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Teaching critical thinking online: case study.

Article Excerpt
Abstract

Coupled with the technological challenges facing traditional institutions, as they become more involved in distance education, are the pedagogical challenges confronting faculty as they transition courses from the physical to the virtual classroom. Implementation of an online Jurisprudence course requiring that students acquire not only content knowledge but also critical thinking skills while successful in that regard, yielded disturbing observations about the impediments faced by economically disadvantaged students as they attempt to avail themselves of the opportunity afforded by online courses.

Background: Content and Context

The rapid growth of distance education among traditional four-year institutions presents academia with a variety of challenges. The transition of distance education from "offshoot" to "mainstream" requires consideration of how the pedagogical demands of different types of courses are adapted to the distance environment. Often overlooked is the necessity to design courses specifically for the distance medium and not merely transplant courses from the traditional classroom (Oliver, 1999). This design issue was explored when the Administration of Justice program at the University of the District of Columbia (UDC) offered Jurisprudence during the Spring 2003 semester as an upper division undergraduate course in legal philosophy. The challenge confronted was how to best utilize online instruction as a pedagogical approach when one student's accomplishment of the course goals is dependent on interaction with other students.

Jurisprudence presented several design challenges in its development as an online course. UDC's prior experiences with distance education involved English Composition and independent study courses in history where student mastery of the material was primarily a function of individual effort and accomplishment relative to the course activities. Jurisprudence relies heavily on Socratic dialogue between the instructor and students as well as among the students themselves. This methodology involves a small group of students working together to deepen their understanding of a particular issue with the instructor functioning as facilitator. [1] It is not collaborative learning as much as it is interdependent learning.

Eighteen students participated in the class. At its conclusion, seven students received a grade of "C"; six students received a "B"; one student received an "A", and four students received an "Incomplete". Twenty percent of the grade was based on discussion board participation; twenty percent each on the mid-term and final examinations; and forty percent of the grade was based on weekly essays. Expected student outcomes for Jurisprudence included acquisition of content knowledge, and development of critical thinking skills. Definitions of these skills vary, as do strategies for their development (Borg and Borg, 2001; Ekelund and Hebert, 1998; Haas and Keeley, 1998; and Leming, 1998). A Jurisprudential approach to critical thinking is manifested by the ability to question the thinking and assumptions of others through an approach to reasoning characterized by: issue identification, development of reflective positions, supported by an examination of facts and detailed reasons linking those positions to an underlying ethical or legal principle (Leming, 1998). The methodology utilized for developing these skills was student-to-student interaction. This interaction would be measured by examination of student discussion board comments; while acquisition of critical thinking skills would be assessed through evaluation of required weekly essays.

Utilizing the Jurisprudence class as a case study, two issues will be discussed within the context of pedagogy and distance education: the implementation of student-to-student interaction, and the impact of student interaction on the development of critical thinking skills. A third issue, surfacing in this study, relative to...

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