• Introduction:
  • Name and a little about me
  • Course: EDCI 572 with Dr. Verena Roberts D
    • Development and Implementation of the Curriculum in Digital Learning Contexts
  • Overview: Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and Decision Making
• Outline:
  • What kinds of digital tools promote and encourage critical thinking?
  • How does critical thinking influence narratives and perspectives?
  • Tech of the week

• What kinds of digital tools promote and encourage critical thinking?
  • Technology Education focus’ heavily on design and the design process which requires heavy critical thinking
    • Students must to find problem, research, find solutions, plan, create, test / evaluate, and improve (as needed)
    • Good design requires a lot of considerations and critical thinking on the part of the designer
  • There are lots of digital tools out there that can be used to promote critical thinking. It is just a matter of using them creatively and effectively.
    • e. Digital Storytelling – Using video recording and similar technology to make how to videos to reinforce learning. These tools force students to really think about what they are doing and present it in a coherent manner for others.
    • Reflection activities – Google docs can be used to journal their work, reflect on their learning, show the progress they make, and document sources. This document can then be shared with the teacher or others for critique.
    • Discussion forums – Communication programs like Slack or hypothes.is can be used by students to discuss project ideas or other class related information.
    • Brainstorming – mindmeister, draw.io, etc. can be used to organize ideas and resources in a mind map or brainstorm format online in groups or individually.
  • How does critical thinking influence narratives and perspectives?
    • Buchanan demonstrates in Wicked Problems in Design Thinking how when a designer used critical thinking, they were able to solve the problem of shoppers getting lost in a large store by placing identifiable items in prominent locations rather than rely on large signage that shoppers tended to ignore (1992).
      • By approaching the stores problem with a more critical examination beyond using signage to direct shopper, the designer looked beyond the obvious and employed human psychology to better solve the stores lost shopper conundrum.
    • Teaching students to think critically and challenge everything can be difficult for parents and teachers who at times may not want their authority questioned, but it is important that students learn to think about things with curious minds and challenge what they don’t understand.
    • Critical thinking can also destroy poorly constructed “alternative facts” when employed properly in search for the truth online, ie news, science, research, politics, etc.
    • It can also be used to find truths by thinking through and assessing all the options at hand and following through on the best ones available. For example, Markhal Nolan demonstrates in his TED Talk, How to Separate Fact and Fiction Online, how he used the internet to find a person whose was attached to a video of a weather event that had been claimed to have recently happened. By using online phone registries and google maps he was able to find the original video poster and contact them for questioning (2012).
  • Tech of the Week:
    • io
      • Online app for flowcharts, diagrams, and more
      • Can save directly to Google Docs, OneDrive, or your hard drive

• Outro
  • Music by Canada by Picture of the Floating World

References & Readings:

Buchanan, R. (1992). Wicked Problems in Design Thinking Design Issues: MIT Press, Vol. 8, No. 2 (Spring, 1992), pp. 5-21

Galileo (2019). Designing Learning. Retrieved from https://galileo.org/designing-learning/

Nolan, M. (2012). Retrieved March 18, 2020, from https://www.ted.com/talks/markham_nolan_how_to_separate_fact_and_fiction_online

Audio:

Musical Intro/outro is Canada by Picture of the Floating World found at freemusicarchive.org