Here is a list of all the kinds of events and activities that we have run as part of the New England Consortium for Inquiry-based Learning in Mathematics (NE-IBLM/NE-COMMIT), ranging from small-scale events that required very few resources to whole conferences. We include below connections to primary goals and audiences.
If you are interested in identifying particular activities that could serve your goals for your own IBL Community, our interactive blog "Supporting an IBL Community" will raise some guiding questions that you may find helpful.
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Lunch meetings around a particular topic
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- Organization:
- One facilitator, up to 20 participants, online on zoom, pre-meeting questions prompts, questions discussed in small groups, some whole group sharing, notes on google docs editable for all, rotating facilitation, happening every 2 weeks for 1-1.5 hours.
- Goals:
- Build community between members of the community. This includes creating a space in which vulnerable interactions are invited to take place.
Spread ideas about how to teach particular classes so we don’t have to reinvent the wheel.
- Audience:
- Any participant in NE-IBLM/NE-COMMIT: mathematics faculty at any institution of higher education, novice to expert, could also include K-12 teachers.
- Learn more:
- See NE-IBLM Lunch Meetings or email Rachel Schwell, schwellrac AT ccsu DOT edu
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Classroom Visits & Reflection
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- Organization:
- Two participants visit each other in their classes and reflect together about the experience. Travel funding can help, proximity matters or meetings happen on Zoom, schedules must match, trust is important, observation protocols can help facilitate discussion. Leadership team can facilitate matching faculty by asking each semester who teaches which IBL course when and is open to visitors, these results are available to the community. Collect reflections to learn from our experiences.
- Goals:
- Deepen our reflection on our own teaching and continue to grow as educators through collaboration.
- Audience:
- Any participant in NE-IBLM: mathematics faculty at any institution of higher education, novice to expert, K-12 teachers; could be helpful for pairs of faculty working on related courses or interested in similar pedagogy ideas; could be peers learning together; or one person with more experience than the other.
- Learn more:
- See NE-IBLM Activities, or email Christine von Renesse, cvonrenesse AT westfield DOT ma DOT edu
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Coaching
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- Organization:
- A faculty fellow works closely with a mentor on a particular area of interest to the fellow; includes classroom visits, co-planning, and/or co-teaching. Stipend and travel funds help, schedules need to match, trust is important, geographic proximity is important or meetings can happen on Zoom. Leadership team needs to find funds, coordinate a call for fellows, choose who to support and find available mentors/coaches. Also collect reflections and artifacts and learn from our experiences.
- Goals:
- Deepen our reflection on our own teaching and continue to grow as educators through collaboration.
Practice particular tools available to faculty teaching with inquiry (facilitating discussions, write IBL tasks, assessment techniques, …) - Audience:
- Mathematics faculty who are interested in working intensively on a particular aspect of their teaching
- Learn more:
- See NE-IBLM Faculty Fellowship and Coaching Program, or email Nermin Bayazit, nbayazit AT fitchburgstate DOT edu
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Reading Group
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- Organization:
- 10 participants, one facilitator, meets once a month via Zoom, typically in the evening.
- Goals:
- Build community between members of the community. This includes creating a space in which vulnerable interactions are invited to take place.
Learn new ideas together (that are new to all) that impact good teaching - Audience:
- Any participant in NE-IBLM: Mathematics faculty and K-12 teachers interested to learn collaboratively about a new idea (or to get the push to actually read a book they’ve been wanting to read!)
- Learn more:
- See NE-IBLM Reading Groups, or email Christine von Renesse, cvonrenesse AT westfield DOT ma DOT edu
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Doing Math Together
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- Organization:
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Summer Version: 10 participants, rotating facilitators, meeting once a week via Zoom. Participants work through an IBL book together.
Workshop Version: Up to 30 participants, one facilitator, running class to model their own classroom but using activities that are new to all.
- Goals:
- Build community between members of the community. This includes creating a space in which vulnerable interactions are invited to take place.
Learn new ideas together (that are new to all) that impact good teaching and/or our own knowledge of mathematics.
Learn about the student perspective and about facilitation tools and struggles. - Audience:
- Any participant in NE-IBLM: Mathematics faculty and K-12 teachers, depending on topic it may be easier to have similar prior knowledge.
- Learn more:
- See "Doing Math Together" PLC, or email Volker Ecke at vecke AT westfield DOT ma DOT edu
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Professional Learning Community (PLC) e.g. Linear Algebra, Differential Equations,...
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- Organization:
- 1 facilitator, 4-5 participants, built around shared classroom materials, online (email or Zoom); could include classroom visits & reflection. Leadership team can use the email list or a conference to elicit interest in particular topics and identify participants who could facilitate the PLC.
- Goals:
- Learn new ideas together (that are new to all) that impact good teaching and/or our own knowledge of mathematics.
Spread ideas about how to teach particular classes so we don’t have to reinvent the wheel. - Audience:
- Any participant in NE-IBLM: Mathematics faculty and K-12 teachers, depending on topic
- Learn more:
- See NE-IBLM Professional Learning Communities, or email Ileana Vasu at ivasu AT hcc DOT edu
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Day-long workshop for about 15-20 participants with focus on a particular topic
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- Organization:
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Two facilitators, lunch funded by participant registration and venue provided at no cost by host university -- or online via Zoom.
