The Lilly Conference online session we watched tonight was entitled “Using Student-Generated Critical Thinking Questions As Class Preparation Assignments” by Steven Bowen from Allen College. Bowen teaches occupational therapy in a graduate program and is an assistant professor. Again, engagement came up early in this presentation! Bowen acknowledged that “student engagement in reading and classroom activities is important for their learning.” Citing Rory O’Brien McElwee 2009, Bowen explained that students engage with the material before the class writing questions or other activities with the readings. Bowen cited several additional studies including Li 2020 in which students engage with critical thinking questions to improve reading comprehension. A couple of thought-provoking quotes about critical thinking from Aristotle and Richard W. Paul were shared. Bowen introduces concepts to students to differentiate opinion, bias, facts, and beliefs. An activity Bowen uses is the creation by students of questions that go beyond the reading, encourage the reader to think beyond the reading, require more than yes/no answers, are free of bias, make the reader think about several alternatives, and are progressive in Bloom’s taxonomy. Students read the assignment, prepare two questions that meet the criteria, submit the questions the evening prior to lecture, and student questions can be selected randomly. These questions are used to start class-level discussions. I thought Bowen’s explanation of why “why or why not” questions don’t go “deep enough in critical thinking” was convincing. While I am still trying to understand how grading and participation are handled in Bowen’s activity, I do see the value of carefully addressing what is critical thinking and then asking students to create thoughtful questions as part of their reading assignments and pre-class work. This session left me thinking, and I watched one more.
Glenna Decker from Grand Valley State University spoke about “5 Thing to Know and Do Before Implementing Online Discussion.” Decker started by stating that online discussions are fundamentally different from traditional in-class discussions. I agree that online class discussions provide time for thinking and reflection that often is different from more spontaneous in-class discussions without preparation. Decker acknowledged that Socratic discussions are valuable and each medius has strengths.
The second thing to know and do before implementing online discussions that Decker mentioned was starting with objectives. Decker explained that they want more conversational discussions. This is important to consider since sometimes I require references that may change the tone of the discussions. Establishing ground rules of dialogue is important and an be an ice breaker for a discussion early in the course.
The third item is presence: your presence as an instructor is critical. Decker asked: do you capitalize on discussion points? Are you an active part of the community by modeling, being present, and redirecting when necessary? Decker suggested: “keep the discussion moving toward learning outcomes.”
Number four was communicate. As an instructor, you have to provide specific guidelines about the goals and timing of discussion. Decker even stated that it may be useful to provide students with language and examples of restating, challenging ideas, and participating in discourse.
The last one was accommodate timing and work for online discussions. Decker warned to make sure objectives are addressed. Suggestions Decker shared were ways of encouraging student engagement that may include controversy of topic, collaboration, co-construction of knowledge. Decker suggested modeling “good and bad discussions” and not having too many forums. I have overloaded students with forums so every other week may be best. Decker shares a critical thinking guide and often highlights student posts. Discussion audits are ways of wrapping up the discussion and critically revisiting: what remains unresolved or contentious about this topic? What are the two most important ideas that emerged from this week’s discussion? from Brookfield. I did not know about discussion audits! Decker provided a simple framework that can be followed to make discussion forums more meaningful for both instructors and students.
