Improving Critical Thinking Skills Using Telecollaborative Projects

     Since most classroom tests are made to evaluate students' understanding at the lower levels of Bloom's Taxonomy Pyramid (Bloom et al.'s Taxonomy of the Cognitive Domain), we need to look into ways of bringing students to the higher levels where they will have a deeper understanding of the material. These higher levels (analysis, synthesis, and evaluation) improve students' critical thinking skills. Using telecollaborative projects can be a key in reaching the higher levels of Bloom's Taxonomy Pyramid. Not only is more discussion initiated when collaborating, but students are likely to become more interested and engaged when working with others.
     Analyzing a topic requires students to have enough understanding to compare and contrast, and be able to explain it in their own words. Synthesizing is the next step, being able to create something or predict results using the information they have gathered. Lastly, evaluating requires the students to be able to justify or assess their work based on the deep understanding they have aquired.  Now, by using telecollaborative projects, students are able to communicate with each other and have discussions on the topic. This will help students understand their topic, and also bring in different perspectives from other students. Moreso, if the teacher arranges groups of students with different amounts of background knowledge, they're increasing the opportunities for learning (Commonly Asked Questions about Teaching Collaborative Activities). This happens because while students are working collaboratively, they end up sharing (even if it's not intentional) information that another student may not know. Other students may bring a perspective to the table, or to the chatroom since we're talking telecollaboration, that other members in the group may not have thought of.
     As the article "Commonly Asked Questions about Teaching Collaborative Activities" states,

"When students learn through discussion and exploration, they establish ownership of the material."

I think that this statement clearly identifies one of the most important reasons of using telecollaboration - students will have a better understanding of the material that they are looking into when they are able to explain, propose, and assess their ideas with peers. Print Page in IE