Instructional Design and Facilitation Approaches that Promote Critical Thinking in Asynchronous Online Discussions: A Review of the Literature

Abstract

Asynchronous online discussions (AODs) are often used to promote critical thinking in online courses; however, recent research suggests that levels of critical thinking in discussions remain low. Furthermore, there is a lack of consensus in the literature about the definition of critical thinking and many of the existing studies focus on one specific cognitive construct. Therefore, it is unknown which instructional approaches have the strongest empirical support for promoting critical thinking across multiple cognitive constructs. The purpose of this article is to present a review of the literature related to instructional design and facilitation approaches that promote critical thinking in AODs across multiple cognitive constructs (cognitive domain, cognitive presence, knowledge construction, and perspective-taking). Design approaches, such as providing scaffolding and using a debate-based instructional approach, and facilitation approaches, such as using Socratic questioning and allowing students to lead discussions, are effective for promoting critical thinking. Additional research should be conducted to confirm the efficacy of case-based, problem-based, project-based, and role play instructional approaches and to reach a consensus on the definition of critical thinking as well as how critical thinking should be demonstrated and accurately assessed in AODs.

Using the Community of Inquiry Framework to Scaffold Online Tutoring

“…Although existing research has identified numerous strategies for scaffolding online tutoring (Guo et al, 2014;Lentell, 2003;Schindler & Burkholder, 2014) This study also supports the claim that adaptive scaffolding is better than fixed scaffolding (Azevedo, Cromley, Moos, Greence, & Winters, 2011;Azevedo et al, 2004;Feng, 2012). Also, tutors should keep a close eye on the learning process and adjust their scaffolding as and when the situation demands such adjustments.…”

“…Table 10 shows that some typical strategies are considered most effective for the development of teaching presence, such as presenting learning tasks in a structured way, questioning, guiding, and summarizing. The interview data also shows that students were most impressed by and satisfied with strategies for guiding, questioning, timely feedback, and providing summaries, a result which is consistent with existing evidence on the impacts of online tutoring strategies (Guo, Gilbert, Jackman, Starns, Hagge, Faidley, & Amin-Naseri, 2014;Schindler & Burkholder, 2014). (Figure 4), which validates the role of scaffolding in supporting the development of cognitive presence.…”

“…The existence of the three principal types of presence-social presence, teaching presence and cognitive presence-was first validated by the development and measurement of a set of indicators, as shown in Table 1 (see Garrison et al, 2000). Scaffolding is any form of instructional support that enables students to complete tasks they would be unable to master without assistance (Schindler & Burkholder, 2014). Salmon's "Five-stage Model of Teaching and Learning Online" (Salmon, 2004) offers some help on how one might approach online moderation in order to build a sense of community.…”

“…Strategies for enhancing teaching presence include assigning a role to students, giving encouraging information, asking thought-provoking questions, keeping dialogs on track, deciding on the effective group size, and providing rubrics such as clear communication protocols and requirements for participation (Anderson, 2008;Branon & Essex, 2001;Dennis & Williams, 2005;Schellens, Van Keer & Valcke, 2005;Schindler & Burkholder, 2014;Wishart & Guy, 2009). Garrison has argued nevertheless that the instructor should not only create teaching presence but also create cognitive presence and mediate social presence to optimize the learning environment (Garrison et al, 2010).…”

Use of a post-asynchronous online discussion assessment to enhance student critical thinking

“…The most common form of assessment has been that of grading the discussion contributions (Dennen, 2008), but it is unclear whether this form of assessment is essential for successful learning outcomes (Richardson & Ice, 2010;Schindler & Burkholder, 2014;Wee & Abrizah, 2011). This paper describes a study comparing the effect on student critical thinking of two approaches to AOD assessment: using a post-AOD assessment (a piece of work submitted after the completion of the AOD that builds on the AOD contributions), and assessing the discussion contributions themselves.…”