Old Need, New Tools: Fostering Critical Thinking in Online Social Networks

Every fall semester brings a round of observations on the current “crop” of students. Beloit College’s Annual Mindset List has become a recurring reminder of how different it is to be “talking ‘bout my generation” and theirs. This year, it calls us to remember, the freshman cohort was born in 1989; their 18 defining years of world experience makes them quite different from their college professors and instructors. One of the chief points of difference is their use of technologies. Not only have these students used computers for their entire educational lives, but they regard as archaic many computer-based tools that adults have just mastered. Email, for example, is passé; something only parents and teachers employ. Communication is faster—and nearly constant—via instant messaging or cell phone or text messaging (Shiu, E. and Lenhart, A., 2004). Across the United States and Canada, college faculty are discovering that their students daily use IM and social networks like Facebook, MySpace, Second Life (and many more) for casual communication, but also for exploring ideas and obtaining knowledge. Many faculty have begun to experiment with entering these otherwise invisible worlds, and engaging students there in learning activities (Carnevale, 2006; Johnson, 2007).

One of the questions for faculty who might be considering the adoption of such new tools is a basic one: Why? What purpose might be served? The demands of teaching content are great enough that taking up new tools and methods for their own sake, or simply because they are current, is not likely to benefit students or faculty. And added to the challenges of teaching one’s subject is a long list of not new, but perennial, constant, and general learning needs of students. The most important of these—probably because it’s foundational to success in any profession or discipline—is critical thinking.

Back in the 1990s (shortly after our current freshmen were born), right here in the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities, a faculty-development initiative supported by the Archibald Bush Foundation called Teaching for Thinking promoted best teaching practices as well as classroom research on the topic of critical thinking. The project’s materials and strategies are still in use today on many campuses, and more than a decade later, 63% of college faculty and 64% of university faculty report a high interest in learning more about teaching critical thinking (Center for Teaching and Learning, 2005).

Perhaps it’s worth considering then that one especially pertinent need, in an online social environment where students are encountering a wide range of people, ideas, information, and arguments, is critical thinking skills. Further, perhaps it’s worth exploring whether as a teacher, one might employ technologies students are using anyway--like online social networks—to develop critical-thinking skills in the subject matter one teaches.

The Teaching for Thinking project offered FIRE (facts, insight, rationality, and evaluation) as a mnemonic for the main goals of teaching critical thinking. Individuals who can think critically know how to learn facts and discriminate them from opinion, to seek insight about a topic through keen questioning and analysis, to rationally examine the logic and meaning of arguments, and to evaluate the cogency and usefulness of ideas and concepts. (Peterson and Stack, 1996).

FIRE assignments, in any subject area, can be created to deliberately build students’ critical thinking abilities. It’s worth giving serious attention to the new technological social and educational environments in which students (and we ourselves) live and work. At CTL, we’ll be considering, and we invite others to join us—maybe in an online faculty community!—how assigned work can make students better thinkers in the classroom through making them better thinkers online. Finally, if you should have any doubts that students are online, and that they are doing educational work there: a survey reported last month that “Ninety-six percent of U.S. students ages 9 to 17 who have internet access use social-networking technology to connect with their peers….59% say they talk about education-related subjects;…50% say they talk specifically about schoolwork,…[and] 16% post creative work of their own.” (National School Boards Association, 2007).We’ll be seeing these students on campus (and in the Beloit Mindset updates) as soon as next year.

- Lynda Milne

Full citations appear at the bottom of this HTML version and in the PDF version.

NEW FORMAT Delivered Once a Month!

The CTL Weekly Update changed over the summer to the CTL Monthly Update! Based on the feedback of faculty, we changed from the 2-page weekly delivery to a 4-page monthly delivery. Expect the next edition on October 8!

International D2L Users Conference hosted in Duluth

Several Office of the Chancellor staff presented at the Fusion 2007 Conference on July 8-11, which was hosted at the Duluth Entertainment Convention Center by Lake Superior College and University of Wisconsin-Superior. Among the over 100 sessions, The Center for Teaching and Learning’s Zala Fashant, Yvonne Shafer, and Martin Springborg presented “Building Community with Desire2Learn: Interactively Communicating with a Statewide Network”. Michael Condon co-presented on Managing Desire2Learn Databases, What the Heck is Goin' On? Mining Data from Desire2Learn, and Multi-State Desire2Learn Collaboration: Practices and Lessons Learned. Many faculty, staff, and administrators attended and presented at the event. Institutional presenters included Barry Dahl from Lake Superior College, Rhonda Ficek from Minnesota State University Moorhead, and Julie Adams from Bemidji State University.

CTL Resources for Faculty

Mark your calendars!  
Realizing Student Potential/ITeach
Conference
The First-Year Student in the 21st Century
February 28 & 29, March 1