Ideas to Action &
Student Affairs
Designing Programs, Activities,
and Services for Students that
Foster Critical Thinking and
Community Engagement
February 15, 2008
Overview for Today
•
LR and LR2 connection with I2A
•
Fun and Interactive Critical Thinking
Activity
•
The Paul-Elder Model
• “The Little Blue Book”
•
Designing Programs, Activities, and
Services Worksheet
•
Closing
Making the Connection
Linking Learning Reconsidered
& Ideas to Action
Learning Reconsidered &
Learning Reconsider 2


Learning Reconsidered and Learning
Reconsidered 2 are the ACPA/NASPA Guides
that encourage college personnel to rethink
our ideas about learning—how it happens,
what supports it and what the outcomes are
Student Affairs defined and assessed our
student learning outcomes
 SLO Workshop held in Feb. 2006
 Departmental learning outcomes
developed & posted on the web
Learning Defined

The idea behind Learning Reconsidered
is that academic learning and student
development are integrated processes
“Learning is a complex, comprehensive, holistic,
transformative activity that occurs throughout
and across the college experience…learning,
development and identity formation can no
longer be considered as separate from each
other; they are interactive and shape each
other as they evolve.”
The SLO Cycle
Learning
Outcomes
Identify Evidence,
Measures, &
Timeline
Plans for
Improvement
Observation/
Evaluation
Results
Student learning via Student Affair programs is
reflected by the SLO Cycle
Continuous learning process
Quality improvements will happen automatically
Learning Outcomes
•
Learning Reconsidered Outlined 7 Broad
Student Learning Outcomes
• Cognitive Complexity
• Knowledge Acquisition, Integration and
Application
• Humanitarianism
• Civic Engagement
• Interpersonal and Intrapersonal Competence
• Practical Competence
• Persistence and Academic Achievement
Connecting the Dots to I2A
•
What LR and LR2 calls cognitive complexity
falls right in line with Louisville’s Ideas to
Action initiative
• Dimensions of Cognitive Complexity Include:
• Critical Thinking
• Reflective Thinking
• Effective Reasoning
• Intellectual Flexibility
• Emotion/Cognition Integration
• Identity/Cognition Integration
Connecting the Dots to I2A
•
What LR and LR2 calls knowledge
acquisition, integration, and application also
connects to I2A
• Dimensions of Knowledge Acquisition Include:
• Connecting knowledge to other
knowledge, ideas and experiences
• Relating knowledge to daily life
• Pursuit of lifelong learning
• Career decidedness
• Technological competence
What’s the link between I2A
and Student Affairs?
•
Ideas to Action focuses on fostering
students’ ability to think critically about
their work in and outside the classroom
and requires them to apply their
knowledge and ideas to real-world
situations and contexts.
•
Our work with student learning outcomes has
begun to focus on identifying ways we can help
students practice and refine their critical thinking
skills through:
• Development of program objectives
• Creation of student outcomes
• Assessment of program objectives and student
learning outcomes
Making the Connection
Ideas to Action
•Holistic conception of
student experience
Curricular and Co-Curricular
•Aligns with the existing
focus on student
development
•Many Student Affairs
programs provide
opportunities for students to
apply critical thinking skills
SLOs
•Using LR/LR2 to
develop SLOs that are:
•Meaningful
•Measurable
•Manageable
•Focus on cognitive
complexity and
knowledge acquisition
Students are better prepared to live
and work in a complex world
A Fun and
Interactive
Critical Thinking
Activity
Critical Thinking Activity
•
Where do you see critical
thinking in this Account?
•
If so, where? Consider this in
the way the incident was
reported, and/or in the
Account?
Critical Thinking Activity
Draw a visual representation or
interpretation of the change
you saw from Account 1 to
Account 4
What you said Critical Thinking is…
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Applying Knowledge to new
situations
Transferable skills
Reflection
Innovative problem solving
Learning to apply knowledge to
real world experiences
Transformational
Synthesizing Information
Developing a plan to meet goals
Ability to solve problems
Making connections between
what I learn & do
Developing the next level of
thought
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Providing opportunities
Ability to look at a situation using
multiple points of view
Solving problems by breaking
them down into components and
being open to options
Thinking beyond self, seeing
bigger picture & connecting
themes
Ability to analyze complex
information
Asking the right questions
Collecting multiple perspectives
Apply creatively
A Well-Cultivated Critical Thinker:
(Richard Paul and Linda Elder, the Foundation for Critical Thinking:
http://www.criticalthinking.org/)

Raises vital questions and problems, formulating them
clearly and precisely

Gathers and assesses relevant information, using
abstract ideas to interpret it effectively

Comes to well-reasoned conclusions and solutions,
testing them against relevant criteria and standards

Thinks open mindedly within alternative systems of
thought, recognizing and assessing, as needs be, their
assumptions, implications, and practical
consequences

