Get Your Students Hired
Beth, good point about "critical". I think many students are unaware of what critical thinking is (analysis/evaluation/application). Love Bloom's taxonomy and examples here.
My first plan of action would be to make sure it aligns with the course objectives first. Then, I would make sure it is practical (doable) and applicable in the real world. Making those considerations first go a long way toward the success or lack thereof.
What a great observation. Critical means critique for many students. During my orientation chat (recorded)I give a number of examples of critical thinking and its components and as a process. It also gives me an opportunity to 'critique' poor discussion replies such as 'I agree' and 'Good post'.
I have often talked about critical thinking as part of a course rubrics and grading criteria only to realize that they don’t know what I’ve talking about. Since the chat sessions are recorded I use the first chat for orientation including an explanation of the rubrics, grading criteria, and definitions related to learning. Students tend to relax a bit when they understand the roadmap for a course.
Joe,
Great work. so often I work with instructors who have no idea what course learning objectives are and what they are supposed to do with them. Needless to say, their course evaluations usually come back poor.
Renee Shaffer
Topic
Types of Questions to elicit additional questioning.
Does this have real life value
I would review the course learning objectives. I would then evaluate which objective may fit into a critical thinking context (usually a higher level of Blooms). Then develop an assignment that makes critical thinking a major component.
For me, the first step would be to identify how any possible activities would engage the student. How will they best present an answer (what format would they use)? Does it require them to reason-out an answer? Is it relevant enough to their current knowledge that they can be successful in making the "next" step in their understanding of a topic? Does it satisfy the 7 Principles of education?
Once I identify an activity I can determine which area of the online classroom would be best suited; Announcements? Discussion Board? Live Chat? Each has their own qualities to consider.
When these questions are answered first the active learning activity would be more likely to be successful.
Anita,
It is also good to make sure that students actually know what "critical thinking" means. Many aren't really familiar with the topic.
Renee Shaffer
I would need to clarify my goal in creating the critical thinking assignments, write out a list of action plans, and prioritize my list of actions.
Beth,
Funny how "critical" means bad. But I had a student tell me that once. I was genuinely surprised.
Renee Shaffer
The first plan would be to define what critical thinking means. Many students only hear the word "critical" and think they have to tell their classmates that their work is bad in some way.
Once they are clear in what it means, now we can teach and show them what it is and the many forms it can take. The key is to show them that this thought process has great value in any work environment and can help them to move forward in any career.
Many students who come to the online environment are lacking in some basic functional skills. The wide range of tools available to develop critical thinking skills should allow the students at least a few options that they find appealing and can serve as a starting point for developing these skills.
I would make up an assignment for a group and give the group the answer and then ask the group to put together a presentation on why the answer is right. I would make sure that the assignment had a number of steps that had to be followed to get to the answer.
I would propose a scenario where the students need to find factual information and also to use theoretical concepts where students can develop a solution to a case situation at the workplace. I think that the focus on factual presents sound concepts that students need to know how to find and use for the essence of a critical thinking assignment.
Patricia,
Excellent point. Many have already gotten this far in higher education and have NEVER been told what critical thinking really means.
Renee Shaffer
The first thing that I would consider is "Do the student's understand what it means to critically think? We tell people to think all of the time, and many times once a person thinks they know the answer they stop considering any other possibilities. It is important that the student's know that they can sit back and contemplate all of the possible solutions before deciding on their best course of action.
Veronica,
Yes, how can you get them to think about situations or scenarios that they will eventually face in medical billing and coding. For example, when something is coded incorrectly.
Renee Shaffer
My first plan of action is to review all of my classes to find topics that will allow me to incorporate group activities. Medical Billing and Coding is a straight forward subject. Now that I've completed this module, I really need to incorporate critical thinking assignments.