What is Enquiry-Based Learning (EBL)?

The student takes an active role in learning, by engaging with case studies or scenarios that call for sustained analysis and enquiry.
The work is very student-centred, since participants in EBL direct their own lines of enquiry and identify suitable methods and data. The process of enquiry encourages participants to draw on prior knowledge and experience; and since many of the exercises are drawn from ‘real life', it enables students to relate EBL to the demands of their own contexts and professional commitments.

Kahn and O'Rourke (2004) identify a number of key characteristics of EBL:

• "Engagement - with a complex problem or scenario - that is sufficiently open-ended to allow a variety of responses or solutions.
• Students direct the lines of enquiry and the methods employed.
• The enquiry requires students to draw on existing knowledge and to identify their required learning needs.
• Tasks stimulate curiosity in the students, encouraging them to actively explore and seek out new evidence.
• Responsibility falls to the student for analysing and presenting that evidence in appropriate ways and in support of their own response to the problem." (Kahn & O'Rourke, 2004: 2)

Throughout your doctoral study, you will be encouraged to participate in exercises such as case studies, problem-based workshops and action-research exercises which will enable you to sharpen important ‘transferable skills' such as identifying research questions, problem-solving, research design and implementation, and communicating your research findings to others.