Thinking In Online Discussions Research Articles

Effect of Role-Play in Online Discussions on Student Engagement and Critical Thinking

Without a strategy in place, online discussions in asynchronous courses rarely rise above the level of information sharing. As a result, it is important to design discussion strategies that push students further in their interactions with both the content and each other. In this case study, the role-play strategy was examined to determine whether it fosters critical thinking and student engagement. Student discussion transcripts were examined from an online, self-paced human biology course using both Garrison et al.’s four-phase model of cognitive presence and Gunawardena et al.’s five-stage model of knowledge construction to look for evidence of higher-order thinking. Furthermore, the transcripts were examined qualitatively for phrasing that signified evidence of student engagement. The findings indicate that the role-play instructional strategy, when used in online discussions, does support student engagement and critical thinking. This strategy places students in authentic, real-world contexts and enables them to explore different perspectives while engaging with the content to discover new knowledge and construct new meaning. The research presented here also supports evidence that written reflection should be incorporated when employing the role-play strategy. Based on the insights from this study, the researchers have developed a framework for students to achieve deeper, more engaging online discussions. This framework is called the “Framework for Student Engagement and Critical Thinking in Online Discussions.”

Interactive Instructional: Theoretical Perspective and Its Potential Support in Stimulating Students’ Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS)

Interactive Instructional: Theoretical Perspective and Its Potential Support in Stimulating Students’ Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS)

How Group Size and Blog Characteristics Influence Critical Thinking in Online Discussion

In this investigation, the aim was to assess the impact of the interaction between two types of blog post characteristics and the group size on developing critical thinking skills in online discussion. This study was exploratory and interpretative in nature, for this purpose a collaborative learning environment based on educational blogs was designed according to international standards. The methodological approach taken in this study is a mixed methodology based on descriptive and the semi-experimental approach. The study sample was divided into four groups namely, Group (A) was interacted through “separate blogs with detailed comments”, and group (B) was interacted through “sequential blogs with detailed comments”, while group (C) interacted through “separate blogs with concise comments”, and group (D) interacted through “sequential blogs with concise comments”. The most obvious finding to emerge from the analysis was that critical thinking skills have been developed in groups A, B, and C. However, the results of this study did not show any significant improvement in group D. The findings of this study have a number of important implications for future practice.

Development and Evaluation of Mindtool-Based Blogs to Promote Learners’ Higher Order Cognitive Thinking in Online Discussions: An Analysis of Learning Effects and Cognitive Process

Blogs are useful interaction tools to promote learners’ knowledge construction and interaction in online teaching activities. On the other hand, although many studies show that mindtools facilitate learners’ cognitive process, little research focus on their effects on learners’ higher order cognitive thinking in blogs. This research developed a learning environment by using a mindtool-based blog to promote learners’ higher order cognitive thinking in their online discussions and to assess their learning effects. The participants were 276 senior high school students from an information ethics class. A quasi-experimental research design was adopted in this research. The control group used the ordinary blogs. The Experimental Group 1 used the basic mindtools in blogs, which means that learners can use all the mindtool functions except the Knowledge Compilation function. The Experimental Group 2 used the advanced mindtools in blogs, which means that they can use all the mindtool functions, including the Knowledge Compilation function. The results indicated that both experimental groups showed better learning effects and more higher order cognitive thinking than the control group. Moreover, the higher order cognitive thinking category Analyze was found more often in the Experimental Group 2 than in the Experimental Group 1.

Promoting Critical Thinking in Online Discussion Threads: Lessons Learned Teaching Economics

This study investigates factors that promote substantive posts and higher order critical thinking in online discussions. The authors compared weekly discussion threads from two online Principles of Macroeconomics courses. One class was considered a low-structure class while the other class was considered a more structured class. Students’ posts were coded following the Gilbert and Dabbagh (2005) coding system. The codes were mapped to Bloom’s Taxonomy. A comparison of means indicate that there was an increase in mean substantive posts from 72 percent in 2008 to 89 percent in 2011. There was an increase in the percentage of posts in higher levels of critical thinking from 11 percent in 2008 to 60 percent in 2011. Analysis of student and instructor posting patterns revealed that structured instructor posts and having a “By Wednesday” requirement promote meaningful online discussions and increased substantive student posts in the higher order critical thinking category. This approach links substantive and quality students’ posts to students’ understanding of the core learning outcomes for the course using Bloom’s taxonomy.

