Investigating citical thinking skills in synchronous online discussion forums: A case study

• Main Author: Camara, Evelyn Roque
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2021
• Subjects: Critical thinking, Web-based instruction; Calculus > Web-based instruction; Science and Mathematics Education
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etdd_scied/9
• Institution: De La Salle University

Students’ participation in an online learning environment is insufficient without the ability to think critically. Critical thinking is a skill that is fundamentally required for students and such a valued goal in higher education. This study aimed to investigate the effects of Perkins and Murphy’s model, Garrison’s Communities of Inquiry, and Salmon’s five-stage model in enhancing the CT skills of the engineering students through the synchronous online discussion forums (DFs). This is a single case study of a calculus 2 class participating in a synchronous online discussion forum as a tool for supporting online activities. Qualitative and quantitative data were gathered to present perspectives from a variety of methods across disciplines. The postings from six online discussion forum problem-solving sessions were analyzed using the CAIS model for CT skills, and each student obtained a weighted CT score. The findings showed that the CT skills have been mostly consistent from DF1 to DF6. As the students progressed, their critical thinking skills demonstrated in problem-solving sessions remained relatively high throughout all the discussions forums. Furthermore, the community of inquiry framework is particularly effective at fostering deep and meaningful learning experiences for improving CT skills. As several students have pointed out, all presences must be balanced. In order to establish and sustain cognitive presence and most profound learning approaches in an online environment, a dynamic balance of all presences is required. Finally, in this study, students' perspectives on using an online DFs in their Calculus 2 class were reported. Overall, most students were enthusiastic about using online decision-making tools to assist them in problem-solving.