I think a lot about teaching critical thinking skills. It is at once to my observation the area of the greatest need in our field (and in society generally), and also the subject that can have the most transformative impact on a person. Anyhow, the author of this short article claims to "have mastered the art" of teaching critical thinking in an online classroom. the recommendations are run-of-the-mill: collaboration is necessary, assessment should be formative, and guided writing and thinking prompts should be provided. Maybe. I think, though, that critical thinking involves seeing beyond surface features (that's why rote learning is so ineffective) and being able to visualize the structure of (various forms of) reasoning that lay deeper. It's about learning to see as much as it is about learning to do.
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