Assignment 3 (individual) Design and evaluate an e-learning/blendedlearning lesson • Description of the intended audience [5 points] The target learners are freshmen in college whose majors are English. They are learning “Critical thinking module”this semester and the first 3 chapters of the course have been learned: Chapter 1: Introduction to Critical Thinking 1.1Definitions of critical thinking 1.2 The importance of critical thinking. Chapter 2: Analyse Arguments 2.1The structure of arguments 2.2how to analyse simple arguments 2.3 how to analyse complex arguments. Chapter 3: Deductive vs. Inductive arguments 3.1: Deductive Arguments. Validity. Soundness 3.2: Syllogisms 3.3: Inductive Arguments. Strength. Cogency • The desired type of learning (e.g., factual knowledge, conceptual knowledge, critical thinking ability, problem solving, procedural, or attitude change) & specific learning objectives [5 points] In this lesson, I intend to teach fallacies which is one of the critical thinking skills. My specific learning objectives are: 1. Learners will be able to correctly describe what fallacies are. 2. Learners will be able to correctly give examples of 5 most common fallacies in daily life. 3. Learners will be able to identify 90% fallacies correctly when analysing others’ arguments. 4. Learners will be able to create a picture( E.g Meme) to clearly explain an fallacy and comment on 3 peer’s pictures. •
The description of a particular e-learning/blended learning lesson, instructional strategies, and technological tools [20 points] 1. Please draw up your e-learning/blended learning model of the lesson (see example on next page) The course adopts replacement blended learning model, which reduces class-meeting time and replaces rather than supplements face to face time with online learning activities for students(Hew, Cheung, 2014) Pedagogies: Transmissive Dialogic, Co-constructive.
Figure 1 blended learning model in general
1. There will be a pre-test, which contains 10 questions. Each one is a card. You can swipe left to disagree with the argument or swipe right to agree the argument. In this case, there will be 5 fallacies that are very common in daily life. Then students will check the answers. Next, there will pop up a message” They are not all good arguments. Some of them are XXXXX, which are fallacies.” Then the learner will check the questions one by one. Below each question, if it’s a fallacy, there will be a video illustrates what kind of fallacy it is. Under the question, there’s an discussion forum. The learners are required to give examples of the same fallacies. There’s also a Q&A area, where students can ask questions with a plugin to insert a time point of the video and vote for useful questions. After completing the pre-test, the learners will earn 100 points and get a badge. Students have their avatars, which will upgrade when they get more points. Refer to Appendix 1 to see the interface of the 1st activity.
Figure 2 learning activity 1 pre-test flow diagram
Following learning activities
Figure 3 Following activities flow diagram
2. Learning taxonomies • Read the 2 taxonomies of the fallacies. http://www.informationisbeautiful.net/visualizations/rhetological-fallacies/ http://www.fallacyfiles.org/taxonomy.html • Read the comics of the fallacies( Optional ) http://existentialcomics.com/comic/9 •
Discuss with your group mates about the differences among the 2 taxonomies. Then post to the discussion form in group a.Summary the difference b State which one do your group like and why.
3.Do the quizzes
Figure 4 Quizzes about the fallacies (https://iversity.org/en/my/courses/critical-thinking-reason-and-fair-play-in-communication/ assessment_units/31916/intro) 4.Identify the fallacies in the article. • Read one of the articles, and find out the fallacies,Label the fallacies with its type using Diigo. The fallacies will be highlight in different colours based on the type. http://writingcenter.unc.edu/handouts/fallacies/sample-arguments-with-fallacies/ • Check your answers with the analysis http://writingcenter.unc.edu/handouts/fallacies/sample-arguments-with-fallacies/fallacy-adjunct/
5. Create a picture (E.g, Meme) to explain an fallacy and post it on the discussion forum and comment on 3 peer’s graphic. https://imgflip.com/memegenerator
2. Use the table below to describe your instructional strategies and technological tools Instructional strategies Name the fallacies
Technological tools
Justification
Mind map, It is commonly claimed that giving a fallacy a name Graphic, https:// and studying it will help the student identify the fallacy www.diigo.com/ in the future and will steer them away from using the fallacy in their own reasoning( Dowden, 2014) As Steven Pinker(2007) says providing a label for a complex concept could make it easier to learn the concept. because the mind can handle it as a single package when juggling a set of ideas, rather than having to keep each of its components in the air separately. It can also give a concept an additional label in long-term memory, making it more easily retrievable than ineffable concepts or those with more roundabout verbal descriptions.
Pre-test
Quizzes
Pre-tests can be used at beginning of a course to establish a subject knowledge baseline and then related to an end of the course exam to look at knowledge added. Pre-tests can also be used as a way to judge the depth of understanding of prerequisite material. (Berry, 2008)
Create a picture
Meme generator Gunning(2012) states that creating images serves 3 functions( P.301) 1 Fostering understanding 2 Retaining information 3Monitoring for meaning Creating literacy instruction for all students.
Asynchronous online discussion
Discussion forum
Electronic discussion changes the focus of the learning process, replacing the single view of the instructor with the diversity of views from different students.This diversity of views implicitly requires readers to compare and evaluate them. (Greenlaw, DeLoach, 2003) There’re several techniques to facilitate students’ indepth participation. 1. Students play facilitators roles.Hew and Cheung (2011) stated that students played the role of facilitators using 4 techniques may promote higherlevel knowledge construction in online discussion forum. These four techniques include giving comments or opinions, showing appreciation, encouraging people to contribute, and summarising. There’re two main types of questioning strategies that student facilitators used to assist students to share ideas and comments in the discussions—questions about viewpoints and questions of clarifications.
