage, facilitate, give feedback, and provide modeling and just-in-time help to learners.

3.7B Clearly indicate the facilitator's roles and responsibilities, i.e., do not dominate learning, do not directly indicate steps to be followed, be open to alternatives, evaluate learners in terms of their progress, follow the learners' progress and provide individual guidance, and so on.

See an example (the sidebar menu of the screen)

Go to the Community of Inquiry and review it.