Assessment techniques Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Assessment techniques - Essay Example Critical thinking plays a big role in the whole concept of the consideration of new ideas, the subsequent choosing of the best options and the decision whether or not to modify them further. The Use of Critical Thinking Skills in Teaching Critical thinking skills are a challenge in both face-to-face teaching settings as well as in the provision of online courses because there is a need for students to be completely present in the moment during the lesson. It is much easier for students to merely cram information into their memories without necessarily understanding it and then restate it when they are required to during examinations or tests (Dobrovolny, 2006). Cramming information into memory is the easier way of retaining information without being fully involved in the learning process. It is something that is done in many educational institutions today. However, it is harmful to students in the final analysis because they are left in a situation where they have no skills in fully assessing different subjects or forming their own opinions about them. Reiterating information only calls for a student to sit in the lecture and pretend to understand what is being taught even though his or her mind may be thinking about something else. As long as the student has memorized various meanings, he is content because he can repeat this material to himself later until it is ingrained in his memory. It will then be easy to restate it just as he remembers it in any examinations where it may be required. The use of critical thinking skills, on the other hand, calls for the student to be fully engaged in associative or active learning. Critical thinking entails the use of various skills in the consideration of a given subject. These skills include interpretation, observation, inference, analysis, explanation, and evaluation. The student engaged in critical thinking also takes into account the context in which the material is presented, theoretical constructs for comprehendin g the subject matter, and the techniques used to come to a decision about the final answer. The use of critical thinking skills does not just entail the use of logic, but also the consideration of credibility, relevance, accuracy, significance, and precision. When a teacher wishes to engage her students towards thinking critically about a subject, she encourages them to use their reason to determine the next steps in finding the real answer; even if this might result in disparities in the findings. She will also encourage inquisitiveness among the students, and direct them towards using a systematic approach to finding solutions for different problems. Naturally, it is easier for teachers to encourage students in bricks-and-mortar institutions to adopt these methods of problem solving than it is for them to encourage students in their online classrooms or hybrid environments. Hybrid settings describe a situation where the teacher uses a combination of traditional classroom as well a s online instruction to disseminate lessons to students. In traditional classrooms, teachers are able to monitor students on a personal basis and some can even determine which students are ‘present’ and which are not. This means that they will be able to call the attention of