One of the conversations that we have around these parts revolves around the implicit connection between emerging platforms and texts (Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, remix video) and the ways that they could best be channeled to help students practice the skills/core competencies that liberal education prides itself on: critical thinking, analysis, synthesis, etc. (These are just the ones that show up in our institutional mission statement—feel free to add others!)
I’m hoping that people might like to brainstorm some ideas around the following:
- What do these competencies look like in new media forms, as opposed to the research paper format? (In other words, how do we know critical thinking in a remix video when we see it?)
- What pedagogical strategies and examples can we explore with our students to highlight these?
- What versions of these competencies are site-specific (e.g., analysis on YouTube vs. analysis on Twitter), and which are transferable? Are there some platforms/practices that are more amenable to developing these competencies than others?
I’ve been interested in tracking the pedagogical innovations that are coming out of Project NML and HASTAC, but hopefully others have examples as well!
B”H
I love this idea! It is especially relevant for those of use facing accreditation and the whole nightmare of defining “critical thinking.” I can’t wait to learn what you have to say on this!
B”H
WOW. I love that Hastac website. I am working on a project right now with some programmers to make some educational software that uses the badge model to encourage the students toward higher and higher involvement in a project. Thanks for sharing this!
I’d love to be part of some conversations about how to incorporate these key skills into new contexts and platforms. Not only would this open up new ways to support development of the skills, but it would offer a new way for some students to get a sense of why the skills matter, I think.
Count me in as an enthusiastic consumer of this research, though I know next-to-nothing about it. Our teacher ed department should absolutely be passing this along!
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