Week #1: What is critical thinking?

(Week 1: March 16-22)

Goals, overview. This course is about “critical thinking,” which Wikipedia defines as “…purposeful and reflective judgment about what to believe or do in response to observations, experience, verbal or written expressions, or arguments.” The goal of this activity is to consider critical thinking as a perspective that is essential to the researcher.

Activities. Go to the Wikipedia article about critical thinking and spend an hour or so reading the material and linked materials it provides. Feel free to read any other materials you wish on this topic.

Then visit The Critical Thinking Community website. It is run by Richard Paul, a long time leader in the critical thinking movement. Two provisos about the Paul material:
  1. Paul focuses a good deal on education, and teachers who are trying to find ways to infuse instruction with his critical thinking concepts. Thus, he makes a number of references to this focus. However, his principles are widely applicable and translate easily to any profession.

  2. Paul is trying to sell his services. You will see advertisements for materials and workshops throughout his material. While this doesn't devalue his contribution, be aware of the fact that you are being pitched a service.
I recommend that you spend an hour or so scanning his resources, reading those materials that resonate with you. In particular I like Critical Thinking in Everyday Life: 9 Strategies and Personal and Professional Development.

Forum discussion question: What are the two or three most important qualities of critical thinking that you discerned from your activities this week? Respond to this question, as well as at least two other posts from colleagues. Discussion concludes over the weekend.

Post on your blog, using the heading “A definition of critical thinking.” In a minimum of 2-3 paragraphs, post a definition of critical thinking that you have cultivated as a result of this activity. What are your “take-away” realizations as a result of this activity? As always, feel free to note any biases you suspect in the materials that were used. Also, be vigilant about using visually differentiated text in your presentation. Blogs postings must be completed by Sunday evening.

Extra links, materials for your consideration

Professor Dowden's critical thinking materials:
Other links:
On the lighter side
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Week #2: What are urban legends?

(Week 2: March 23-29)

Goals, overview. There is a good deal of storytelling going on in the media. Some is deliberate, some is inadvertent and some happens just because information exchanges hands so many times that error and embellishment become part of the public narrative. The goal of this activity is to look at the tension that exists between the proliferation of what are often referred to as “urban legends” and those who seek to distinguish fact from fiction.

Activities. Urban legends - or suspected urban legends - abound. Here are just a few:
  • The $600 hammer. Remember hearing about the military’s $600 hammer? We tended to believe the story was true because we have a bias about believing that government wastes money. But, it wasn’t true – or at least one source says it wasn’t. Read all about it.

  • Sarah Palin's SAT scores. Here’s another example of a possible urban legend that rippled through the web. During the era of Sarah Palin’s notoriety, a very convincing image of her rather low SAT scores began circulating on the web. However, at least one reader was convinced that he was seeing digital forgery. Read all about it.
Now it's your turn. Go to Snopes or another debunking site, and spend an hour or so reading material and linked material until you find something that challenges a previously held opinion or “truth assumption” you had subscribed to.

Forum discussion question: Based on your activities this week, what do you think causes the wide discrepancies in "the truth" that proliferate throughout the web? Respond to this question, as well as at least two other posts from colleagues. Also, respond to two other posts from colleagues. Discussion concludes over the weekend.

Post on your blog, using the heading “Urban legends.” Post a minimum of 2-3 paragraphs about what you discovered about the nature of authenticity on the web. What are your “take-away” realizations as a result of this activity? As always, feel free to note any biases you suspect in the materials you used. Also, be vigilant about using visually differentiated text in your presentation. Blog updates need to be completed by Sunday evening.

Extra links and materials
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Week #3: How does music persuade?

(Week 3: March 30- April 5)

Goals, overview. The Jaws theme can make Bambi appear evil. That is because music is one of the most manipulative media within the overall multi media collage. Music easily escapes our judgmental mind, slipping below our conscious radar, skewing how we feel about what we experience. Even Aristotle recognized this when he said in his book Politics that 'music possesses the power of producing an effect on the character of the soul.' The goal of this activity is for you to better understand how this happens.

