Post on 25-Jun-2015
An analysis of critical thinking in online learning
Joe Sullivan
Inclusion/Exclusion Criteria
• Inclusion criteria: • Words and concepts could include critical thinking, critical
discourse, online discussion, asynchronous discussion, higher learning, distance education and computer conferencing. These concepts could be present in either the title, abstract or key words of the paper.
• Exclusion criteria • Studies could not include face to face critical thinking, not
argumentation, not high-level thinking.
Methods synthesis of studies
Study Country Participants Context Data
collectionData analysis
Prasad (2009)
Fiji Islands
Thirty undergraduate law students
Post-secondary
Student surveys on discussion postings
Pre-test and Post test tasks graded
Perkins & Murphy (2006)
Canada Eight Graduate Education students
Post-secondary
Study of online course postings
Individual profiles studied
Walker (2005)
United States
Students from various universities
Post-secondary
Writing activities and mock interviews
Socratic, divergent, convergent and evaluative
Methods synthesis of studies
Bullen (1998)
Canada Thirteen students and course instructor
Post-Secondary
Online discussion, student instructor interviews
Quantitative and Qualitative
MacKnight (2000)
United States
University students
Post-Secondary
Group discussions
Socratic questioning
Murphy (2004)
Canada Eight pre-service FSL teachers
Post-Secondary
Synthesis of critical thinking models
Coding
Cheong & Cheung (2008)
Singapore Thirty-five secondary students
Secondary Online discussion threads
Case problems
Methods synthesis of studies
Bruning (2005)
United States
Sixteen College Business students
Post-secondary
Discussion and observation of exercise
Course evaluations and rubric for scoring
Jeong (2003) United States
Thirty-four MBA students
Post-secondary
Observation of online discussions
Discussion Analysis Tool
Yang, Newby & Bill (2005)
United States
Sixteen veterinary distance learners
Post-secondary
Debates and case studies in online discussion
Socratic questioning
Alexander, Commander, Greenberg & Ward (2010)
United States
Sixteen veterinary distance learners
Post-secondary
Three case studies
Four questions technique
Methods synthesis of studies
Mandernach, Forrest, Babutzke & Manker, (2009)
United States
Thirty-six introductory Psychology students
Post-secondary
Thinking scale and rubric for grading of analysis
Qualitative and Quantitative
Yang (2008) Taiwan
278 undergrad students
Post-secondary
Data from online discussion
Comparison and experimental groups
Chiu (2009) Taiwan
43 third year university students
Post-secondary
Teacher interviews and student focus groups
Qualitative
Garrison, Anderson & Archer (2001)
United States
21 students and three instructors
Post-secondary
Content analysis of course transcripts
Quantitativecoding of transcript discussions
Findings
A
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Discussion of Findings
Conclusion
Implications
Limitations