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Critical Thinking and Collaboration in the Classroom

Melinda CampbellNational University

10/17/2014 1Melinda Campbell

Learning through Collaboration and Cooperation

• Commitment to shared goals,

interdependence.

• Community/group bonding.

• Collaboration & cooperation

elicits higher-order thinking.

• Student motivation and

satisfaction goes up.

(Barkley, Cross, & Major, 2005)


Advantages of collaboration and teamwork:

Keys to Collaboration

1) Positive interdependence—boosts achievement.

2) Individual accountability—counteracts “slacker factor."

3) Interaction—promotes learning, opens new areas for self-definition and reflection.

4) Social skills—encourages communication, teamwork, good decision making, and

conflict resolution.


(Weidman & Bishop, 2009)

In the Online Classroom:

From “Chat Lounge” to Work that Counts

• “Virtual chat lounge” intros counteract online isolation.

• Informal conversation platforms are transformed into rich & rigorous

learning tools.

• Online chat centers unite learners’ skills:

– Start with course learning objectives.

– Emphasize goals of knowledge acquisition and retention.

– Acknowledge value of working together.


Forming Teams, Creating Critiques

Team research project:

• Jointly authored research

paper.

• Multi-media group

presentation.

• Original/free-form project.


Day 1: Outcome-aligned topics set:

• Students choose outcome-aligned topic.

• Basing teams around self-selected topics

results in interest-matched teams.

Phase 1: Original Drafts

• Teams identified & assigned a private chat room or meeting area.

• Onsite: meeting times arranged. Online: chat tools, e-mail, and mobile

communication systems are put in play.

• Tasks are divided up and working on first draft begins.

• Instructor facilitates assigning of team roles and developing team

papers/projects using brainstorming, mind maps, outlines, etc.

• Draft is posted in a document-sharing online space open to the entire

class as well as the instructor.

• Everyone can now view and download all teams’ first drafts.


Phase 2: Peer Critiques

• Each team is assigned the rough draft of a different team to review and

critique.

• Instructor facilitates by explaining form and function of a critique.

• Focuses on both reader and writer roles in critical thinking.

• Students appreciate seeing what their peers are doing in terms of original

thinking and writing; the greater the variety of work reviewed, the better!

• Students training to become educators will get a clear preview of several

essential tasks of teaching.


Phase 2: Peer Critiques– cont.

• By the end of Phase 2, peer critiques are complete and made public.

• Instructor facilitates “critiquing the critiques”; provides samples of

marked-up papers or critiqued slide presentations.

• All critiqued team papers and projects will be on a public page, and

each team may review the critiques done by other teams.

• Develops critical thinking skills; students see how other teams have

conducted their critical evaluations and compare their own critiques

with other teams' critiques.


Phase 3: Revisions• Teams retrieve marked-up papers/critiqued presentations & decide on

appropriate revisions.

• Synchronous class chat is essential at this phase—everyone shares

experiences of working with others' projects & interacts in real time.

• Students can solicit additional feedback, solidify well-received ideas.

• After the teams are satisfied with the critiquing and revising process,

work on final drafts or projects begins.


Phase 4: Instructor Review

• Instructor does a quick review of final papers/projects and sends them back to

teams for one more revision.

• Final team papers and projects should be graded and returned before the end of

the course, giving students another round of feedback prior to their submission

of final individual papers or projects.

• Having already worked on, completed, and received feedback on a research

paper or final project gives students a leg up on their individual assignments.

• The Team Critique should count for a significant portion of the course grade.


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Meeting Multiple Goals

Attention: Students are required to be responsible & responsive to both their original &

peer-review teams.

Relevance: Initial topic selection aligns with both learning outcomes & student interests.

Confidence: Peer and instructor feedback & plenty of time for reflection & revision.

Satisfaction: Multiple-stage process over the length of a course creates a greater sense

of commitment & engagement, significant factors for student satisfaction.

(Keller, 1987; discussed in Hirumi, 2004 and in ChanLin, 2009)


Active peer collaboration and social interaction on specific

instructional tasks are significant factors in successful learning.

