How can you get the most out of an online college degree that requires you to develop your critical thinking skills? A college degree is not about amassing information. It is more about ways of thinking that have proved to be productive; namely, critical thinking skills. Such thinking separates one from sheer production-line habits of thought. One begins to see relationships in seemingly unrelated fields. For example, take the personal computer. Who would have thought in the 70s that by combining a monitor (like a television screen) a storage system (like a super file cabinet) and a keyboard (like a typewriter) you could produce an entity that we now call a home computer? Similarly, who, in the middle of the last century, would imagine the number of online degree courses available to college students today? One had to break through limited thinking in order to arrive at this new synthesis. What kinds of breakthroughs will you discover? How can you stretch yourself as you earn your online college degree? Let us examine the history of this line of thought.

Psychologists and philosophers have sought to articulate the systems of thought underlying critical thinking. One such system was Bloom’s Taxonomy. In 1956, a group of psychologists, headed by Benjamin J. Bloom, met in New York City to identify the cognitive basis for classifying educational objectives. Later, objectives were classified for the affective and psychomotor domains as well. This new classification system was an enormous breakthrough, for education had generally been thought of as an amassing of facts (importance was assigned by the teacher.) But Bloom’s committee expanded the range of thought applicable as a knowledge base.

On Line College Courses Encourage Thinking

Bloom’s research provides a way for students to empower themselves with study skills that may be applied to any discipline. Let us use the study of literature as an example:

1. Knowledge: Imagine that you memorize the definition of a Shakespearean sonnet. Then imagine that you memorize a Shakespearean sonnet. These are examples of the recall of factual material. Can you name the states and the capitals? Can you give the dates of important battles of WW2? Notice how quiz shows are organized. Almost always, they are organized around the recall of factual information. Memory and focus on factual information are the basis of this level of cognition. But human thinking goes far beyond the recall of information. How can we learn to conceptualize information? To apply it? To analyze it? Synthesize it? Let us start with comprehension.

2. Comprehension: Imagine that you paraphrase a Shakespearean sonnet. Imagine that you express the same idea Shakespeare had when he wrote the sonnet. You may say this is impossible, but you can, nevertheless, offer an interpretation. Your view may differ from mine, but both are based on the same poem.

3. Application: Imagine that you use a Shakespearean Sonnet to express love for mate and you quote the lines: love is not love that alter when it alteration finds. This line seems appropriate to you to express the steadfastness of mature love…a love that is not subject to the ordinary upsets of everyday living, not to mention the crises one must endure.

4. Analysis Imagine that you take apart (discern) the components of a Shakespearean sonnet and find that it is 14 lines, 3 quatrains, and a concluding couplet. It is written in iambic pentameter and has a rhyme scheme of ABABCDCDEFEFGG. You find that this analysis make s even more sense when you compare it with other kinds of sonnets.

5. Synthesis: You try your hand at writing a Shakespearean sonnet. You will begin to experience the rhythms and the rhyme and how these elements are tied to the theme.

6. Evaluation: You rank the quality of three Shakespearean sonnets. Which is best? Why?

Bloom found that teachers typically ask questions requiring the lowest level of cognition (factual recall), 95% of the time. He also pointed out that emotive and physical skills and objectives based on these domains were practically nonexistent. However, if you use the above taxonomy you will go far beyond factual recall. Bloom’s motive was not to denigrate factual recall. It is foundational to knowledge. However, human intelligence is capable of exploring far more dimensions of intellect than memory of facts alone. Out of such self study lies the possibility of creation. What will you create while you are earning your online college degree?

Online College Classes

Attending online college classes will give you the opportunity to develop and exercise your critical thinking skills. These intellectual skills will become more and important to your personal and professional future as time goes on. Thre is no doubt that increasing critial thinking skills will improve you academic achievements while you earn you online bachelot degree or worth through your online training courses.