The Role of Critical Thinking in the Online Learning Environment

Link to article (By Kelly Bruning)
"The role of critical thinking and reflective learning in the online environment is paramount. Critical thinking is the process of taking learned theory and applying them in practice. This requires cognitive skills that require the learner to think of ways to take the concepts learned and apply them.

Critical thinking assignments provide an opportunity for learners to apply knowledge to practical application. Online instructors have the responsibility of providing this opportunity for educational growth to learners and must become creative in developing assignments and projects that foster that growth (extracted highlights jumbled together)."

"Northwestern Michigan College has a campus-wide movement incorporate five core general education learning outcomes in all classes. They are summarized as follows:

• The ability to problem solve.
• The ability to communicate to with other learners.
• The ability to use the English language in communication.
• The ability to read and summarize.
• The ability to apply critical thinking concepts to course concepts."

Overall, this article focuses on the importance of embedding reflection, interaction (student-student, student-instructor, learning communities), problem-solving activities, and feedback into the online learning environment to raise learning to higher levels of critical reflective thinking, and to enhance the quality and effectiveness of online learning.

The real question is how much critical thinking and reflective learning do you apply to your studies?

Although, the lecturer or online instructor has the responsibility of providing such a conducive environment, don't depend on it, and instead be proactive and apply it to everything you learn. With a bit of spice and creativity you can apply these two core elements to your studies, and become a true problem-solver and thinker, which Malaysia increasingly needs .