Creating Quality Critical Thinking Assignments Preworkshop PowerPoint

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Creating Quality Critical Thinking
AssignmentsPre-workshop PowerPoint

• TACT
• 2005-2006

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Background The Learning Initiative

• The Initiative is meant to take root in each
  classroom, with the goal that every student is
  given every opportunity to fully engage in
  learning. The Initiative's critical thinking
  focus encourages students to actively engage in
  tasks of intellectual complexity and to take
  responsibility for their learning. Establishing
  college-wide learning outcomes and assessing
  those outcomes via the Institutional Portfolio
  model facilitates cohesion among college programs
  as all divisions work toward improving students'
  critical thinking.

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The Logic of the Workshop

• Purpose
• The purpose of the workshop is to improve
  critical thinking in the curriculum areas across
  campus.
• We hope to improve the critical thinking
  abilities of students by helping faculty learn to
  create high quality critical thinking assignments
  that will elicit critical thinking in their
  students.

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The Logic of the Workshop

• Questions at Issue
• What are the best ways to improve critical
  thinking in curriculum areas across campus?
• What are the best ways to help faculty create
  high quality critical thinking assignments?
• What can we do to improve our ability to assess
  our students critical thinking abilities at the
  institutional level?

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The Logic of the Workshop

• Assumptions
• Faculty want to learn ways to improve their
  students ability to think critically within
  their discipline.
• Some faculty understand the model better than
  others.
• Working together, faculty can improve the quality
  of the critical thinking assignments.

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The Logic of the Workshop

• Assumptions - continued
• Including the elements of thought, fp concepts,
  standards, and questions explicitly in
  assignments will ultimately lead to better
  assignments.
• Assessment of students ability to think
  critically at the institutional level will help
  us improve our efforts as a college.

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The Logic of the Workshop

• Implications and Consequences
• If faculty have a better understanding of the
  model and its benefit to students and if faculty
  create better critical thinking assignments,
  faculty will be in a better position to help
  students learn to think critically within their
  discipline.
• The college can assess its students critical
  thinking abilities if faculty develop quality
  critical thinking assignments. The assessment
  will help the college improve.

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The Logic of the Workshop

• Information
• Last semester, the assessment team could not use
  most of the artifacts to assess critical
  thinking.
• Previous workshops on remodeling assignments
  didnt provide individual feedback to faculty
  about their assignments.

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The Logic of the Workshop

• Concepts
• Critical Thinking
• Elements of thought
• Standards of thinking
• Fundamental and Powerful concepts
• Questioning strategies
• Assessment
• By faculty
• By the college
• Quality

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The Logic of the Workshop

• Points of View - Critical Thinking
• Student
• Faculty
• Division Chair
• Dean VP
• QEP
• Points of View - Institutional Assessment
• Student
• Faculty
• Division Chair
• Dean VP
• QEP

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The Logic of the Workshop

• Conclusions
• Faculty will embrace the opportunity to learn how
  to improve their students ability to think
  critically within their discipline.
• The workshops will help faculty gain a better
  understanding of the critical thinking model.
• Faculty will create quality critical thinking
  assignments as a result of the workshops.
• Faculty will use assessment data to improve their
  students critical thinking.
• The college will be able to assess our students
  ability to think critically.

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Critical Thinking Outcome

• Students who graduate from Surry Community
  College will think about their thinking in order
  to improve it. They will be able (1) to analyze
  thought (their own and that of others) by
  identifying and examining the elements of
  reasoning, (2) to assess thought by applying
  intellectual standards, and (3) to think
  ethically and fairly by cultivating intellectual
  traits. SCC students will be willing to adjust
  their thinking and behavior based on the results
  of this reasoning.