Development of Critical Thinking in the Context of Digital Learning (original) (raw)
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Fostering Critical Thinking in the Digital Age
Akshara Multidisciplinary Research Journal, 2024
This paper examines how teachers can play a crucial role in helping students develop critical thinking skills and leverage technology to enhance this process in the digital age. It delves into the complex and multifaceted role of teachers, highlighting the pressing need for them to possess effective skills and strategies to navigate the dynamic and ever-evolving digital landscape. Drawing insights from empirical studies, the paper demonstrates how instructors can strategically employ a variety of digital tools and innovative teaching methods to cultivate and nurture critical thinking abilities in their learners. The paper underscores the profound significance of critical thinking in addressing the complex, interconnected challenges facing the global community, and in achieving sustainable development goals. It emphasizes the urgent need for comprehensive educational reform to adequately equip students with the indispensable critical thinking skills required to thrive and excel in the modern, technologydriven world.
Critical thinking in E-learning environments
Computers in Human Behavior, 2012
One of the primary aims of higher education in today's information technology enabled classroom is to make students more active in the learning process. The intended outcome of this increased IT-facilitated student engagement is to foster important skills such as critical thinking used in both academia and workplace environments. Critical thinking (CT) skills entails the ability(ies) of mental processes of discernment, analysis and evaluation to achieve a logical understanding. Critical thinking in the classroom as well as in the workplace is a central theme; however, with the dramatic increase of IT usage the mechanisms by which critical thinking is fostered and used has changed. This article presents the work and results of critical thinking in a virtual learning environment. We therefore present a web-based course and we assess in which parts of the course, and to what extent, critical thinking was perceived to occur. The course contained two categories of learning modules namely resources and interactive components. Critical thinking was measured subjectively using the ART scale. Results indicate the significance of ''interactivity'' in what students perceived to be critical-thinking-oriented versus online material as a resource. Results and opportunities that virtual environments present to foster critical thinking are discussed.
The realities of the 21st century requires learners to take active position in solving problems which humanity faces every day. The rise of extremism, military conflicts, racism, nationalism, poverty and ecological disasters are among the sharpest problems needed to be solved by cooperative efforts worldwide. Moreover, another reality represented by ever growing market competition puts additional pressure on learners and decision-makers on what and how should be learned at schools today. Fortunately, some skills are believed to be universal means to solve a variety of the tasks as their mastery is about to bring learners to success in many challenges in the life. In Kazakhstan, as in many other countries, it is widely accepted that critical thinking skills are among the major components that are integral to meeting the needs of learners today. Current research on the relationship between the development of critical thinking skills and the use of ICT in education appears to be a relatively young sphere of educational research. The literature primarily concentrates on ICT as a supportive tool for increased engagement and collaboration, however, there is little data concerning the identification of key strategies or features to support the development of critical thinking skills that can be embedded within an ICT interface. This study elaborates on the concept of critical thinking and draws the relationship between critical thinking skills and ICT learning interfaces. At the same time, the presented investigation brings necessary theoretical background for the further development of the framework for educators as a way to evaluate ICT learning interfaces in how well they can support the development of critical thinking skills. The results of prospected study may be of high relevance to practitioners in the field of education as well as for designers of ICT learning interfaces.
Cultivating Critical Thinking Through E-learning Environment and Tools: A Review
Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 2014
Critical thinking is one of the main goals of higher education to train dependant and reasonable thinker as an efficient citizenship in modern society. Researchers and instructors in the world attempt to assess the level of students' critical thinking in order to foster it as a vital ability. Also, researchers use different learning approaches and theories along with the technological progress to nurture critical thinking of students. On the other hand, the advent of e-learning in education facilitates the difficulties through the learning and teaching paths. Researchers provided models and strategies for developing critical thinking by e-learning tools with their specific characteristic and applications. This paper presents a review on e-learning approaches and models which are used to cultivate critical thinking with the aim of highlighting the importance of critical thinking and the role of e-learning. We also present a taxonomy of existing e-learning models based on their applications and efficiencies as well as presenting similarities and differences in such approaches and discuss open research issues.
The increased complexity of our world today calls for learners' active knowledge construction and collaboration in the learning process, as opposed to traditional approaches based on the assumption that knowledge is transmitted from teacher to student. Accordingly, YouTube, in parallel with Moodle forums, emerge as new learning environments, fostering a multifaceted and integrated process consistent with young digital natives' profile and the challenges demanded by a knowledge-based society. A case study was conducted in English as a second language (ESL), involving eleventh-grade secondary education students in formal and non-formal learning environments, offline and online. The research focussed on the educational value of digital video and Moodle forum discussions and their effective contribution to a meaningful and in-depth learning, aiming to develop critical thinking skills. First phase results showed that not only were a vast majority of learners not aware of many of the skills involved in critical thinking, but clear intellectual standards inherent to disciplined and critical thinking did not govern them as well. Final results showed major differences regarding learners' achievements, indicating that YouTube and Moodle have promoted the development of critical thinking in English (ESL). In this paper we present; a) theories that support the integration of digital videos for developing essential skills to the learning process; b) new insights into the way foreign language may be processed; c) methodologies with YouTube and Moodle in the educational context.
