·
Description
of Activity: Students are posed questions to discuss with the class. The questions serve as advanced organizers or
scaffolds upon which the students construct new knowledge and tie in what they
already know to emerging concepts. An
asynchronous nature provides students the opportunity to consider questions more
in depth
·
Setting
Expectations for Online Discussions
·
Getting
Online Discussions Started
·
Keeping
Online Discussions Going
·
Assessing
Online Discussions
EncouragingStudents to Participate in Online Discussion
(David
Hopkins)
Critical
Thinking in Asynchronous Online Discussion: An Investigation of
Student
Facilitation Techniques
New
Horizons in Education, Vol.59, No.1 , May 2011
LIM Sze Chung, Raymond, CHEUNG Wing Sum and HEW Khe Foon
National Institute of
Education, Singapore
Abstract
Background: In the last
decade, asynchronous online discussion forums have become a primary focus of
many educational researchers. Some advocates believed that the process of
typing out messages in itself can promote in-depth critical thinking skills. Nevertheless, empirical research has not
provided much support for this claim in natural settings. In fact, many
previous studies have found that students do not necessary exhibit in-depth
critical thinking in online discussions.
Aims: To investigate the types
of facilitation techniques exhibited by student facilitators, and how these
techniques might influence in-depth levels of critical thinking in asynchronous
online discussion forums.
Sample: Participants of the study
were ten education major students at an Asia-Pacific university. Method: An exploratory qualitative case study
methodology was employed. Data were collected from the students’ online discussion
postings and interviews. The top 30% of discussion forums in terms of the most
number of in-depth critical thinking incidences were first identified. Next,
the bottom 30% forums were identified as the lower-level critical thinking
group.
Results: In the case of the top
30% forums, showing appreciation, questioning, expressing agreements, and
providing opinions or explanations were among the most prevalent facilitation
techniques used, while in the case of the bottom 30% forums, the most common
facilitation techniques merely included showing acknowledgement or appreciation
and inviting feedback or comments.
Conclusion: The findings suggest that
student facilitators should perhaps focus on three facilitation techniques,
specifically questioning, expressing agreements, and providing opinions or
explanations to foster in-depth level of critical thinking. The findings also
suggest that it may serve student facilitators well to employ a variety of
facilitation techniques rather than just utilize a few preferred ones in order
to achieve higher levels of critical thinking.
Keywords: asynchronous online
discussion, critical thinking, facilitation
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