Course Overview

Inquiry and Integration in Education (IIE) is a 22-week online course designed to develop academic intelligence and higher-order thinking capacities in learners. This course will help you

• Acquire deeper understanding of ideas across disciplines,
• Think critically beyond your area of specialization,
• Develop the ability to figure out your answers to questions,
• Structure your thoughts and arguments better,
• Develop clarity and rigor in thinking, reasoning and communicating.

Audience

IIE is ideal for

• High schoolers who want to go beyond just internalising information in their textbooks,
• Undergraduate students who would like to further develop their academic intelligence,
• Graduate students in any field interested in pursuing research*
• Parents who wish to provide meaningful education for their children, and
• Educators who are keen on delivering the best educational value to learners.

You don’t have to be a specialist in any discipline to take the course. The level of academic knowledge required of you is no more than what is expected of a student who has finished 9th grade.

^*ThinQ also offers an online course called Introduction to Research, which focuses on developing research abilities. These two courses have much in common, but they focus on different aspects of inquiry and research. Click here to find out more.

Course Structure

Begins: 15 May 2021
Ends: 15 October 2021
Course Duration: 22 weeks

The course is organised around 4 elements:

1. Learning Triggers (LTs): An LT is a package made up of readings and videos, designed to develop inquiry and critical thinking abilities. These are shared with participants on alternate weekends.
Check out a sample learning trigger
2. A. ThinQabouts: A week after the LT is shared, participants receive questions in the form of a ‘ThinQabout’ that allow them to use the inquiry ability in focus that week. These ThinQabouts are designed to help participants in the course reflect on how much they have learnt, and raise questions related to the LT.
   B. Consolidated Feedback: ThinQ facilitators respond to the questions raised in the ThinQabouts through a Consolidated Feedback, to enable participants to learn from each other’s questions.
3. Discussion Forum: The LTs are interspersed with a Discussion Forum Activity that encourages participants to collectively explore questions and ideas based on what they have learnt so far.
4. Meetings: Regular online meetings with fellow participants and members of the ThinQ team are a part of the course.

Learning Goals

If you work through the course diligently, by the end of the course, you will have strengthened your:

• capacity to engage in rational inquiry (and become a capable debater), ability to learn independently, ability to make well-considered decisions in everyday life,
• habits of mind that allow you to be more thoughtful in your professional, public, and personal lives,
• understanding of research across academic disciplines.

And if you are concerned with meaningfully educating yourself and/or the young, as educators, parents, administrators, or policy makers, this is an opportunity to forge an approach that would enable you to help them imbibe and develop important cognitive capacities not found in existing formal curricula.

Testimonials

Here’s what Vaideeswaran, a former IIE participant and current ThinQ member, has to say about the course:

What is expected of you?

To learn from this course, you need

• commitment to learning and
• willingness to put in the required time and effort.

Time: To make the most from IIE, we recommend that you spend at least three to four hours a week. The more the time you spend on the course content, the more you are likely to benefit.

Effort: We suggest that you read the course materials at least twice, think about them, write down your responses to various tasks in the chapters, and make a note of what you would like to clarify and discuss further. Most importantly, we urge you to engage in collective thinking, by participating actively and articulating your thoughts in the forum discussions.

Course Fee

The recommended course fee for IIE is INR 15000.

If you cannot afford the recommended fee, you can pay an amount that you can afford. You can pay the fee (either full or reduced) in installments convenient to you.

We have also had participants in the past who have voluntarily offered to pay more than INR 15000. We greatly value such generosity as it helps us support others who wish to enrol in the course but cannot afford it.

Anytime during the course, if you think you can afford to or would like to pay more than what you have committed while enrolling for IIE, please do so.

Certification

If you would like to receive a certificate on successful completion^* of the course, you can write to us to request one.

^*Successful completion depends on your level of your learning and engagement as demonstrated by the regularity and quality of submissions, and peer discussions.

Contact Us

For any queries related to the course, please write to us at iie@thinq.education.