Communicates effectively with others in figuring out
solutions to complex problems
Paul-Elder Critical Thinking Model
Intellectual Standards
Accuracy
Clarity
Relevance
Logical
Sufficiency
Precision
Depth
Significance
Fairness
Breadth
Which leads to
deeper
Intellectual Traits
Humility
Perseverance
Autonomy
Empathy
Integrity
Fairmindedness Confidence in
reasoning
Courage
Must be applied
to
Elements of Reasoning
Purposes
Inferences
Questions
Concepts
Points of view Implications
Information Assumptions
to develop
Critical Thinking
Definition
Critical thinking is a process of
thinking to a standard. Simply
being involved in the process of
critical thinking is not enough; it
must be done well and should
guide the establishment of our
beliefs and impact our behavior
or action (Huitt, 1998).
8 Elements Thought (p.5):
Whenever we think,
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
We think for a purpose
Within a point of view
Based on assumptions
Leading to implications and
consequences
Using data, information and experiences
To make inferences and judgments
Based on concepts and theories
To answer a question or solve a problem
Standards for Thinking (p. 10-12)
Central six Standards
CLARITY
Could you elaborate?
Could you illustrate what you mean?
Could you give me an example?
ACCURACY
How could we check on that?
How could we find out if that is true?
How could we verify or test that?
PRECISION
Could you be more specific?
Could you give me more details?
Could you be more exact?
RELEVANCE
How does that relate to the problem?
How does that bear on the question?
How does that help us with the issue?
DEPTH
What factors make this difficult?
What are some of the complexities of this
question?
What are some of the difficulties we need to
deal with?
BREADTH
Do we need to look at this from another
perspective?
Do we need to consider another point of view?
Do we need to look at this in other ways?
LOGIC
Does all of this make sense together?
Does your first paragraph fit in with your last
one?
Does what you say follow from the evidence?
SIGNIFICANCE
Is this the most important problem to consider?
Is this the central idea to focus on?
Which of these facts are most important?
FAIRNESS
Is my thinking justifiable in context?
Am I taking into account the thinking of others?
Is my purpose fair given the situation?
Am I using my concepts in keeping with
educated usage, or am I distorting them to get
what I want?
COMPLETENESS
How complete are the facts related to the
issue?
How complete is the description?
Is the description of each perspective
complete?
Improve Thinking:
The Intellectual Traits (p.15-17)
•Intellectual
Humility
•Intellectual
Courage
•Intellectual
Empathy
•Intellectual
Autonomy
•Intellectual
Integrity
•Intellectual
Perseverance
•Confidence
Reason
in
•Fairmindedness
Paul-Elder Critical Thinking Model
Intellectual Standards
Accuracy
Clarity
Relevance
Logical
Sufficiency
Precision
Depth
Significance
Fairness
Breadth
Which leads to
deeper
Intellectual Traits
Humility
Perseverance
Autonomy
Empathy
Integrity
Fairmindedness Confidence in
reasoning
Courage
Must be applied
to
Elements of Reasoning
Purposes
Inferences
Questions
Concepts
Points of view Implications
Information Assumptions
to develop
Designing Programs, Activities
and Services Worksheet
As effective practitioners we have an obligation to
clearly understand, articulate and facilitate critical
thinking in the activities and programs we design.
It benefits us, our colleagues and our students when we
regularly re-examine the alignment of our
Goals
Activities &
Results
1. Aligning Critical Thinking with Program
Goals and Student Learning Outcomes
In designing your programming, activities and services, it
is essential to begin by articulating the learning
outcomes of this program and your understanding of
how they function within your department.
•
What are the student learning outcomes for this program, activity
or service? (Name at least one)
•
What is most important critical thinking skill or key concept you
are trying to foster in students?
2. Fundamental and Powerful Concepts
Fundamental and powerful concepts are used to
explain or think about a huge body of questions,
problems, information, and situations. They are the
core, most useful ideas in your field or discipline.
Write down one or more of the fundamental and powerful
concepts that are the bedrock on which your program, activity or
service are built. Consider one or more of the broad fundamental
and powerful concepts of your field.
•
•
Review your answer to #1. Are your learning outcomes in sync with
the mastery of the key concept identified above?
3. Promoting Critical Thinking
Through Specific Cognitive Tasks
Programs that foster critical thinking provide students
with the opportunity to think through and solve a new
situation or problem, engaging with the set of
concepts and skills that you identified in #1 and #2.
•
Identify the new situation, problem or task you will introduce to
students in order to allow them to “grapple” with novel information
or situations. What would they do? What would they look like?
•
How will you make this task a purposeful ingredient in your
programming?
Feedback
•
What questions do you have?
Please provide your
comments and suggestions
•
I2A Team
http://www.louisville.edu/ideastoaction
Dr. Patty Payette, I2A Executive Director:
patty.payette@louisville.edu, 852-5171
Student Affairs Facilitators:
Dr. Michael Mardis
Dr. Cathy Bays, Delphi Specialist for Assessment:
cathy.bays@louisville.edu, 852-5138
Dr. Edna Ross, Delphi Specialist for Critical Thinking:
edna.ross@louisville.edu, 852-5105
Michael Anthony
Becky Clark
Pam Curtis
Hannah Anthony, I2A Program Assistant Senior:
hannah.gatlin@louisville.edu, 852-7611
http://www.louisville.edu/ideastoaction
Kim Shaver