Program usually starts by doing math together to have a shared example of inquiry in practice. The other sessions can focus on topics of interest and be run by other facilitators. It is crucial to keep things active via chat, google docs, break-out groups, etc. We are constantly modeling IBL. - Possible Goals (depends on workshop focus):
- Spread the word of IBL: bring faculty together that are teaching more traditionally to show them what else is possible.
Build community between members of the community. This includes creating a space in which vulnerable interactions are invited to take place.
Invite a diverse group of faculty (institution type, student identities, faculty identities) to co-create the community.
Practice particular tools available to faculty teaching with inquiry (facilitating discussions, write IBL tasks, assessment techniques, …)
Deepen our reflection on our own teaching and continue to grow as educators through collaboration.
Learn about the student perspective and about facilitation tools and struggles (Experience IBL together by doing mathematics -- Immersion in Inquiry)
Learn how to think about students’ thinking (e.g. by looking at student work).
Spread ideas about how to teach particular classes so we don’t have to reinvent the wheel. - Audience:
- Any participant in NE-IBLM: Mathematics faculty and K-12 teachers, novices to experts (if designed to be sufficiently differentiated)
- Learn more:
- See NE-IBLM Workshops or email Volker Ecke at vecke AT westfield DOT ma DOT edu
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Brainstorming conference with experienced IBLers to identify possible activities and events that would support a growing community
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- Organization:
- 50 participants, 4 facilitators, lunch funded by $15-20 registration, venue provided at no cost by host university, see program here TODO
- Goals:
- Start the community (bring experienced IBLers together as a core group)
Build community between members of the community. This includes creating a space in which vulnerable interactions are invited to take place.
Invite a diverse group of faculty (institution type, student identities, faculty identities) to co-create the community. - Audience:
- Mathematics faculty and K-12 teachers in the region with experience in teaching with inquiry
- Learn more:
- See NE-IBLM Conferences or email Christine von Renesse at cvonrenesse AT westfield DOT ma DOT edu or Volker Ecke at vecke AT westfield DOT ma DOT edu
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Conference for the entire IBL Community, from novices to experts
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- Organization:
- 50-100 participants, 4-6 facilitators, several smaller sessions with different focus, a few plenary activities, online on Zoom, or in person: venue provided at no cost by host university and lunch funded by $15-20 registration, see details here TODO.
- Goals:
- Spread the word of IBL: bring faculty together that are teaching more traditionally to show them what else is possible.
Build community between members of the community. This includes creating a space in which vulnerable interactions are invited to take place.
Invite a diverse group of faculty (institution type, student identities, faculty identities) to co-create the community.
Practice particular tools available to faculty teaching with inquiry (facilitating discussions, write IBL tasks, assessment techniques, …)
Deepen our reflection on our own teaching and continue to grow as educators through collaboration.
Learn about the student perspective and about facilitation tools and struggles (Experience IBL together by doing mathematics -- Immersion in Inquiry)
Learn how to think about students’ thinking (e.g. by looking at student work).
Spread ideas about how to teach particular classes so we don’t have to reinvent the wheel. (class visits, PLCs) - Audience:
- Mathematics faculty and K-12 teachers with interest in learning more about teaching with inquiry, from novices to experts (if designed to be sufficiently differentiated)
- Learn more:
- See NE-IBLM Conferences or email Christine von Renesse (cvonrenesse AT westfield DOT ma DOT edu), Ileana Vasu (ivasu AT hcc DOT edu), Rachel Schwell (schwellrac AT ccsu DOT edu), Nermin Bayazit (nbayazit AT fitchburgstate DOT edu), Volker Ecke (vecke AT westfield DOT ma DOT edu)
And of course
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Regular Leadership Team Meetings
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- Organization:
- Five faculty in the leadership team meet about once a month on Zoom for 1-1.5 hours to plan activities and events, reflect, strategize, organize outreach, look for grant funding support (MLI, IBL-Communities), liaison with national IBL Communities Network. We have one person be the “taskmaster,” organizing meeting invites, writing the agenda, making sure todos are done, etc.
- Goals:
- Of course we have the goals for the community listed above as our main goals. But there are also goals connected to the leadership team itself:
Work as a group of equals in the leadership team to make sure all voices are heard and all opinions matter the same.
We follow a set of NE-IBLM Pillars to guide our work (read about the context and development of these principles).
Keep up with regular events/activities and don’t drop ideas/connections. - Audience:
- Mathematics faculty who wish to organize and co-lead a regional IBL Community
- Learn more:
- See About NE-IBLM or email Christine von Renesse (cvonrenesse AT westfield DOT ma DOT edu), Ileana Vasu (ivasu AT hcc DOT edu), Rachel Schwell (schwellrac AT ccsu DOT edu), Nermin Bayazit (nbayazit AT fitchburgstate DOT edu), Volker Ecke (vecke AT westfield DOT ma DOT edu)