Activities. Go to my digital storytelling site that addresses the power of music in media. The specific place you are directed to provides links to three movie sequences. They are only 30 seconds long and are identical – except for the music that accompanies them.

Follow this process:
  1. Turn the sound off on your computer and play Movie Sequence One. Take a moment and jot down what you think “the story is” that the clip describes.
  2. Now turn on the sound and play the clip again. Note how the story has changed because of the music. Make some notes about how the story has changed for you.
  3. Play Movie Sequence Two, and note how the story changes for you.
  4. Play Movie Sequence Three, and once again note how the story changes for you.
Compare HBO and network television. Now watch television, and become hyper vigilant of the music. Imagine how the scene you are watching would take on a different meaning if the music were eliminated or changed. Watch an episode of an HBO series, and then one from a network TV series. A primary difference between them is that HBO uses far less music during dialogue, as well as during action. Any ideas as to why that is? Now watch a news cast on a major network. What role does music play?

Forum discussion question: Based on your activities this week, how do you view the role of music in news reporting, or other forms of journalism (vs. entertainment)? Respond to this question, as well as at least two other posts from colleagues. Also, respond to two other posts from colleagues. Discussion concludes over the weekend.

Post on your blog, using the heading “Power of Music.” Post a minimum of 2-3 paragraphs about the persuasive nature of music, including addressing how your perspective may have changed because of this activity. What are your “take-away” realizations as a result of this activity? As always, feel free to note any biases you suspect in the materials you used. Also, be vigilant about using visually differentiated text in your presentation. Remember: blog posts need to be completed by Sunday evening.

Resources and link
Books
* Aristotle quote from Barker's 1948 translation of Politics (Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1948), as cited in A Brief History of Citizenship, by Derek Heater (New York University Press, 2004).
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Week #4: How does wording skew perception?

(Week 4: April 6-12)

Goals, overview. Everything created by us contains our bias. This includes written work. After all, one of the hallmarks of language arts programs across the U.S. is teaching our children how to construct persuasive arguments, rather than balanced position papers, just in case, I suppose, they might all decide to become lawyers. The result is that when they write they write with bias by design. Thus, we should not be surprised that the art of writing is often an expression of the art of bias.

Detecting bias in writing is especially problematic because words have the appearance of being conservative in the age of fast moving multimedia. After all, with writing there are no quick technical events, no persuasive music. Just silent, frozen words on a page.

But the fact is that even reports that strive to be objective can’t help but be at least somewhat biased, just by virtue of what their authors report, what they omit and whatever unconscious biases they happen to have. So, we tend to turn to statistics and formal research for “the truth.” Yet even this is flawed by virtue of how research is conducted, and, in the case of the article you will read, how questionnaire questions are worded. The goal of this activity is to explore one example of how wording can be subtly used to create significant perceptual shifts.

Activities. Read “When Words Decide” by Barry Schwartz (Scientific American Mind, V 18, No. 4, Sept 2007). We will provide a link to the article through Fielding resources.

Forum discussion question: Based on your activities this week, what kinds of things will you be looking for when you read articles that use statistics or other "factual" information? Respond to this question, as well as at least two other posts from colleagues. Discussion concludes over the weekend.

Post on your blog, using the heading “Bias in wording.” Post a minimum of 2-3 paragraphs about what you discovered about Prospect Theory and the bias of wording. What are your “take-away” realizations as a result of this activity? As always, feel free to note any biases you suspect in the materials you used. Also, be vigilant about using visually differentiated text in your presentation. Remember: blogs need to be updated by Sunday evening.

Did this topic interest you? Then read “Why Free is the Future of Business” from Wired Magazine. It will challenge your notion of what the word “free” actually means.

Links and resources


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Week #5: How do we determine bias on the web?

