Critical Thinking in Massive Online Courses
This is the post I originally created as a response to our first week's topic: Introduction to Online Adult Teaching and Learning.
The question my post is answering is as follows:
"After watching Daphne Koller’s talk why do you think humanities and social sciences academics were initially at least skeptical about the potential of this model of online learning to promote critical thinking?"
The video mentioned in the question above can be found at the end of this post.
My response:
This is an interesting question to think about as I have only ever participated in (very few) science based online learning classes for this very reason- I wasn't sure how much I would get out of a humanities or social science course without an active form of critical thinking and, as T. and S. have already mentioned, without critical dialogue. However, it was my understanding that Daphne Koller was discussing in her Ted Talk not about the opportunity for this type of learning to promote critical thinking but instead the more technical issue of how to grade and assess students participating in a humanities or social science course (especially when you have enrollment numbers in the thousands or tens of thousands). This was addressed by the creation of a peer-grading system along with the self-grading system which clearly proved to be in line with grades that the professors would have given.
Having said that, I think it is important to discuss the issue of promoting critical thinking but I also think it is negligent to assume that courses outside of the humanities and social sciences do not/should not incorporate a critical thinking component. In my opinion, just because you can used mechanized systems of grading for something like a biology course or the Mechanical Learning course she discussed, does not mean you should forgo the opportunity for students to participate in peer or self-assessments. I believe it is necessary for us to always be questioning and critically thinking about the "hard sciences" because they are too often taken for absolute truths. So much learning and evolving and growth is stimulated from people critically questioning something that has been presented to them as facts.
I believe that the students' experiences of online learning and subject matter mastery can be enhanced with critical thinking and critical discussion and that online learning platforms can promote this type of thinking and learning despite the hesitations of many humanities and social sciences academics. I understand their skepticism and hesitation as it is hard to think about how critical thinking can happen in a technological environment. However, I also think that if these academics think creatively about how to engage students in courses with thousands of participants, they will find that online learning platforms are a new and exciting way to engage in more critical thinking than what happens in "traditional" higher education classroom settings. I think the skepticism is rooted in the vision of many of these academics being stagnant or thinking that critical thinking and discussion has to happen online exactly as it does in the in-person classroom. Once this misconception is addressed and academics get down to the question of "what is critical thinking and how can I expand my understanding of it to incorporate technology and online learning?" I think that so many more exciting possibilities open up.
One potential answer to this I believe lies actually within the peer-grading system. I have never participated in this type of online course using peer-grading and so I only have a vague understanding of it. However, I think that there is huge potential for peer-grading to be the spring board for critical dialogue and discussion to occur. Also the organic creation of study groups Daphne was speaking about which happened both virtually and in-person is another wonderful opportunity for the academics and instructors to help initiate and facilitate critical thinking discussions among peers.
While I understand the skepticism of humanities and social sciences academics about the possibilities of online learning and critical thinking, I think that skepticism is misplaced and find that there can be a venue and method of every academic to promote critical thinking online and believe that if they are not doing so then it is a severely missed opportunity.
Video of talk given by Daphne Koller