The Team Critique employs the ARCS model of motivational design:

Why the Team Critique Works

• Interaction begins on Day 1: Topic selection both effects & affects team

creation.

• Topics highlight Learning Outcomes.

• Camaraderie begins with team formation; student engagement is prompted

from the very first step on Day 1 of class.

• Strategic breakdown of a complex writing or research project into meaningful

elements.

• Being on a team makes the task less daunting, more inviting, and more fun!

TopicsTeams


Learning Outcomes

Statistics, Learning, & Human Nature

• Students grow weary of the same activity week after week.

Varying activities and assignments has two sure benefits:

– Boredom is alleviated.

– Different learning styles are engaged.

• Emphasis on collaboration and team effort places traditional

activities in a new light.Ascough (2002)


Not thisagain!

Statistics, Learning, & Human Nature

• Statistics show:

– People are likely to remember only 10% of what they read,

– 70% of what they discuss with others,

– 80% of what they experience personally, and

– 95% of what they teach to others!

• The Team Critique gives students the chance to:

– Discuss their own work within their teams and with other teams.

– Experience both evaluating and being evaluated by others.

Ascough (2002)


Learning, Teaching & Knowing through a Community of Inquiry

• Being charged with evaluating one's peers moves in the direction of teaching others.

• The critique phase is a graded assignment, so students feel a greater responsibility in

making judgments & evaluations.

• Finding mistakes, obscurity, or a lack of substance in peers' work forces students to

become aware of similar problems in their own work.

• The Team Critique places students at the center of the educational process, uniting

them in the learning experience through teamwork.

• The Team Critique enables students to construct knowledge for themselves while

operating in a community of inquiry; they solve problems together & promote self-

discovery.

(Saulnier et al., 2008)


Ethics in Education: Topics for Research Project 1. What is the appropriate stance regarding lecturing on morally sensitive or controversial topics? Should educators

draw a line somewhere, and if so, where?

2. What is the best way for teachers to handle a student's academic dishonesty? Does it depend on the situation, or

should full penalties always apply?

3. Do full-time faculty members have an obligation to support adjunct and part-time faculty rights at their

institution?

4. How much, if any, weight should be given to student evaluations of teaching on personnel and promotion

decisions affecting teachers?

5. Should educators share their own political and/or religious views with their students?

6. Student-teacher relationships: how close is too close? Are emails and texts not strictly related to classwork ever

appropriate? Should teachers ever be friends with their students?

7. When should educators report unethical behavior on the part of close colleagues? What is the line between

proper and improper intervention in the professional lives of colleagues?

8. If a teacher is asked to write a letter of recommendation for an average or below-average student, should she (a)

accept the request and write an honest letter that may hurt the student's chances, (b) accept the request and write

a complimentary letter that suppresses the truth, (c) decline to write the letter.

9. Issues related to classroom policies (or "netiquette" for online classes) in the 21st century: What is the proper

line between personal freedom of expression and social decorum?

10. What is the right balance between leniency and strict adherence to class and school policies on the part of

educators? When does enforcement of rigor become overly harsh?


Ethics in Education: Topics for Research Project

Your assignment:

Pick a topic from the list provided (once three people have selected a topic, it will close).

1. What is your answer to the question posed in the topic or prompt?

2. What kind of research paper or project would best inform others about this issue?

3. What are the ethical concerns here, especially for educators and students? [Consult the NEA Code

of Ethics for benchmarks.] Personal experience may be relevant, but look for other sources.

4. Be sure to consider multiple perspectives.

5. Your first step is to come up with a specific and significant thesis; next, outline the claims that

support it, including any general principles or warrants grounding those claims.

6. Complete a rough draft of the paper or project.

7. Pass your first draft to another team and review and critique their rough draft.

8. Retrieve your critiqued draft and make appropriate changes, refining, editing, adding information

and sources, etc.

9. Prepare final draft of the paper/project for instructor review.

10. Make changes per instructor feedback & submit assignment.


Q & A

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