(Week 5: April 13-19)

OPTIONAL - you have nothing due this well... get caught up... for those who are interested in a new topic, feel free to read through this and treat it as a resource. You might also start looking at next week's materials, as there are several videos to view.

Goals, overview. When bias is obvious, we can snicker and turn away. But what happens when it isn’t, and we keep reading or watching something because it seems reasonable in its presentation? We need special radar and special skills to deal with this situation. The goal of this activity is to consider the bias of web materials by becoming better able to understand who owns them and what bias they might bring to their presentation. In particular, you will look at the Martin Luther King site martinlutherking.org.

Activities. Alan November has developed a presentation and Youtube video that explain how to use website sleuthing to understand some of the hidden biases of web material, focusing on the martinlutherking.org site as an example. Go to Alan’s materials. Read through them and follow the directions. Then watch Alan’s explanation on Youtube.

Next, go to these two sites site, and spend an hour or so reading through them:
Forum discussion question: Based on your activities this week, what kinds of things will you be looking for when you read or scan web materials? Respond to this question, as well as at least two other posts from colleagues. Discussion concludes over the weekend.

Post on your blog, using the heading “Web bias.” Post a minimum of 2-3 paragraphs about what you discovered about understanding the nature of bias and authenticity on the web. What are your “take-away” realizations as a result of this activity? As always, feel free to note any biases you suspect in the materials you used. Also, be vigilant about using visually differentiated text in your presentation.

* image from clipart.com, a paid subscription service
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Week #6: How do marketers view the psychology of consumers?

(Week 6: April 20-26)

Goals, overview. Marketers tend to see us in very simple terms. The book The New Positioning by Jack Trout is a good case in point. His book is widely considered to be an influential consumer psychology reference manual for marketers. In it, Trout says there are six rules about the consumer mind:
  1. Minds can’t cope
  2. Minds are limited
  3. Minds hate confusion
  4. Minds are insecure
  5. Minds don’t change
  6. Minds can lose focus
Are we that basic? Many advertisers certainly think so. The goal of this activity is to understand how master marketers view the psychology of the consumer, and how companies use that understanding to market their products.

Activities. We will hear about consumer psychology from two of the most successful marketing consultants in the business: Clotaire Rapaille and Frank Luntz. We will then listen to a “cool hunter” talk about her work trying to find and market “the next cool thing.”

The material for this activity is drawn from two PBS Frontline episodes. I have found sources to watch them online for free, as well as links to their transcripts. However, I recommend you either buy or rent them, as your experience of watching them will be much more enjoyable than watching them on the web. I actually own these Frontline episodes and have watched them many times over the years. The two Front Line episodes you will be watching are:

The Persuaders
Merchants of Cool
What parts to watch, focus on

The Persuaders. Watch the entire episode, but focus on the following:
  • The interview with Clotaire Rapaille (approximately 42:45 to minute 51)
  • The interview with Frank Luntz (starts approx. 59 minutes, ends approx. 108:20).
Merchants of Cool. Watch the entire episode, but focus on the following:
  • The section on “cool hunting,” which begins approximately 6 minutes into the episode, and ends at approx. 10 minutes.
If you want to understand more about cool hunting and the deliberate creation of marketable culture, go to the Cool Hunting site and sign up for updates.

Web resources

The following resources provide insight into particular topics in this area of inquiry:
Forum discussion question: Based on your activities this week, how do you think advertisers view consumers? Provide a response about why you think so. Also, respond to two other posts from colleagues. Discussion concludes over the weekend.

Post on your blog, using the heading “Consumer psychology.” Post a minimum of 2-3 paragraphs that summarize how you view consumer psychology as a result of this activity. Include references to the material that you watched. What are your “take-away” realizations as a result of this activity? As always, feel free to note any biases you suspect in the materials that were used. Also, be vigilant about using visually differentiated text in your presentation. Remember: blog posts are due by Sunday evening.