Designing Effective Question Prompts to Facilitate Critical Thinking in Online Discussions

Designing Effective Question Prompts to Facilitate Critical Thinking in Online Discussions

Online Discussion, Student Engagement, and Critical Thinking

Recent research into the merits of online discussion (computer-mediated communication) has shown that it promotes active learning behaviors and enhances learner outcomes. Scholars have also shown that, when instructors employ effective questioning and moderating skills, students can show higher levels of critical thinking in online discussion. In an investigation that merged and refined content analysis protocols in order to identify the effects of such factors as student GPA and type of course upon student engagement and student critical thinking, our findings substantiate a link between student interaction and critical thinking. When students engage one another in online discussions in a focused way, their capacity for reasoned discourse becomes more evident.

Assessing quality of critical thought in online discussion

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to describe a theoretically based coding framework for an integrated analysis and assessment of critical thinking in online discussion.Design/methodology/approachThe critical thinking assessment framework (TAF) is developed through review of theory and previous research, verified by comparing results to previous research, and checked for reliability by comparing results for multiple coders.FindingsAlthough process, structure, and quality of online discussions are assessed independently, a standard framework integrating these aspects for comprehensive assessment of critical thinking in online discussions is not found in literature review. The critical TAF described here offers a reliable and valid tool for integrating process, structure, and quality to assess critical thinking in online discussions.Research/limitations/implicationsThe critical TAF serves as a methodological tool for assessing critical thinking in online discussion. Further research should further assess the validity and reliability of this tool and should integrate the framework with assessments for other aspects of discussion such as social or instructor presence.Practical implicationsThe implementation of the critical TAF in future studies will ultimately help identify online educational activities and tools which best support development and application of critical thinking skills. Furthermore, it might be used to assess critical thinking of individual participants or small groups in a discussion.Originality/valueThe critical TAF described in this paper provides a valid and reliable tool for integrated assessment of the process, structure, and quality of critical thinking in online discussions.

An analysis of higher order thinking in online discussions

This paper describes a study of online discussion forums as tools for promoting higher‐order thinking. The study was carried out in a women’s university in the United Arab Emirates. Data, in the form of online discussion forum transcripts, were collected over a 20‐week semester and were analysed according to a model developed by Garrison, Anderson, and Archer (2001). Discussion forum postings were analysed for evidence of higher‐order thinking and were placed within one of the model’s categories of ‘triggering’, ‘exploration’, ‘integration’, or ‘resolution’. The researchers did find evidence of higher‐order thinking processes. The results showed that the majority of postings were either categorised as ‘exploration’ or ‘integration’. The results also supported the notion that the correct conditions need to be present in order for higher‐order thinking to arise. The findings suggested that the initial teacher prompt or question may have had a bearing on the nature of learners’ postings.

Facilitating Asian students' critical thinking in online discussions

AbstractThe purpose of the study reported here is to illustrate how an approach based on a culturally appropriate ‘shepherd metaphor’ has helped Asian students to cross cultural boundaries and to engage in critical thinking online. Asian students are under different levels of influence from the Confucian Heritage Culture, which cultivates students to revere authority, maintain harmony and avoid conflicts in public. This has a significant impact on Asian students' cultural readiness to verbalise critical thinking. This paper partially reports research undertaken in a large English as a Foreign Language reading class in Taiwan, in which ‘shepherd leadership’ was practised. Shepherd leadership involves knowing students individually, offering cognitive modelling, exercising leadership and discipleship, encouraging student leadership and calling on silent students personally to get them to participate. This approach, concentrating on Asian students' affective needs, cognitive modelling, passing leadership to students and reaching out to silent ones, was found effective.