using blogs to develop critical thinking skills brick & click northwest missouri state...
TRANSCRIPT
Using Blogs to Develop Critical Thinking Skills
Brick & ClickNorthwest Missouri
State UniversityEricka A. Raber
University of Iowa
Inspirations
• “I Need Three Peer Reviewed Articles…” Farkas
• Beyond Peer-Reviewed Articles: Using Blogs to Enrich Students’ Understanding of Scholarly Work (Deitering and Gronemyer)
• Inquiry-based learning (Stripling)• Miniature Guide to CT (Paul and Elder)
http://www.criticalthinking.org/pages/critical-thinking-in-every-domain-of-knowledge-and-belief/698
Why Blogs?
• No peer-reviewed stamp of approval• Short, often fun • Arguments• Rich selection• Provide context
for activitiesCritical
ThinkingLibrary
Instruction
Engaging blogsbut not serious
Guiding Ideas• Critical thinking – is a habit of the mind (attitudes, dispositions)– is supported by community– involves questioning
• Less is more• Context is key
• Students should be working harder than you are.
Globalization and Social Change
In-Class Worksheet
• While reading your text think about: – What claims are being made? How are the claims
supported? What do you want to learn? How can you learn more? Where might the conversations be taking place?
• Related to your text/topic, identify:– Keywords and concepts, Contacts,
Sources/Studies
Instruction Sessions• One-shots– Model thinking/search strategies– Have students pose questions for a text related to
their topic– Discuss next steps (where to look)
• One-shots+– Coordinate longer activity with instructor (use
blog from class)
Finding Blogs
• http://www.google.com/blogsearch• http://researchblogging.org• http://academicblogs.org
Future Directions
• Semester-long course: Personal Learning Network Assignment, Howard Rheingold (@hrheingold); managing info tasks
• Work with Grad Students—blogs, #conference, network creation and curation
