Theories of Critical Thinking Blog Post

Digital literacy is a concept that I introduce and, hopefully, something my students will be familiar with before the end of the semester.  A lot of the assignments in the courses I teach require students to analyze information from various websites on the internet to support their arguments.  During this process, it's my responsibility to ensure they are knowledgeable about authorship and what that means for those items they find on the internet. In Hobbs's article, "Empowering Learners with Digital and Media Literacy," she mentions the need for support of librarians through recommendation seven of the Knight Commission: "Fund and support public libraries and other community institutions as centers of digital and media training, especially for adults" (Hobbs 15).  I couldn't do all this teaching of digital literacy if it wasn't for the support of my university's librarians.  The librarians are willing to put together presentations for my asynchronous courses which help my students figure out their responsibility in ethical use of materials on the internet and how to determine if a source is credible, etc.  

Huitt's take on Bloom's taxonomy in his article, "Bloom et al.'s Taxonomy of the Cognitive Domain," is an interesting read, especially when placed in the sphere of students learning with and through technology.  If we, the educators, believe that students learn differently, then we cannot hold students to the same standards across the board.  Some students might have the cognitive ability to synthesize information enough to create new connections in the subject area.  On the other hand, some students are more prone to know the information well enough for evaluation and to be held to certain standards.  Both are needed for certain levels of achievement. 

I thoroughly enjoyed Matthew Kuhn's article, "Connecting Depth and Balance in Class."  He says, "Fortunately, the differentiating power of educational technology makes meeting the needs of different 'intelligences' or 'learning styles' more and more possible" (Kuhn 18).  As an English instructor at the collegiate level, I see the positive benefits of introducing and utilizing technology in my courses.  For example, when I was an in-person instructor and delivered lectures, some of my students were nervous to ask me questions about the material.  When my students submitted their essays, I would notice tons of issues that could have been avoided had they asked me.  But now that I'm teaching strictly online, my students are more inclined to ask me about a particular concept or watch my recorded lectures over and over until they understand the material.  In these cases, technology has provided the opportunity for my students to slow their learning down. 

References

Hobbs, R. (2011). Empowering learners with digital and media literacy. Knowledge Quest, 39(5), 12-17. Retrieved from Academic Search Premier database. 

Kuhn, M. S. (2008). Connecting depth and balance in class. Learning & Leading with Technology, 36(1), 18-21. Retrieved from Academic Search Premier database.