* "people behind packages" image from Clipart.com, a paid subscription service; baby tatoo image found through photobucket.com (http://media.photobucket.com/image/baby%20tatoo/florica_album/tatoo_baby.jpg?o=23); the creator's name is not clear.
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Week #7: How do media gate keepers operate?

(Week 7: April 27- May 3)

Goals, overview. Gate keeping is a term in wide use to describe those people, organizations or structures that control the flow of information, thus limiting what the rest of us can know by virtue of the decisions they make about what we are allowed to experience. The goal of this activity is to better understand how media gate keepers operate.

Activities. To better understand the concept of gate keeping,
read this overview from the University of Twente's Media, Culture and Society web site.

Photo Retouching. Why is photo retouching included in the section of this course on gate keeping? Because publishers "gate keep" by not allowing us to see people as they really are. Want proof? First, watch The Photoshop Effect, which features an interview with a professional photographer who talks about the prevalence of digital photo retouching in his profession and offers examples of his craft. Then, go to Girl Power, which deconstructs a digitally retouched photo. Be sure to click on the picture until you get the menu of photo changes. Then, step through the changes to see how the picture was retouched. A very popular video about this topic is Dove's Evolution of Beauty, which shows a time lapse series of a woman's face being prepared for billboard publication. And lest you think that photo retouching is something that only professionals can do, read A 'beauty function' for a better look. The article examines software that can "automatically make you look 'better.'"

Film rating. Next watch the documentary This Film Is Not Yet Rated. You will enjoy your viewing experience more if you rent it (or buy it) than if you watch it through Google video. Here are three ways to watch it:
Porn and strong language alert. This documentary looks at film rating in the U.S., and thus shows examples of the kinds of things that are blocked. I tell you just in case you were thinking of watching it with your kids.

Additional web resources
Forum discussion question: Based on your activities this week, how do you suspect gate keepers influence a major source of information you use? You don't need to prove this - just suspect it and be able to support your suspicion critically and rationally. Also, respond to two other posts from colleagues. Discussion concludes on the weekend.

Post on your blog, using the heading “Consumer psychology.” Post a minimum of 2-3 paragraphs that summarize how you view gate keeping in media. Include references to the material that you watched. What are your “take-away” realizations as a result of this activity? As always, feel free to note any biases you suspect in the materials that were used. Also, be vigilant about using visually differentiated text in your presentation. Remember: blog posts need to be completed by Sunday evening.

* image from Clipart.com, through a paid subscription
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Week #8: How plugged in are you?

(Week 8: May 4- May 10)

Goals, overview. As the ancient adage goes, fish don’t see the water. To McLuhan we are the fish and the tEcosystem is the water. That is, we are so immersed in our technological landscape that we simply don’t notice it, until some part of it breaks, assaults our privacy, or otherwise becomes, to use McLuhan terminology, figure rather than ground. In fact, it isn’t until we notice it that we can ask questions about it. And probably one of the most important questions we can ask is: are we so plugged in that we simply can’t unplug? And if we can’t unplug, who are we becoming as people, friends, citizens?

Recall that technology connects and disconnects. The goal of this activity is to see more clearly the tension that exists between those two qualities as it relates to trying to balance the benefits and risks of being plugged into the tEcosystem’s all pervasive network.

Activities. First watch this very short clip in which Amazon founder Jeff Bezos explains the symbiotic, transactional nature of the human-tool relationship:
Second, read the following articles:
Additional web resources
Forum discussion question: Based on your activities this week, how do you think a major technology that you use (cell phone? microwave? television?) connects and disconnects you? Respond to this question, and also respond to two other posts from colleagues. Discussion concludes over the weekend.

Post on your blog, using the heading “Plugged in.” Post a minimum of 2-3 paragraphs of reflection that summarize how you view your state of being plugged in. Include references to the material that you watched. What are your “take-away” realizations as a result of this activity? As always, feel free to note any biases you suspect in the materials you used. Also, be vigilant about using visually differentiated text in your presentation. Remember: blog postings due this weekend.

