Ciritcal thinking is the key to a strong future in difficult challenges to make these students thrive.
Not all students will have the knowledge or prior experience of using critical thinking or collaborative learning but with the patience and understanding of an online instructor the knowlege and growth will begin.
Critical thinking and problem solving are transferrable skills that every employer and business desirers. Teaching these skills in an online environment is beneficial to both the student and the instructor.
Active learning in the ELT program is the main aspect of instruction. Students are often given a problem and asked to design the solution or discuss how to determine the best method for solving the issue. The same with the CSS classes I teach.
Collaborative learning and Problem-based Learning are good options to initiate Active Learning with students. These options also offer opportunities for real-world learning.
I plan on utilizing collaborative, cooperative, and problem solving learning activites to encourage critical thinking. I want to provide opportunities to incorporate real world examples or problems and allow time for the students to reflect.
It seems tnat the students have much more responsibility to teach and learn from thier experiences. Providing those experiences is in oart the job of the facilitator.
It's important to promote high-level skills such as critical learning. Provide the students with opportuntiy to problem solve and critical thinking. For example: Encourage students to find relationships between pieces of information, and ask open-ended questions. It is also important for instructors to plan synchronaous environment for real-time collaboration.
Now I understand why a number of students do not have critical thinking skills when they come to a post high school environment. Many don't have problem solving skills. I will have to incorporate more group projects with team building skills.
Critical thinking is reflecting and evaluating the 'gray areas' of a concept as to potential possiblities for a problem or concept for the many 'correct' answers within the key concept. PBL is teaching the mind 'how to think' at a higher level while being open to the various perspectives of a concept
Critical thinking is not something that many students learn in K-12. Students must have access to assignments that go beyond memorization.
Many students need to develop critical thinking skills
I learned how I can use collborative and PBL into my teaching to engage my students and encourage critical thinking.
Collaberative actvities can help a student know that there is not necessarily one carrect answer. It helps the student explore different solution and this can enhance their critcal thinking.
I am so tired of posting things that I feel like an online student. Fed up, losing interest. and what ever happen to video's and photo's to keep up our interest. If we follow the way these course are laid out for our students we will lose them within the first 5 days.
What I learned about active learning, such as collaborative learning and problem-based learning, I would utilize fully in all my courses along with the other components of student-centered active learning.
Dr. Anton Hawatmeh
While critical thinking may not come naturally to all students, it is a necessary skill to build. I can definitely see the PBL method working well in teaching Health Information Technology courses and using current healthcare issues / trends as a foundation.
Critical thinking involves mulling over topic and providing a carefully thought out response. High school students today lack this ability and they do not attend college, they have no recourse to learn this type of thinking other than in the work place as they advance. Student that take the time to consider critical thinking do better in school and are promoted faster in the work place.
Critical thinking is a skill that must be fostered in the online learning environment.
Exploring the many varieties of technological tools available to the learner are vast. Even though integrating these tools may require some effort on the instructors’ part; the rewards are great for the learner. A plan moving forward would be to integrate more of the technological tools into the class setting as well as group based work – specifically peer reflection.