ALT-J, 2010
This paper reports on classroom-based research that was designed to monitor the integration of information and communication technology (ICT) in a teacherguided collaborative online learning context to encourage students' critical response to literary texts. The study investigates the premise that an ICT project where children read books and then use email communication to exchange responses with other learners will support critical thinking. Videos of classroom observations, journals and rap sheets were analysed for individual students' levels of critical awareness. Improvements in critical thinking were measured using linguistic analysis. Teachers and students were also interviewed for attitudes to technology use related to learning. Although there were gains in critical thinking, there was little student engagement with technology. The discussion problematises the integration of technology in the classroom through a repositioning of collaboration in a blended learning context known as book raps. et al.'s work, the COLC context of book raps operates within a blended learning environment where students interact with both an online moderator and a classroom teacher who guide, discipline, teach, and so forth. This pedagogic design difference changes the patterns of interaction that each 'teacher' has with their students. Although the book rap data show that more collaboration takes place in the classroom than online, the small proportion of collaboration that does take place online is vital to the learning exercise.
ICT based learning to improve students'critical thinking (Teaching English)
2018
One of the 4C skills required by the students in today’s global community is critical thinking. Critical thinking skill is not a skill that can evolve by itself along with the development of human body. Accordingly, it requires creativity on teachers’ side. The teacher can consider strategies and methods that can enhance students’ thinking ability. One of the strategies used by the teacher in teaching language to enhance learners’ critical thinking is internet-based nature of Google docs, an online application that can enrich learning environment by transferring teaching instruments that are user-centered. The objectives of this study are to identify the learning activities designed by the teacher to develop critical thinking; and describe the activities that expose the skill and to know the students’ responses toward the activities of teaching English with Google docs. This study employed descriptive qualitative method. The subjects consisted of an English teacher and 24 senior hig...
The Information and Communication Technologies exercise a great impact on the ways people work, communicate and interact, and contribute considerably to the development of learners’ skills. However, the use of Information and Communication Technologies cannot lead to the development of high-order skills and of critical thinking, if not combined with the appropriate teaching methods. In the light of the above, the aim of the present research is to identify and record Primary School teachers’ beliefs about the impact of Information and Communication Technologies on the enhancement of critical thinking. An analysis of the skills taught within the Greek educational context and considered to be necessary for the development of critical thinking, is also provided. The data elicitation tool is a questionnaire devised for the needs of the specific research and the sample is comprised by 118 Primary School teachers working on the Greek island of Lesvos.
2020
This study investigates how teachers of English understand critical thinking, and how they act upon their understanding in their teaching. Additionally, this study also investigates how students experience their teachers practice of critical thinking in the EFL classroom. The current curriculum of LK06 is in a gradual change towards the subject renewal LK20, a change that is paralleled by the increasing focus on digital technology in education. In a historical perspective, the need for critical attitudes in school settings has seen a curricular development from the late 80’s until today with an increasing focus on technology as an integral part of human life. To address contemporary challenges and opportunities, the Department of Education and Training has implemented a digitalization plan that lays guiding principles from 2017-2021. Critical thinking is a central term for the new curriculum and for the digitalization plan. A supplementing press release exemplifies the English subject as one of the subjects that should nurture critical thinking skills among students. As of today, teachers must include digital skills in the English subject, a basic skill that incorporates aspects of critical information processing using digital tools. The current thesis is motivated by the multiple mentions of critical thinking as a desired English subject skill in the intersection between technology, language and education. To investigate the field, we have conducted qualitative research interviews where four different EFL teachers participated. Subsequently, a selection of the teachers’ students were interviewed in groups. Our findings indicate that the teachers put a strong emphasis on critical thinking as an integral part of evaluating digital information. Further, the teachers appear to implement critical thinking in their EFL practice in an implicit and context-sensitive manner. Their students mostly experience critical thinking as a term that is incorporated into criteria for written and oral tasks, and as a subject of conversation in relation to evaluating digital information in the EFL classroom. Moreover, our findings indicate that meta-language in policy documents is susceptible to ambiguity. This is highlighted by the inconsistent definitions that arose in parts of the conversational discourse. What seems evident, is that terms such as critical thinking – can take on multiple meanings and necessitate contextual factors to attain a common definition from practitioners in the field. This last point is not investigated exhaustively, thus providing future researchers with an intriguing perspective.