Critical Thinking

"Twitter Literacy (I refuse to make up a Twittery name for it) Post-Oprah and apres-Ashton, Twittermania is definitely sliding down the backlash slope of the hype cycle. It's not just the predictable wave of naysaying after the predictable waves of sliced-breadism and bandwagon-chasing. We're beginning to see some data. Nielsen, the same people who do TV ratings, recently noted that more than 60% of new Twitter users fail to return the following month. To me, this represents a perfect example of a media literacy issue: Twitter is one of a growing breed of part-technological, part-social communication media that require some skills to use productively. Sure, Twitter is banal and trivial, full of self-promotion and outright spam. So is the Internet. The difference between seeing Twitter as a waste of time or as a powerful new community amplifier depends entirely on how you look at it - on knowing how to look at it. "

Using twitter effectively is a critical thinking skill. Howard describes this in detail.

"The Trouble with Rubrics" By Alfie Kohn Once upon a time I vaguely thought of assessment in dichotomous terms: The old approach, which consisted mostly of letter grades, was crude and uninformative, while the new approach, which included things like portfolios and rubrics, was detailed and authentic. Only much later did I look more carefully at the individual floats rolling by in the alternative assessment parade -- and stop cheering."

Another key thought - the goal; help students become more adept and excited about what they are doing.

Alfie Kohn presses us to think more critically about how and why we assess students. What does it do for learning.

"Questioning: A comprehension strategy for small-group guided reading http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=408 A lesson plan for grades 3-5 English Language Arts * Learn more about language arts, metacognitive strategies, questioning, and reading. * Email * Delicious Delicious * Digg Digg * Facebook Facebook * StumbleUpon StumbleUpon\n\nIn this ReadWriteThink lesson, the teacher explains the difference between thin (factual) and thick (inferential) questions, and then models how to compose question webs by thinking aloud while reading. Students observe how to gather information about the topic and add it to question webs in the form of answers or additional questions. Students practice composing thin and thick questions, as well as monitoring their comprehension, by using question webs independently in small-group reading. This practice extends knowledge of the topic and engages readers in active comprehension. "

"Howard Rheingold's Public Sphere in Internet Age Widget" Howard opens my eyes to the political and historical influence of information and technology. In this he reflects on how technology might change interactions, information, organizing and public influence.

"Wanna Solve Impossible Problems? Find Ways to Fail Quicker A case study in how an intractable problem -- creating a human-powered airplane -- was solved by reframing the problem. " So what's the lesson? When you are solving a difficult problem, re-frame the problem so that your solution helps you learn faster. Find a faster way to fail, recover, and try again. If the problem you are trying to solve involves creating a magnum opus, you are solving the wrong problem.

"We all love the power of email connecting people across continents. But... we're drowning in it. Every year it gets a little worse. To the point where we can get trapped spending most of our working week simply handling the contents of our in-boxes. And in doing so, we're making the problem worse. Every reply, every cc, creates new work for our friends and colleagues. We need to figure out a better way. "

"Information Literacy Print Access and Evaluate Information * Access information efficiently (time) and effectively (sources) * Evaluate information critically and competently Use and Manage Information * Use information accurately and creatively for the issue or problem at hand * Manage the flow of information from a wide variety of sources * Apply a fundamental understanding of the ethical/legal issues surrounding the access and use of information"

"I'd like to briefly take a look at using critical thinking specifically for reading blogs and tweets (although this method could apply to just about anything). While there isn't an official formula for doing this, I'd like to suggest using "The Five W's" that we learn in elementary school as guidelines for inquiry; they include Who?, What?, Where?, When?, Why?, and (sometimes) How?. Instead of using the Five W's for developing content (they're the basics for writing a successful news piece), use the Five W's to analyze any post/piece of writing. Here's how to get started:

Analysis of critical thinking. Very good resource for evaluation as well.

All of this sounds a lot like social bookmarking - Diigo, Delicious, others.

