LIS 560 readings notes - week two
Astleitner, H. (2002). Teaching Critical Thinking Online.
First it must be said that either this scholar has difficulty writing, had a really tired editor, or possibly is the victim of having his article scanned and misinterpreted by a computer. Weirdest sentence structure ever. *sigh*
1) Media and internet resources, however content-rich and full of tools they may be, are insufficient to teach critical thinking skills. It is necessary to have instruction in critical thinking sub-skills that are related to the activities.
Okay, I'll buy that.
2) Students in one study did not demonstrate critical thinking in an online discussion forum. Interestingly, the students themselves said that they would liked to have had synchronous chat to clarify things with each other and logical organization of the forum posts - chrono or hierarchy.
Who on earth doesn't organize forums in either of those ways? Oh, wait - this article is from 1998. I think I remember web-x at Evergreen a few years ago was just chronological posts.
3) Things improved in a study that used those tools, a meta-cognitive tool, and an actual human teacher intervening. Another study wasn't able to confirm it.
4) Students need guidance on critical thinking within learning modules.
No kidding? I suppose this is where the questioning article from last week could be applied.
5) Computer instruction often benefits inductive reasoning but neglects other CT like analyzing arguments and bias.
Again, is this because of the lack of guidance?
6) Chang et al. - Formal logic instruction doesn't have much effect on everyday reasoning compared to pragmatic and informal reasoning.
I'm lacking definitions here of pragmatic and informal.
7) Open learning environments can increase critical thinking but require additional cognitive support because of their complexity.
Does this present another barrier to using OLE methods due to the time crunch?
8) Distance learning motivation ala ARCS: sending messages via email designed to address each aspect of the model. Deemed successful.
Those feedback strategies also help with classroom motivation, in my experience. I realized that all the way through school I have worked harder for teachers who employed those tactics.
Okay, so that article wasn't particularly useful.
Blakey, E. & S. Spence (1990). Developing Metacognition.
Metacognition
Awareness of your thinking/learning process
1) Connecting new knowledge to prior knowledge
2) Selecting thinking strategies deliberately
3) Planning, monitoring, and evaluating thinking process
"Learning to learn" - durable thinking skills that will not be obsolete but require more time investment for teacher and student and are more intimately tied to individuality. It seems to me much more personal than subject learning or concrete skill learning.
Personally, I'm more interested in metacognitive learning than just about anything else in education. The strategies suggested are good ones - planning one's own research process, journaling, self-evaluation, teacher-demonstrated cognitive process. Tactics like Eisenberg's Big 6 focus student attention on their own process. The thing that struck me about metacognition this time is that it requires motivation, which requires a strategy like ARCS. It seems like ARCS, metacognition, and Big 6 are intimately tied, based on these readings and the material from 568.
Johnson, D. & Eisenberg, M.B. (2002). Learning and Teaching Information Technology--Computer Skills in Context.
This is the most recent of the articles we have this week - and one I think we read for 568.
Library skills (bibliographic instruction) ---> information literacy skills
Besides a laundry list of information technology skills, students need to develop the ability to use IT creatively and critically to solve problems, which means a process based and integrated curriculum.
Also, metacognitive recognition of the process and motivation for learning.
Big 6
1) Task Definition
2) Information Seeking Strategies
3) Location and Access
4) Use of Information
5) Synthesis
6) Evaluation
I remember Mike telling us in 568 that the Big 6 is not necessarily linear, e.g. an evaluation during location and access leads back to thinking about the info seeking strategies. I still really like the Big 6, and Mike tied it explicitly to ARCS in the lectures.
Oberman. (1991) Avoiding the Cereal Syndrome, or Critical Thinking in the Electronic Environment.
OMG they just used the word "supercatalog" - I have trouble remembering a time when we didn't have an OPAC with multiple databases.
Too many choices = anxiety and confusion
Like trying to find the one cereal you want at a huge store
I just looked at my class schedule again and realized that Cass is out of town for a conference this week, so there is no class today. I think I'll knock off there because these scanned pdf files are giving me a headache.