Abstract
This paper explores the link between critical thinking and active participation in an online course and essays. Weekly discussion topics were set up in a first year university Child and Youth Studies course. Students were categorized into active and non-active participants depending on the number of contributions they made to the online discussions. Toward the end of the course, each student wrote an essay about one of the discussion topics. The nature and quality of critical thinking in the discussions and the essays of active and non-active course participants was compared using the Newman Webb and Cochrane (1995) content analysis technique. While active and non-active course participants exhibited the same general pattern of critical thinking ratios (for individual indicators of critical thinking) in the discussions and their essays, the essays of active participants consistently evidenced greater depth of critical thought. The finding holds implication for large online courses where students are placed into groups at random.
| Keywords: | critical thinking; active participation; online discussions and essays |
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