Dr. Diane Chaddock
Joe Vitanza
Southwestern Michigan College

Session Structure
 Big picture
 Dispelling the myth of the digital native
 Clarify the essence of computer literacy
 Clarify the essence of critical thinking
 Examine why computer literacy courses are well suited to teaching critical thinking concepts
 Start to examine teaching and learning strategies

The Digital Native
 Marc Prensky coined the term “digital native” in his work Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants published in
2001.
 Steve Kolowich - the myth of the digital native

What Exactly is “Computer Literacy”?
 Computer Proficiency vs. Computer Literacy
 Computer Proficiency - repetitive tasks - often based on-rote memorization
 Computer Literacy - allows students to extend their knowledge by having an ability to adapt new situation and problems – critical thinking .

Background Information at SMC
 Computer Literacy initiative – approach and challenges
 What we’ve learned o External Assessment – Certiport IC 3 exams o Incoming students entering with less computer skills than expected o Exposed weaknesses in critical thinking skills

Background Information at SMC (cont.)
 Initial corrections
 Current research study o Experimental study to see if infusing critical thinking into the computer literacy course could improve computer literacy and critical thinking outcomes versus a control group

Critical Thinking
 How important are critical thinking skills for college students?
 How important is teaching critical thinking within your degree/program competencies?
 How important is the development of students’ critical thinking within your courses?
 How well do your instructional strategies instill critical thinking strategies within your students?

The facts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
 89% of university faculty claimed critical thinking to be a primary objective of their instruction:
 Only 19% could define critical thinking
 77% had little, limited or no conception of how to reconcile content coverage with the fostering of critical thinking
 Only a very small minority could clearly explain the meanings of basic terms in critical thinking

Defining Critical Thinking
 There isn’t any one definition of critical thinking – it encompasses a collection of ideals and the associated strategies for reaching them
 What are these ideals, and what are some strategies for reaching them?

Definition of Critical Thinking
 “Critical thinking is thinking about thinking while you’re thinking in order to make that thinking better.”
~ Richard Paul

Defining a 21 st Century Education
 By Craig D. Jerald for the
Center for Public Education argues that the traditional curriculum is not enough
 Schools must provide students with a broader set of “21st century skills” to thrive in a rapidly evolving, technology-saturated world.

Some Educational Practices that Discourage
Critical Thinking
 The student’s role is to be a passive recipient of knowledge.
 The student’s role is to memorize and regurgitate information
(they do not understand).
 The teacher’s role is to “dispense” knowledge.

How do we foster critical thinking in classrooms?
 Know your content.
 Know what constitutes critical thinking.
 Rethink your content as a MODE of thinking .
 Design teaching as experiences based in questioning, problem solving, and thinking.

THE most important things…
 YOU must decide what is most important in YOUR course.
 Teaching for critical thinking will take more time to prepare.
 Less time is available to spoon-feed facts to the students.
 You must hold students accountable for their learning.
 You must overtly teach the critical thinking skills.

Lecture-based Learning
 “ The lecture format of learning is a venerable and popular approach to content delivery in higher education; however, it frequently does not encourage active learning or critical thinking on the part of students.” (Duron,
Limbach, & Waugh, 2006)
 The key is to use an
“engaged lecture” format.

Active Learning
 Active learning can make the course more enjoyable for both teachers and students.
 For this to happen, educators must give up the belief that students cannot learn the subject at hand unless the teacher covers it.
 Students really do not understand content until they actively do something with it and reflect on the meaning of what they are doing.

The Flipped Classroom
 While there is no one model, the core idea is to flip the common instructional approach
 Instruction that used to occur in class is now accessed at home, in advance of class.
 Class becomes the place to work through problems, advance concepts, and engage in collaborative learning.
 Instruction can be rethought to best maximize the scarcest learning resource—time.

"I cannot teach anybody anything, I can only make them think.“ ~
Socrates
Socratic Questioning
− Teaching With Questions!
 Socrates' (469 BC - 399 BC) most important contribution to Western thought may be his
Socratic Method − which solves a problem by breaking it down into a series of questions, the answers to which gradually lead to the problem solution.

Thinking Begins with a Question, not an Answer.
Socratic Questioning
− Teaching With Questions!
 When you have a problem, you probably ask yourself,
"what do I need to know to solve this problem?"
 This is critical thinking! Your students MUST LEARN to do the same thing.

Elements of the Experimental Group
 A special syllabus
 A “student understanding” form
 Instructors give students a thorough orientation to the course, emphasizing how it will be taught, how they will be assessed, and what they should be striving to achieve.
 Instructors explain to the students, when orienting them to the class, what will happen on a typical class day (and why)

Elements of the Experimental Group
 Explain that class time will be a time in which the students will PRACTICE thinking (within the content) using the fundamental concepts and principles of the field
 Systematically question students using a Socratic approach
 Design instruction so that students engage in routine practice in internalizing and applying the concepts they are learning
 Use engaged lecture
 Use tactics that encourage active learning
 Model skilled thinking for students