Development of an Integrated Learning Environment with Knowledge Management for Cultivating Student Critical Thinking Skills

Abstract

With the development of information technology and popularization of internet web-based applications, students nowadays are prone to rapidly browse information, making them incapable of analyzing or integrating information received. Hence, knowledge management and critical thinking skills have in recent years become an important topic in tertiary education. In order to develop student critical thinking skills, this study proposed a learning environment integrating web applications based on a knowledge transformation model. Students should be able to undergo a knowledge transformation process to strengthen critical thinking skills by using popular web applications integrated in the proposed learning model. To evaluate the effect of the proposed approach, 40 university students were invited to participate in a semester-long experimental course. The students were then evaluated after the course. Results showed that the proposed approach was able to effectively improve student critical thinking skills. In addition, students were also satisfied with the courses and teaching methods implemented in the experimental course used in the study.