Wikipedia

When I started using social media in the classroom, I looked for and began to learn from more experienced educators. First, I read and then tried to comment usefully on their blog posts and tweets. When I began to understand who knew what in the world of social media in education, I narrowed my focus to the most knowledgeable and adventurous among them. I paid attention to the people the savviest social media educators paid attention to. I added and subtracted voices from my attention network, listened and followed, then commented and opened conversations. When I found something I thought would interest the friends and strangers I was learning from, I passed along my own learning through my blogs and Twitterstream. I asked questions, asked for help, and eventually started providing answers and assistance to those who seemed to know less than I. The teachers I had been learning from had a name for what I was doing -- "growing a personal learning network." So I started looking for and learning from people who talked about HOW to grow a "PLN" as the enthusiasts called them. Learning innovator Will Richardson led me to Shelly Terrell, who genuinely lives out her "collaborate for change" maxim.

Personal Learning Networks can be important in helping you find authorities in a field. A collection of professionals, a network of enthusiasts on a subject, can provide checks on opinion and fact.

"Algorithmic authority is the decision to regard as authoritative an unmanaged process of extracting value from diverse, untrustworthy sources, without any human standing beside the result saying "Trust this because you trust me." This model of authority differs from personal or institutional authority, and has, I think, three critical characteristics. "

"On the Media explores how the media 'sausage' is made, casts an incisive eye on fluctuations in the marketplace of ideas, and examines threats to the freedom of information and expression in America and abroad. For one hour a week, the show tries to lift the veil from the process of "making media," especially news media, because it's through that lens that we literally see the world and the world sees us."

Theories of Learning in Educational Psychology John Seely Brown: Cognitive Apprenticeship

An approach to teaching that leads with active questioning.

"Critical reading means thinking carefully about an author's claims, rather than accepting these claims at face value. It requires several skills: · identifying the claims or arguments of a text; · evaluating the logic of these arguments; · determining whether the author has presented sufficient and valid evidence in support of these arguments; and · considering alternative evidence and arguments that might challenge the author's claims. Why bother? Because if you don't read critically, you may miss the main arguments of the text, or - worse - your opinions may be influenced by bogus arguments."

When you are reading for understanding, here are some questions to ask. They will help you weigh the arguments and check for validity.

How does this apply to Internet searches? We are looking for authority. What are the practices we should adopt to navigate the network world?

We've finally figured out how to monetize social interaction, and Rushkoff, an award-winning author and media theorist who writes and speaks regularly on these topics, has reservations.

"10 March 2010 2 Comments Semantic Web In Action - Faviki The bookmark is at its very core a placeholder. Whereas a single bookmark will suffice for a cozy read by the fireplace, bookmarking on the Web proves to be another matter entirely. Social bookmarking sites like Delicious and StumbleUpon allow users to tag their bookmarks, essentially leaving a digital breadcrumb. Tagging enables users to search through their own previously saved bookmarks, those of friends in their networks, and the collective group of social bookmarking Faviki users, to find content related to their keyword interest. Still, how do I know that other users share my own naming conventions (Semantic.Web vs. Semantic_Web vs. Semantic-Web) or perception of content meaning (" dough" as in a slang term for money or a baking ingredient for making pizza) when they tag their bookmarks? Enter Faviki, a semantic social bookmarking service."

The semantic web may further our ability to make connections with information and knowledge on the web. In the hands of a skillful person this could help us be more discriminating and detailed in our conclusions.

"Critical Thinking Challenge: Join the WikiLeaks Debate By Breanne Harris on December 9, 2010 First question: Were you scared to click on this leak? According to a State Official speaking to students at Columbia University, you should be! An email sent to students from the University of Career Services center, said you should avoid linking to or commenting on anything regarding WikiLeaks if you ever plan to apply for a job in the federal government. The WikiLeaks scandal continues to dominate headlines and create a great opportunity for a critical thinking debate. Much like our Open Debate on TSA Policies, we'd like to open a debate on this issues surrounding the WikiLeaks issue."