* image from Clipart.com, a paid subscription service
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Week #9: The risks and benefits of social media

(Week 9: May 11-17)

Overview, goals. The world is awash in Web 2.0, also known as the social web, also known as the read-write web because of the free, easy-to-use tools that allow the least technical among us to create web content. There are four basic pillars of Web 2.0:
  1. Multifaceted connectivity. Consider all the different ways we can connect now, through services like MySpace, blogs, wikis, listservs, email... the list goes on and on. Most of them are free, easy to use, scalable and customizable.

  2. Free read-write tools. Many of the tools that characterize Web 2.0 are developed with programming languages that many people use. The result is that there are lots of tools! Most of them feature a writing component, allowing you to contribute to web content. This is quite a shift from even 10 years ago.

  3. A cornucopia of content resources. Because anyone can now "write the web," many do. They create podcasts, YouTube videos, MySpace pages and much more. There are blogs, wikis and listservs about every conceivable subject, including whatever you do for a living. Most of this is free.

  4. Tools for taming and organizing the cornucopia. We have gone from information tease to overload in 20 short years. How do we manage the overflow of information we now live with? Fortunately there are tools that help you deal with all of the resources you have at your disposal. Tools like del.icio.us, Furl, RSS feeds and so on, help you manage your information. Tools like Wikipedia help you join other web users in managing what you know on a collective basis.
The goal of this activity is to develop an understanding of some of the basic technical building blocks of the social web, as well as how the social web is shaping education, politics and the overall evolution of society.

Activities. First, go the Go to Web 2.0 site and play. This site claims to be the clearinghouse for Web 2.0 applications. You can get lost there. I would limit yourself to an hour, or whatever RL (real life) can withstand.

Next, watch these brief, no-nonsense tutorials by Common Craft about some of the basic building blocks of the social web:
Next, watch these two brief YouTube episodes in which Will Richardson explains Web 2.0, and how it impacts education:
Next, listen to the authors of Millenial Makeover (Morley Winograd and Michael Hais) talk about their work in this podcast:
  • Millenial Makeover
  • A non-audiovisual option is to read the first 3 chapters of the book by the same name, and scan the rest.
Lastly, watch this presentation by Clay Shirky, author of Here Comes Everyone:
  • Clay Shirky's presentation
  • A non-audiovisual option is to read the first 3 chapters of Shirky's book, Here Comes Everyone, and scan the rest
Additional web resources
Forum discussion question: Based on your activities this week, what major impact do you think social media have on your professional life? Respond to this question, as well as two other posts from colleagues. Discussion concludes over the weekend.

Post on your blog, using the heading “Social media.” Post a minimum of 2-3 paragraphs of reflection that summarize how you view the impacts of social media. Include references to the material that you watched. What are your “take-away” realizations as a result of this activity? As always, feel free to note any biases you suspect in the materials you used. Also, be vigilant about using visually differentiated text in your presentation. Remember: blog updates due by Sunday evening.

* image from clipart.com, a paid subscription service
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Week #10: Return to critical thinking

(Week 10: May 18- 24)

(No discussion this week.)

Overview, goals, activities. In this final week we return to the issue of critical thinking. The goal of this activity is to apply critical thinking to your critical thinking. That is, to rethink and perhaps rewrite what is in your blog. Your have three tasks this week:
  1. Update your posts. Read through and update your postings using the critical perspectives you have developed during the past 10 weeks. I am not looking for anything major here, just modifications that make sense to you given what you now know. If you are happy with you have, then leave it.
  2. Update your definition of critical thinking. Pay special attention to your first posting, in which you define critical thinking. Does it still work for you? If not, modify it.
  3. Create a mission statement. Write a 2-3 page reflection/mission statement about the role of critical thinking in research, particularly applied to your profession. What will you look for? How will you look?
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