Interdisciplinary Perceptions (original) (raw)
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British Educational Research Journal, 2016
Academic staff working within Western Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), have a responsibility to encourage the continuous critique of knowledge and values, expressed both within the curriculum that they deliver and within society more widely (Wals and Jickling, 2002). Critical thinking is often regarded as the hallmark of a good education (Walker and Finney, 2006). Atkinson (1997) however raised concerns, that such practices may possess an exclusive (and reductive) character, fraught with cultural issues. Consequently, international students may be at a disadvantage in understanding the underpinning principles of critical thinking. This paper draws upon data from a small case study sample of international Masters level students, as a means to examine and refine notions of critical thinking in relation to practices within one UK University. We suggest that these data indicate that it is time to re-evaluate and reconsider the ways in which we understand and promote critical thinking within academic work.
2016
Chapter 7: The use of IoC theories within a public health programme and the creation of a transtheoretical approach to sustain curriculum development Gann et al. (Chapter 5) explore how best to achieve staff buy-in to IoC through the provision of supportive checklist tools. Integrated into routine course development and review processes, such tools can be used to prompt integration of international learning activities into the curriculum, while reducing additional pressures on staff time. It is clear that such tools, if used in a collaborative discursive environment, can effect meaningful change in staff engagement but need to be used at a sufficiently early stage in course design. In Chapter 6, Simmons highlights the necessity of investing in staff and presents evidence from Coventry University's project to introduce Online International Learning projects (OIL). The Chapter details the institutional support provided to staff to enable them to develop new ideas and delivery models, which includes provision of new teaching and learning technologies, finding and sustaining the partnerships required, cascading evidence of good practice from early adopters, and recognising effort and engagement through staff appraisals processes. A series of case studies provide illustration of the opportunities available through OIL projects in a variety of disciplines including, performance, creative writing, physiotherapy and computing. In Chapter 7, Markwell examines the process of developing an internationalised curriculum in Public Health at Oxford Brookes University. Employing multiple models of reflective practice, the Chapter shows that while change is possible, effective IoC, of the sort that can engender deep and meaning shifts in intercultural confidence, requires thoughtful consideration, listening and reflecting. It is of particular importance for staff to listen to and be aware of their own biases. The chapter demonstrates just how complex and comprehensive effective IoC can be. Through the process of reflection, however, Markwell is able to offer a model of change management, which itself draws inspiration from models of intercultural communication, whereby resistances and denials are identified, examined and worked through. The chapters in this section highlight how challenging effective IoC initiatives can be for academic staff, particularly when change involves a radical reorganisation of the structure and duration of the academic year. Establishing offices to support transition and providing dedicated educational developers, as also described by Simmons, can help substantially. While there remain certain challenges, all of the authors that address staff engagement, highlight how, with proper investment and support, significant transformations can be achieved that not only support IaH at home activities and the employability of students, but also improve recruitment and enhance the skills and competencies of staff members involved. Collectively, the articles and case studies collected here, illustrate a number of common themes and concerns. They all call for more nuance in how we approach IoC, being mindful of different disciplinary contexts and cultures. They favour a move away from sweeping agendas towards focus on the specificities of practice for different constituencies, which includes understanding how individuals-staff and students-begin their engagement with IoC from very different starting points. This requires institutional investment of time and resources but also a continued reflection and evaluation of practice.
Journal of Educational Studies and Multidisciplinary Approaches (JESMA), 2022
Critical thinking is a key feature of the organizational cultures of higher education institutions, given its multiple impacts on graduates’ academic, professional and personal levels. Thus, most of these higher education institutions in the Arab Gulf region state in their strategic plans, implicitly and explicitly, objectives related to enhancing students’ critical thinking skills. Despite the apparent prevalence of such objectives, the concept of critical thinking (CT) is hardly taught in higher education institutions in the Arab Gulf region for different reasons. One of these reasons is that the perception of the concept is still in its infancy in the region, even among professors. This study aims to investigate how the perceptions and knowledge of critical thinking of English as a Second Language professors in the General Foundation Program at the College, a higher education institution in Muscat, foster critical thinking teaching. This is a qualitative and exploratory study with 10 professors and the data were collected through semi-structured interviews. The thematic analysis identified 4 themes: 1. First encounter with CT; 2. Connotations and denotations of CT; 3. Attainability of CT; 4. Scarce teaching of CT. The participants revealed their belief in the attainability of critical thinking. However, they expressed difficulties in implementing critical thinking teaching in their classrooms. The General Foundation Program’s professors referred openly to the disparity between their espoused beliefs and enacted practices.
