Developing Students’ Critical Thinking through Online Discussions: A Literature Review (original) (raw)
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International Journal of Emerging Technologies in Learning (iJET)
Asynchronous Online Discussions (AOD) are considered as one of the most ma-jor tools in learning management systems which are used in universities. The ex-ploitation of AODs forums offer students the possibility to teach and learn any-time and anywhere. They also provide students with the time needed to process learning, share ideas and points of view on e-course topics. The group size in the AODs is a substantial variable that affects the interaction and the participation of students. The purpose of our research lays in understanding the influence of the group size participating in the AODs on the development of critical thinking skills in information technology for students of the Faculty of Education, and im-proving students’ performance in online discussion forums. In this research, 103 university students from the bachelor's degree have participated in the study. The participating students are studying the Computer Application in Education Course, and the Education Technolo...
International journal of TESOL studies, 2021
Assessing student understanding and extending student learning beyond the face-to-face or synchronous online lesson is commonly done with the use of online discussion forums. However, the challenge reported by tutors of higher education has always been the lack of active participation and critical engagement by students unless the task is graded formally. Researchers have been investigating various approaches to facilitate effective learning experiences such that students are motivated to engage others when they are tasked to partake in such asynchronous discussions. This paper explores how I sought to engage my Engineering undergraduate students, reading a critical thinking and writing module taught in a blended learning environment, in online discussion forums with the adoption of the Paul-Elder critical thinking framework. The aim was to develop higher levels of criticality in thought in students' forum responses, while demonstrating the application of the critical thinking tools, such that they were able to collaboratively construct knowledge and deepen their conceptual understanding of Engineering leadership. Results of the analysis found that students were engaged in spontaneous dialogic discussions in the form of repeated extended posts published in the online discussion forums. Furthermore, analysis of student critical reflection essays also confirmed that the online discussion forums, with a deliberate use of the tools of the framework, had contributed to their development of critical thinking skills to deepen their understanding. This paper concludes with a recommendation for tutors of higher education to make the assessment of students' critical reflection or critical thinking skills visible for students with a proposed conceptual framework for online discussion forums.
Using Discussions to Promote Critical Thinking in Online Environment
开放教育研究, 2007
This paper examines how the discussion tool is used to promote critical thinking in an online environment at Marshall University. The significance of critical thinking in higher education has been brought to attention at both national and local levels. The paper studies the use of discussions as an approach to promote critical thinking in a number of English as a Second Language (ESL) courses offered by Marshall University's Graduate School of Education and Professional Development (GSEPD) program. At the end of the semester, a qualitative survey was developed to identify the effectiveness of such discussions, and the opportunities for improvement. The survey was sent to all students in these three classes. These students were all full time teachers in Elementary and Secondary schools in West Virginia. Out of 21 students, 15 of them have responded to the three questions asked in the survey. Almost all the respondents have found discussion helpful in enhancing learning and critical thinking. Most students support the involvement of an online instructor in the online discussion, and faculty members involved in these discussions function as helpers in the development of critical thinking skills.
The development of critical thinking is a rationale for higher education and an important aspect of online educational discussions. A key component in most accounts of critical thinking is to evaluate the tenability of claims. The community of inquiry framework is among the most influential frameworks for research on online educational discussions. In this framework, cognitive presence accounts for critical thinking as progress through the following phases of inquiry: triggering event, exploration, integration, and solution This article discusses the cognitive presence construct as a tool for measuring critical thinking. The article traces the philosophical inspirations of the community of inquiry framework and discusses the construct validity of the cognitive presence construct. Empirical findings enabled by the framework are briefly reviewed and discussed. The author argues that since the cognitive presence construct only to a limited degree addresses the discussants’ evaluation of a claim’s tenability, the construct possesses weaknesses for assessing critical thinking in discussions. In making this claim, the article contributes to methodological and theoretical discussions about research on critical thinking in online educational discussions.
