Module information
In a context of prolific production and convenient access to content and innovation in the Information Age, how should one critically process and clearly communicate ideas to various audiences? In this module, students will learn to question and articulate their analysis of assumptions and assertions on issues facing the Information Age through processes such as identifying bias and substantiating arguments. The Ennis' (2013) taxonomy of critical thinking dispositions will be employed to develop students’ analytical thinking skills and their ability to articulate cogent responses to arguments or to defend their own positions in both written and oral form. This module is taught over one semester with two 2-hour sectional teachings per week for 12 week
~ From ES2660 Module Overview
This module can be S/Ued.
Schedule
- Sectional Teaching: Tuesday & Friday 16:00-18:00.
Module Breakdown
- Group Presentation 5%
- Project Paper 15%
- Oral Presentation 10%
- Academic Discussion/Debate 10%
- Written Paper 30%
- Impromptu Talk (Wildcard Talk) 15%
- Class Participation 15%
Prerequisites
- QET Pass
- Any QET Exemption Criteria
Get the full information on QET here: QET Official Website
Module Details
These are the topics that will be covered in the module:
- Introduction
- Barrett’s Taxonomy of Comprehension
- Assumptions
- Analyzing and Evaluating Online Sources
Sectional Teaching
The sectional teaching happens twice a week, on Tuesday and Friday. For each of the sectional, the lecturer will go through a set of slides and discuss the topic for the week and the modules covered.
Group Presentation
The group presentation is a 10 minutes presentation on a topic of your choice. The aim of the task is to demonstrate what we have learnt in the module and how we can apply it to retell a fairy tale.
The assessment criteria for the group presentation is as follows:
- Comprehension (Based on Barrett’s Taxonomy of Comprehension)
- Critical Thinking
- Style (Quality of delivery, visuals, production & creativity)
Group Project
We have to develop a way of processing and evaluate information and demonstrate that it works by using it on 2 different sources of information. We will have to use our rubric on 1 of them and the other will be an impromptu evaluation sent 2 days before our class presentation on our rubric.
Panel Discussion
We have to find a sub-topic within an umbrella topic that we want to focus on and do the following
- Brainstorm interesting angles/issues for the topic
- Choose 1 topic to read up on and share 1 article with the rest of the group
- Read up all the articles before the panel discussion
- Discuss the sub-topic at the panel.
- Answer the Q&A from the audience
Position Paper
The paper is a 700-850 word essay. We have to choose one question to focus on. This is similar to writing an argumentative essay.
The paper was due in week 11.
Wildcards
We are given 4 minus to read/watch/listen to a prompt. After the prompt, we will have to speak on the prompt for 1 to 2 minutes and how we have used the critical thinking skills we have learnt in class to talk about it.
Class Participation
Class participation is graded based on the following:
- Attendance
- Not being late
- Asking / Answering questions
- Hand in homework on time
- Provide >= 3 comments on content of other’s work
Ratings
Workload (7/10) Moderate
The workload for this module is moderate. As someone who does not like writing essays, it took a lot of time out of me to write the essays.
Organization (8/10)
I felt that the organization of the module was good. My lecturer was changed halfway through the semester and the new lecturer imposed a lot of changes to the module for us.
Learning (6/10)
I felt that I did not learn as much as I should due to my disinterest in most of the module.
Enjoyment (5/10)
I did not enjoy the module as languages (Not programming ones) are not my cup of tea.
Usefulness (7/10)
The module is very useful for differentiating between fake and real news and how to gauge how credible a written/spoken source is. It also allowed me to think more critically about the things I read and hear.
Overalls
Overall, I would not take this module if I had a choice. But if you want to improve your critical thinking skills, writing skills and presentation skills, this module is for you.
- Expected Grade: B+
- Actual Grade: A-