Designing & Teaching a Course with a Critical Thinking Focus

Do your students know how to think critically?

Are you helping your students learn how to think critically?

Sure, we can assume our students are learning the lessons that we plan, but can we ever know for sure? Will our students leave our classrooms knowing how to think independently?

Unfortunately, critical thinking is, and continues to be, a deeply misunderstood cognitive skill set. Although all educators can agree on its importance, views remains split on what exactly critical thinking is, or how to effectively teach this skill to students.

To make matters more difficult, the critical thinking literature in higher education is fragmented, abstract and impractical, doing little to help clarify the concept of critical thinking or offer any concrete ideas on how to teach it.

Wouldn’t it be nice if there was a trusted model you could reference when developing and teaching critical thinking in the classroom?

Magna Publications can help! Designing & Teaching a Course with a Critical Thinking Focus, a Magna Online Seminar is your solution.

Simply put, this seminar defines, in plain English, what critical thinking is and provides educators with actionable tools they can use to effectively develop and teach courses aimed at building critical thinking skills.

Synthesizing the various perspectives on critical thinking, your presenter focuses on the three components of critical thinking education:

1. Course design
2. Assessment
3. Teaching principles

Benefits

This seminar helps dispel much of the confusion surrounding critical thinking and give you actionable strategies that you can use in your classroom to effectively teach and assess critical thinking.

After participating in Designing & Teaching a Course with a Critical Thinking Focus, you will be able to expertly:

• Design a discipline-based course with a strong focus on critical thinking
• Write and organize assessable student learning outcomes that specifically target critical thinking
• Assess your students’ progress in achieving critical thinking outcomes
• Develop and integrate student learning experiences that advance critical thinking skills

Learning Goals

By participating in this seminar, learn:

• How to intentionally and explicitly build critical thinking learning outcomes, assessments and learning experiences into a discipline-based course
• How to formulate critical thinking assessments to fit your subject matter
• What classroom activities are well-suited to strengthening your students’ critical thinking skills
• How to ask high-level questions that trigger critical thinking in your students
• How to align your critical thinking assessments, learning outcomes and student learning experiences to ensure maximum effectiveness
• Some of the common misconceptions that surround critical thinking and how to dispel these misconceptions
• How to avoid typical mistakes in teaching critical thinking

Topics Covered

This seminar covers strategies to not only develop students’ critical thinking skills, but also blend critical thinking lessons into an instructors specific discipline and subject matter.

Explore the complex topic of critical thinking and get a perspective on how a student conceptualizes—and practices—critical thinking in the classroom.

Audience

Critical thinking is a skill that students in all disciplines must master. Therefore, this seminar is valuable for any instructor who wants to design and develop a discipline-based course with a strong critical thinking focus.

Whether you are new to college-level teaching or a veteran in the field, this seminar offers helpful strategies for you to design and develop a course that targets critical thinking skills while incorporating specific course subject and content material.

Designing & Teaching a Course with a Critical Thinking Focus would be particularly useful for the following people and positions:

• Teaching center directors
• Faculty development consultants
• Adjunct faculty
• Lecturers
• Instructors
• Instructional technology consultants
• Instructional designers
• Online instructors

Purchase

Critical thinking is not an afterthought. Learn how to effectively incorporate critical thinking skills in your classroom today and put critical thinking first. Order today!

Product Code: PC15AA