Using Discussions to Promote Critical Thinking in an Online Environment
This paper examines how the discussion tool is used to promote critical thinking in an online environment at Marshall University. The significance of critical thinking in higher education has been brought to attention at both national and local levels. The paper studies the use of discussions as an approach to promote critical thinking in a number of English as a Second Language (ESL) courses offered by Marshall University's Graduate School of Education and Professional Development (GSEPD) program. At the end of the semester, a qualitative survey was developed to identify the effectiveness of such discussions, and the opportunities for improvement. The survey was sent to all students in these three classes. These students were all full time teachers in Elementary and Secondary schools in West Virginia. Out of 21 students, 15 of them have responded to the three questions asked in the survey. Almost all the respondents have found discussion helpful in enhancing learning and critical thinking. Most students support the involvement of an online instructor in the online discussion, and faculty members involved in these discussions function as helpers in the development of critical thinking skills.
Synchronous discussion in online learning: Investigating students’ critical thinking
EnJourMe (English Journal of Merdeka) : Culture, Language, and Teaching of English, 2020
Many studies mentioned the importance of fostering higher education students' critical thinking skills in order to prepare them for their future career. However, many scholars contend that in online courses, critical thinking is difficult to accomplish. Understanding this gap, this paper aims to report the use of Socratic Questions strategy on synchronous discussion as the bridge to promote students' critical thinking in online learning environment. Twenty two Diploma 3 students who enrolled in Intermediate Reading course participated in this study. Due to the spread of Covid-19 pandemic, this class was switched into online learning. To gather the data, the content of participants' individual post will be analysed to know the depth of students' critical thinking based on Yang et al.'s (2005) model. In addition, both quantitative and qualitative analysis of students' post will be applied to measure ÿþthe effects of Socratic questioning on students' critical thinking in synchronous discussion in online learning. The result revealed that Socratic questions strategy were successfully improve students' depth of critical thinking.
Journal of Information Technology Education: Research
Understanding the relationship between social presence and critical thinking is useful for gaining insight into the interaction and discourse of learners online. Further study of how these two presences interact is important because research has shown a wide variety of relationships, both positive and negative, between social presence and critical thinking. The aim of this study is to investigate social presence and critical thinking using discourse analysis in the hope that it will deepen and broaden our understanding of the relationship between these important facets of learner discourse. Using quantitative analysis, an online forum used by students at a national university in Korea (n=219) was analyzed by taking 900 forum posts to determine the levels of social presence and critical thinking in each post. The relationships between social presence and critical thinking were analyzed and the results show that social presence and critical thinking have a negative correlation. This h...
The role of asynchronous discussion forums in the development of collaborative critical thinking
leishman-associates.com.au
Blended learning approaches often make use of asynchronous discussion forums (ADFs) to enhance face-to-face learning, collaboration and co-construction. One aspect of research for such online tools focuses on the development of critical thinking. But what, specifically, is the role of such technology in such efforts? Over a semester, we collected data through classroom observations, semi-structured interviews and online postings. In our cyclical thematic analyses, we identified virtual presence, timing, display presentation, and skill development as influential factors regarding the development of collaborative critical thinking. Students, nonetheless, were often very frustrated with the tool. Improvements to the actual use of the tool, combined with greater guidance, may yield stronger results.
Online discussion: Enhancing students’ critical thinking skills
Online discussion has become one of the important strategies for the teacher to teach the students to think critically when conveying their ideas and become more proactive and creative. In this paper, padlet online discussion communication was conducted to examine its effectiveness in enhancing critical thinking. In this study, there are two types of critical thinking: macro and micro critical thinking. A total of 70 Universiti Utara Malaysia Management Foundation Programme students involved in this experimental research design. The students in treatment class are divided to few groups. Every group uses padlet online discussion to discuss the topic given. All the group members discuss and write their ideas in padlet. Ideas that are posted in padlet will be displayed in front of the class so that the entire group in the treatment class could see the given ideas. Paul's (1993) model was used to analyze student's macro and micro critical thinking in padlet online discussion and communication. The finding shows that students who used padlet online discussion backchannel communication have greater macro and micro critical thinking level than students who do not use online discussion.