Using Blogs to Develop Critical Thinking Skills Brick & Click Northwest Missouri State University Ericka A. Raber University of Iowa
Inspirations • “I Need Three Peer Reviewed Articles…” Farkas • Beyond Peer-Reviewed Articles: Using Blogs to Enrich Students’ Understanding of Scholarly Work (Deitering and Gronemyer) • Inquiry-based learning (Stripling) • Miniature Guide to CT (Paul and Elder)
http://www.criticalthinking.org/pages/critical-thinking-in-every-domain-ofknowledge-and-belief/698
Why Blogs? • • • • •
No peer-reviewed stamp of approval Short, often fun Arguments Rich selection Provide context Critical Library Thinking Instruction for activities
but not serious
Engaging blogs
Guiding Ideas • Critical thinking – is a habit of the mind (attitudes, dispositions) – is supported by community – involves questioning
• Less is more • Context is key • Students should be working harder than you are.
Globalization and Social Change
In-Class Worksheet • While reading your text think about: – What claims are being made? How are the claims supported? What do you want to learn? How can you learn more? Where might the conversations be taking place?
• Related to your text/topic, identify: – Keywords and concepts, Contacts, Sources/Studies
Instruction Sessions • One-shots – Model thinking/search strategies – Have students pose questions for a text related to their topic – Discuss next steps (where to look)
• One-shots+ – Coordinate longer activity with instructor (use blog from class)
Finding Blogs • http://www.google.com/blogsearch • http://researchblogging.org • http://academicblogs.org
Future Directions • Semester-long course: Personal Learning Network Assignment, Howard Rheingold (@hrheingold); managing info tasks • Work with Grad Students—blogs, #conference, network creation and curation
Your thoughts?
Materials at: http://tinyurl.com/9vztplg
Contact me:
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