Until the 1990s discussion of critical thinking has tended to focus on first language speaking contexts (eg. Ennis, 1962; McPeck, 1981). More recently however, especially as a result of increases in international student enrolments in the tertiary sector, what critical thinking means and how it might be taught have become highly debated questions for second language learning theorists and practitioners, not only in Australia, but also in the US and in the UK (eg. Benesch 1993a; Gieve, 1998). This paper provides an overview of a range of theoretical approaches to critical thinking followed by discussion of the implications of these perspectives for the theory and practice of tertiary level English for Academic Purposes (EAP). Finally, an example of a critical thinking classroom activity for EAP university students will be presented.
Thinking Critically about Critical Thinking in Higher Education
2010
The literature on critical thinking in higher education is constructed around the fundamental assumption that, while regarded as essential, is neither clearly nor commonly understood. There is elsewhere evidence that academics and students have differing perceptions of what happens in university classrooms, particularly in regard to higher order thinking. This paper reports on a small-scale investigation in a Faculty of Education at an Australian University into academic and student definitions and understandings of critical thinking. Our particular interest lay in the consistencies and disconnections assumed to exist between academic staff and students. The presumption might therefore be that staff and students perceive critical thinking in different ways and that this may limit its achievement as a critical graduate attribute.
Critical Thinking and International Students: A Marriage of Necessity
The internationalisation of Australian universities presents a double challenge for student support services -to provide academic support programs which address perceived culturally-based academic differences and to provide support programs which are culturally sensitive, inclusive and which contribute to the success of international students. Critical thinking is a paradigmatic case. Universities insist that critical thinking is a requirement of quality academic work while academics bemoan the lack of a critical approach to study by international students in general, and Asian students in particular. The challenge for transition programs is how to incorporate critical thinking within their framework without adopting either a deficit or assimilationist approach. In the following paper, we discuss the difficulties inherent in this challenge and present one approach that seeks to address them. A number of international students were interviewed for feedback on it effectiveness.
Critical Thinking Embeddedness in Higher Education Programmes
Journal of Education Culture and Society
Aim. The aim of this research is to examine how critical thinking is reflected in Lithuanian higher education study programmes and what conceptual model(s) of critical thinking are used by study programme makers. Methods. The subject of the study encompasses 8 higher education study programmes and their subjects. They are analysed based on a constructed conceptual framework, which defines 9 critical thinking skills and 18 critical thinking dispositions. Results. Analysis, evaluation and decision making are the most common critical thinking skills embedded in the goals of a study course and its learning outcomes. Explanation, interpretation and making inferences are less pronounced. Dispositions are listed rarely and in quite an indistinct way. Only open-mindedness and honesty have clear expression and statement in study programmes, though to a lesser extent. Dispositions such as concern for every person, inquisitiveness and flexibility are very fragmented. Conclusions. For the mean...
What is critical thinking, especially in the context of higher education? How have research and scholarship on the matter developed over recent past decades? What is the current state of the art here? How might the potential of critical thinking be enhanced? What kinds of teaching are necessary in order to realize that potential? And just why is this topic important now? These are the key questions motivating this volume. We hesitate to use terms such as " comprehensive " or " complete " or " definitive, " but we believe that, taken in the round, the chapters in this volume together offer a fair insight into the contemporary understandings of higher education worldwide. We also believe that this volume is much needed, and we shall try to justify that claim in this introduction. The context here is complex, with strands running in different directions and overlaying each other.
The Palgrave Handbook of Critical Thinking in Higher Education
2015
The Palgrave Handbook of Critical Thinking in Higher Education explores critical thinking in higher education in all its forms, from definitions to teaching and incorporating it into the curriculum, its relationship to culture and the professions, and its social perspectives and scientific and cognitive manifestations. Davies and Barnett ask what is critical thinking, especially in the context of higher education? The handbook explores these questions, with contributors offering their insight into the contemporary understandings of higher education worldwide. "The Palgrave Handbook of Critical Thinking in Higher Education edited by Martin Davies and Ronald Barnett is a comprehensive and systematic treatment of critical thinking with philosophical approaches balanced by chapters that address its teaching and incorporation in the curriculum, and the relation of critical thinking to culture, to the cognitive sciences, to the professions and to society. In short, it is an indispensable guide and state-of-the-art compendium of critical thinking in the academy." - Michael A. Peters, Professor of Education, University of Waikato, New Zealand, and University of Illinois at Urbana-Champagne, USA "A sweeping, landmark collection of perspectives on theory and practice from key thinkers and practitioners. This is a must read book for anyone who wants to know what critical thinking is, or might be, in higher education." - Richard James, Pro Vice-Chancellor and Director, Melbourne Centre for the Study of Higher Education, The University of Melbourne, Australia "'Critical thinking' is one of the key aims of higher education. But what is it? And, does it mean the same thing in all fields, disciplines and cultures? While insisting on the importance of critical thinking in higher education, this book problematises and debates what it means, and how it may be developed and implemented in curriculum. It fills a key gap in the literature, and in curricular and policy debates." - Leesa Wheelahan, William G. Davis Chair in Community College Leadership, Ontario Institute of Studies for Education, University of Toronto, Canada