Toby Klinger Johnson County Community College

1. Integrating Critical Thinking into Online Courses: Teaching and Learning of Introductory Psychology Online 6th International Conference on Asynchronous Learning Networks November 3-5, 2000 Toby Klinger Johnson County Community College

2. Overview • Defining critical thinking through outcomes competencies • Examining assumptions about teaching and learning • Looking at how our assumptions influence the design of learning environments • Viewing online learning being a paradigm for developing thinking

3. Objectives Review critical thinking paradigms Discuss thematic design possibilities Examine effectiveness of discussion groups via cooperative learning Creating learning outcomes

4. Bloom’s TaxonomyCognitive Action Verbs

5. Bloom’s Taxonomy Affective Learning

6. Models to Consider • Competencies and higher order thinking • Goals in Science for All Americans Wade and Travis

7. Student Perception of Learning: Learning means Regurgitating "What is the main idea of________?" But Clueless with Answering How does_______compare/contrast with___________? Or "What evidence can you present to support________________?"

8. But Who Has Created Student Passivity for Learning? • William Perry (1970) Worldviews about the view of knowledge, the roles of student, peers and teacheraffect ways in which teachers organize content and process.

9. Dualism versus Relativism

10. So What Are We Talking About? Traditional class reform or online course delivery…Could it be both? Structure and Process

11. Online Course Design • Themes interwoven with content • Underlying principles connecting a significant percent of content • Units of content integrated with exercises and activities • Questions directing the learning of content

12. Content Designed Around Theoretical Frameworks

15. Active learning usually doesn't occur spontaneously Interactive teaching is best defined as the encouragement of student questioning and participation. An opportunity for reflection on the content learned and the learning process is essential (Savery & Duffy, 1995).

16. Sociocultural Theory • Lev Vygotsky predicted that thought evolves from guided participation through cooperative interchange with more able peers. • Cognitive change is social in nature—it stems from joint problem-solving (Rogoff, 1990) • Sharing of different points of view while attempting to achieve a common goal leads to learning.

17. Questions are so deeply buried in traditional instruction that as Paul and Elder (1997) argue we rarely recognize that all assertions are answers to implicit questions.

20. As content builds on concepts the questions progress to higher level thinking.

21. And as the Unit Continues and Other Units Connect, the Questions …

22. Tactics of Thought and Collaboration • Part of the premise of what makes active learning work is that students collaborate. • The prediction is that listening to others enhances learning and thinking and various tactics develop dialogues between students, teacher and peers.

23. But what is the role of “teacher” Allow students to respond to questions See if and how other students respond to peers’ postings Respond with both positive and constructive feedback

24. Role of teacher is to scaffold and to become a cooperative peer. But What If A Student Is Confusing a Concept or Worse Yet?

26. Role of peers To read fellow students’ postings To question a peer if they don’t think they may have responded accurately To add or acknowledge which questions have already been addressed and proceed to other questions.

32. In Debates Students Begin Asking Questions Around an Issue • But when do they begin to generate questions around content. • In the last Unit of the course, while the web lectures and text readings are there, they have to generate questions around the themes themselves.

36. And Even After Most Students Generated Questions, My Role Continued

38. Students have not been exposed to collaborative techniques. They tend to answer their selected questions, but don’t usually respond directly to others. Debates tend to lead to more collaboration Yet there are the doers and those who don’t and won’t take on the responsibility. What is the faculty’s role—is it to provide positive feedback when correct, and constructive criticisms or questions for weak answers? Or should discussion be worked out among students. Issues About Collaboration

39. Is Technology Still Not Sophisticated Enough to Allow for Seamless Dialogue?

40. For more information… Toby Klinger, Associate Professor Johnson County Community College tklinger@jccc.net