1. Incorporating Critical Thinking and Writing Effectively in Your Course: Methods, Measurements, and Managing resistance to critical thinking FDC Workshop Thursday, January 22, 2015 Teaching Critical Thinking Methodology (TCTM) Jacobus Boers Senior Lecturer Institute of International Business

2. Context Critical Thinking – What Contemporary Pedagogical Practice – Significant Learning Experiences Social Media Guided Activity Peer Review

3. THE USE OF GUIDED SOCIAL MEDIA TO ENABLE CRITICAL THINKING Jacobus Boers Institute of International Business Robinson College of Business Subhashish Samaddar Department of Managerial Sciences Robinson College of Business Somnath Mukhopadhyay Department of Information and Decision Sciences College of Business Administration Presented at:

4. Literature Why Critical Thinking? Motivation: “… the ability to make meaning in more complex ways is directly related to one’s developmental stage. At higher levels of meaning-making, leaders become more effective. When leaders are more effective, organizations perform better.” Flores, Matkin and Burbach (2012) examining the implications on leadership of students graduating with deficient critical thinking skills

5. Divergent-Convergent Thinking Nickerson 2012 Olin's Approach and Experience with Critical Thinking March 2011 AACSB Curriculum Development Symposium

6. Literature Teaching Critical Thinking Real-world or simulated real-world experiences appear to enhance the acquisition of thinking skills (Staib 2003) – important is that learners have the opportunity to engage in discussion of the challenges in these real-world or simulated scenarios Four-part model for teaching critical thinking skills : (Halpern 1998) a)modeling critical thinking and actively engaging in thoughtful responses b)an instructional module on critical thinking skills followed by practice c)course activities that facilitate the use of the skills across different contexts d)discussion of the process of thinking by students

7. Core Challenge Applying above four approaches in unstructured learning environment that involves ambiguous contexts rich with nuances and diverse actors 1.Development of systematic and generalizable approaches that enhance critical thinking skills 2.Collection of evidence and validate that critical thinking skills actually improve Propose a Teaching Critical Thinking Methodology (TCTM) that helps with these challenges…

8. TCTM Fusion of: – In-class instructions – Social media support: Divergent exploration of ideas Convergence in solution forming process – Peer Review & Feedback Student reflection on evidence of CT Objective: to effectuate and instill critical thinking ability in students

9. Teaching Critical Thinking Methodology (TCTM) Instructional Modules on critical thinking – Elements of Critical Thinking – Toulmin Model of Argument – Library Information Literacy Series of focused, structured and repeated practice opportunities to develop necessary skills – Social media offers rich, real-world examples and cases – CTW Assignment Draft & Review Process – Peer Review Draft 2 & 3 of CTW paper D2L (BrightSpace) Discussions Combined with the student-instructor interaction needed to develop critical thinking skills Describe and discuss the thinking processes in class

10. Evolution Fall 2014 Semester Fall 2013 Semester Social Media CT Module Rubric CT Module Rubric Pre- Test Post- Test Series of Focused Opportunities Reflection on CT Process Peer Review CT Module Rubric

12. Results so far…

14. Questions and Comments? Boers, Samadar, Mukhopadhyay Guided Social Media To Enable Critical Thinking

17. Significant Learning Processes Learning processes need to be: Engaging and Involve high energy levels – In order to Result in: Significant and lasting change Potential of high value in the life beyond the course Creating Significant Learning Experiences Fink (2003) Social media activity of many students: Engaging and Involve high energy levels Question: How to use the engagement and high energy in social media activity to (a) create significant learning experiences and (b) how to accurately assess the learning outcomes

18. Social Media Offers capabilities to enable critical analyses and deliberation during a problem solving process: Limitless, unstructured and sometimes chaotic idea generation thereby stimulating thought divergence Facilities for systematic recording and iteration, commenting and collaboration Facilities for obtaining feedbacks, acceptance or rejection of ideas, and a process of convergence to a solution

19. Assessing Student Learning Essential element of the teaching task Traditional assessment – Emphasizes the testing of student learning with significant emphasis on grades Classroom assessment – Emphasizes learner-centered, teacher-directed activity that is mutually beneficial, formative, context-specific, ongoing and rooted in good practice Angelo & Cross, 1993

20. Rubrics Change in assessment – Norm-referenced to criterion-referenced William Campbell & Karl Smith 1997 Assessment becomes a part of learning – Students receive feedback that guides them in their learning Rubrics in the Assessment of Critical Thinking – Critical Thinking Assessment Test (CAT) number of institutions and disciplines and validated Stein & Haynes 2011 – Assess critical thinking skills of science students using articles from the popular press Terry 2012 Critical Thinking Analytic Rubric (CTAR) can be used by raters to score student work in a consistent manner Saxton, Belanger & Becker 2012