2. Selecting discussion topics that included exam reviews. because studying for the exam can help improve their grades.(Guzdial and Turns 2000). 3. Increasing the weight of online discussion in the final grade provided incentive for students to contribute in the discussion.(Hew, Cheung & Ng 2010) 4 . Giving clear explanations of the purpose of the online discussion and employing an evaluation rubric that spells out different marks for different specific categories of contributions.(Hew, Cheung & Ng 2010) 5. Using posting deadlines for student contribution. (Hew, Cheung & Ng 2010) 6. Students will be asked to go through some warm-up pre-discussion activities, such as an ice-breaking activity. because increased familiarity among individuals can increase the likelihood of individual contribution (Cabrera and Cabrera2005), educators should help students cultivate personal relationships with one another.(Hew, Cheung & Ng 2010)
Gamification
Gaining points Badges Avatar
Every time when a student accomplishes a task, he will gain some points and badges. His avatar can upgrade as he gains more points. This can motivate students’ participation and make the learning more fun. As awareness is the key to active participation and social judgment and reward a major motivational factor , these should be supported intensively( Grunewald, Meinel, Totschnig& Willems, 2013) and the gamification elements will raise students awareness.
•
Feedback from at least 3 users [10 points]
Comment from user
My opinion
Rationale (may be based on personal experience, literature)
Changes I will make to my lesson
The activities' format, like quiz for group or individual, may need to be specific (so that the how to get the badge may be more clear ).
Agree
I found that there need to be a clear description of the rule of gaining badges.
I could add an description as following: Students will gain a “Good try” badge after they completing the quiz activity.
It is interesting the learning process students follow to learn about fallacies.
Disagree
Actually, students can N/A reply to others’ comments, so there’s no need to have another space.
Agree
A reflection can help students bring their ideas to their consciousness that they can evaluate and decide what they will do and not (Boud, Keogh& Walker, 2006, P19).
I recommend to let a space for students to write an individual reflection, after their classmates write them some comments. Lack of individual reflection.
I could add a final assignment which requires students to reflect on their learning experiences.
In my personal opinion, Disagree maybe it tends to the type of facts and concepts learning according to the specific content and objectives in your description. As for the type of critical thinking itself, I think it is more like develop the skill of thinking critically on certain problem or issue.
The reviewer has an unclear definition about critical thinking. According to Hew and Cheung(2014), “a critical thinker is one who makes judicious conclusions by weighing alternative or multiple viewpoints, and justifying one’s answers with appropriate arguments and valid supporting details.” First, developing critical thinking skills needs to learn concept as well. Second, the activity “Identifying fallacies in an argument” is part of making judicious conclusions. Third, Understanding fallacies concept will also help the students to avoid the fallacies when they are justifying their answers by constructing arguments.
In addition, if you look at other courses about critical thinking, they all teach fallacies as an important part. E.g https://iversity.org/en/ courses/critical-thinkingin-today-scommunication-may-2015
N/A
Appendix 1 Interface of the 1st activity I have found some interface pictures from some websites which I think can be applicable to this course. So please focus on the interface instead of the content.
! Figure 5 Pre-test welcome page ( https://www.khanacademy.org)
!
Figure 6 Pre-test question page ( http://www.okcupid.com/home) Students can swipe left to agree or right to disagree with the argument
! Figure 7 Question and answer area ( below the test) ( https://www.khanacademy.org) Students can ask questions by pointing out a time point where he can’t understand. They can vote for a good question.
! Figure 8 Gaining points page ( After finishing the quiz) ( https://www.khanacademy.org) This is the gamification part, motivating students to do the learning activities.
! Figure 9 Results analysis page ( After finishing the quiz) ( https://www.khanacademy.org) Students can see the result and which one needs to improve and the badges they earned.
! Figure 10 Avatar page ( students online image) ( https://www.khanacademy.org) Avatar can upgrade as students gain more points.
References: Boud, D., Cressey, P., & Docherty, P. (Eds.). (2006). Productive reflection at work: Learning for changing organizations. Routledge. Dowden, B. (2014, March 5). Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved April 18, 2015, from http:// www.iep.utm.edu/fallacy/ Pinker, S. (2007). The stuff of thought: Language as a window into human nature, Penguin. Berry, Thomas. 2008. “Pre-test assessment,” American Journal of Business Education, Third Quarter 2008, Vol. I, No. 1 Gunning, T. G. (2012). Creating literacy instruction for all students. Pearson Higher Ed. Greenlaw, S. A., & DeLoach, S. B. (2003). Teaching critical thinking with electronic discussion. The Journal of Economic Education, 34(1), 36-52. Hew, K. F., & Cheung, W. S. (2014). Using Blended Learning: Evidence-Based Practices. Springer.
Hew, K. F., & Cheung, W. S. (2011). Higher-level knowledge construction in asynchronous online discussions: An analysis of group size, duration of online discussion, and student facilitation techniques. Instructional Science, 39(3), 303-319. Hew, K. F., Cheung, W. S., & Ng, C. S. L. (2010). Student contribution in asynchronous online discussion: A review of the research and empirical exploration. Instructional Science, 38(6), 571-606. Grünewald, F., Meinel, C., Totschnig, M., & Willems, C. (2013). Designing MOOCs for the support of multiple learning styles. In Scaling up learning for sustained impact (pp. 371-382). Springer Berlin Heidelberg. Figure 4[Online image]. (unknown).Retrieved April 16, 2015 fromhttps://iversity.org/en/my/courses/ critical-thinking-reason-and-fair-play-in-communication/assessment_units/31916/intro Figure 5,7,8,9,10[Online image]. (unknown).Retrieved April 16, 2015 from https://www.khanacademy.org Figure 6[Online image]. (unknown).Retrieved April 16, 2015 from http://www.okcupid.com/home
