IBL at Sheffield

We aim to provide our students with a learning experience that is shaped by strong linkages between teaching and research. This experience includes:

• being taught by inspirational teachers who are leading researchers in the subject;
• studying a curriculum that is informed by current research topics;
• having opportunities to gain and practice research skills; and
• learning by carrying out inquiry and research, and by participating in knowledge-building in their academic and professional areas.

Inquiry-based learning (IBL) is an important element of the `research-led´ learning experience. The resources on this website have been provided to enable you to find out more about:

• what is meant by ‘IBL’;
• how staff at The University of Sheffield have developed and implemented IBL approaches, with case studies that include a wide range of examples, from designing an IBL approach at programme level through to introducing inquiry activities in day-to-day practice; and
• the support and infrastructure that can facilitate IBL, for example making the most effective use of learning technologies.

These resources include the research and other published outputs of our Centre for Inquiry-based Learning in the Arts and Social Sciences (CILASS). This national Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning was funded by HEFCE between 2005 and 2010 with the purpose of sharing and further developing expertise in IBL more widely across the institution and beyond.