Students’ Voices Towards Online Debate Through WhatsApp as Alternative Media to Enhance Critical Thinking Skills During Covid-19 Pandemic

Pahmi Pahmi,Siti Niah

doi:10.3991/ijim.v15i05.18759

Abstract

This study aims to find out students’ voices towards online debate through WhatsApp as alternative media to enhance critical thinking skills during Covid-19 pandemic. Sixteen undergraduate students participated in online debate for ten sessions throughout one whole semester. At the end of the research, eight students volunteered to participate in semi-structured interviews. The interviews were conducted to find out the participants’ voices about the online debate. The research findings reveal the participants believe that critical thinking skills are important to be mastered. Furthermore, the respondents believe that the online debate is good learning media to help them improve their critical thinking skills during this Covid-19 pandemic. The activity provides flexibility in terms of time and place. Other advantages, as claimed by the participants, include reducing students’ anxiety, improving teamwork skills, and improving persuasion skills. However, some barriers were also found based on the participants’ responses. The participants are concerned with the issue of being distracted, tendency to copy and paste, unstable network, and limited time.

Highlights

There have been an increasing number of studies focusing on improving students’ critical thinking skills
One very important skill today’s students need to have is the ability to think critically [17] [21] [20]. The results from both questionnaire and semistructured interviews of the present study reveal that all participants share the same view that critical thinking skills are important for them. They further state that they enjoy participating in the online debate to enhance their critical thinking skills
The online debate allows them to practice critical thinking skills which help them solve some issues during Covid-19 pandemic

Summary

Introduction

There have been an increasing number of studies focusing on improving students’ critical thinking skills. It is important for students to gain knowledge and be able to apply it into real life [4] This can be gained if the students have critical thinking skills. Many students have low critical thinking skills [6] They are unable to analyze and criticize the topics being discussed and tend to be reluctant in sharing their opinions during the learning

Results

Discussion

Conclusion