Keywords: Web 2.0, Web 2.0 tools, Blogs, Wikis, pedagogical strategies, critical thinking, and critical thinking skills and dispositions.

Transcription

1 Web 2.0 tools and critical thinking skills: a study at the Eduardo Mondlane University University of Aveiro, Portugal Phd Student: Feliciana Eduardo felicianaeduardo@yahoo.com.br Supervisor: Luís Francisco M. G. Pedro Abstract Some studies claim that the pedagogical application of Web 2.0 tools can be a promotional feature for the development of critical thinking skills. In this line of thought, the present study aims to understand whether the use of Web 2.0 tools can be a decisive feature in the development of critical thinking skills for the Master students of Education Science at the Eduardo Mondlane University. In this context, the teachers enrolled have verified the lack of critical thinking skills by the students as a major drawback of this offer. The methodology adopted was action research. Data were collected by means of observation, interviews, controversial issues, document analysis, and questionnaire. An interpretive analysis of the data helped by NVivo8 software was used. Preliminary data demonstrate that the model adapted from Ennis (1987) was fundamental to verify the occurrence of abilities and dispositions of critical thinking into blogs and wiki. When pedagogically framed, blogs and wiki have shown to be viable tools to facilitate the development of critical thinking skills and dispositions on the students. Keywords: Web 2.0, Web 2.0 tools, Blogs, Wikis, pedagogical strategies, critical thinking, and critical thinking skills and dispositions. 1

2 Introduction Critical thinking may be positively affected by the application of Web 2.0 tools within the educational context. Recently, many studies indicate that student s critical thinking abilities can be fostered through the application of Web 2.0 tools. For example, Richardson (2006, quoted in Duffy & Bruns, 2006) believes that blogs, wikis, and other Web 2.0 tools have great potentiality in terms of its use in an educational context. Richardson highlights that such tools can promote critical thinking and analytical thinking and can foster creative and intuitive thinking. Duffy and Bruns (2006) further contend that when using a blog student can demonstrate their critical thinking, creativity, taking risks and making use of the language. In virtue of this, the students acquire creative skills, critical, communicative and collaborative ones that might be useful both in academic and professional contexts. In the same line of thought Cruz (2008) states that the use of Web 2.0 tools in education can boost the overall development of students' education in order to meet the demands of the labour market, more and more dynamic and constantly changing. Thus, the use of these tools can enable students to show that the skills acquired during their training are not long limited to the areas in which they specialize, but they allow them to develop an open mind and flexible capacity of being adaptive to new circumstances. From the viewpoint of McLoughlin and Lee (2007) Web 2.0 tools are viewed as a great potential to meet the needs of students, improving the learning experiences and offering opportunities for collaborative working and networking. In this line of thought, the present study seeks to understand whether the application of Web 2.0 tools can be a decisive feature in the development of critical thinking skills for the Master students of Education Science at the Eduardo Mondlane University in Mozambique. In this specific context, the teachers enrolled have verified the lack of critical thinking skills by the students as a major drawback of this offer. Thus, Web 2.0 represented a challenge to the teachers and students, especially from higher education (Coutinho & Bottentuit Junior, 2008a). The changes that took place from the implementation of Web 2.0 tools through the experimental study of some pedagogical strategies based on blogs and wiki was to foster student s critical thinking. This paper examines only preliminary data obtained from the first iteration of action research and is only answering one research question of the study. However the research entails two critical research questions. This is because the second iteration is still taking place and the answer to the other research question requires more detailed analyses, which employ data from the two iterations. Specifically it synthesises the findings from data that was collected by means of an interview, a questionnaire and observations and focus on answers to the following research question: How can Web 2.0 tools, specifically, blogs and wikis be used to promote critical thinking skills in students of Master in Education Science of the Faculty of Education? 2

3 Conceptual framework Introduction According to Hayman (2007), Web 2.0 is a cluster of Web-based services with social collaboration and sharing features and where individuals have the right to contribute, to take control and to classify information. Web 2.0 tools such as the case of blogs and wikis have been involving students in situations that require a range of skills to solve problems found in these digital learning environments (Daffy & Bruns, 2006). Such tools, for example, may lead to new demands and support on learning, even if some forms of pedagogical support are already built into them (Daffy & Bruns, 2006). The following section will discuss the potential benefits of blogs and wikis as they are gaining a growing space in the educational domain. Pedagogical uses of blogs Blogs are one of the Web 2.0 tools that are already being used in educational contexts. According to Gomes (2005) the number of teachers and students who explore blogs as a pedagogical intervention is being increasing internationally. The author characterizes the possible educational uses of blogs as follows: Blogs as a space of access to specialized information - is based on research and the inventory of blogs related to topics or issues that have possible curriculum or extracurricular frameworks. Blogs as a space to provide information by the teacher - the teacher provides information for the students; he frequently updates the blog, he is concerned to follow the approach of content in the classroom with the aid of materials available, short texts, personal comments and links to important websites. Blogs as digital portfolio - are often used in educational settings, particularly at the level of higher education. The digital portfolio is built and explored to meet several objectives as the possibility of organize and support learning and also the possibility of constituting itself as an evaluation tool. Blogs as a space for exchanging experiences and collaboration - consists of developing projects of exchanging experiences between schools or universities, which is considered a long-time pedagogical strategy used in different situations and maybe with particular emphasis on language teaching. Blogs as a space for promoting discussion - allow the driving of long-term debates. In this space can be organized debates among different groups within a class or between different groups of one or more schools or universities. This discussion is about a certain topic in which each group, or school must participate in the debate by presenting arguments from the perspective of the institution which represents. Blogs as a space for integration - are considered two different ways of its use and in both forms praises blogs as a communication medium. The first case relates to the cultural diversification of the student population in a certain school or university. In this light, the construction of collective blog in which all students are encouraged to participate with their ideas, experiences and cultural realities can be a way to boost mutual understanding and enable the integration of students who belong to restricted ethnic groups and/or cultural. The second case considers, for example, the scenario of a student who cannot attend classes for a long period of illness. The blog can serve as a means of integration for this student. 3

4 Similarly, Duffy and Bruns (2006) also systematize three possible dimensions of the pedagogical use of blogs that are described below: Within the particular academic perspective, a blog can facilitate reflections of teaching practices, categorized descriptions of resources and strategies for teaching, issues on professional challenges and suggestions for other academics. In the organizational perspective, a blog can allow an online presence information regarding schedules, events, tasks and resources online, and can also be an online space that allows students to put details of your contacts and to consult on the assessment. In the pedagogical perspective, a blog can be used as a space to support comments and students responses; may serve as a collaborative space for students to perform as reviewers of materials, comment pictures and reflections; can be a space for teachers to encourage feedback, reflections and ideas by commenting on student s tasks, can be an online gallery space for comment and criticize works, articles in progress and to leave suggestions for improvements and can support the development of a student portfolio of tasks. It was within the above framework in which the pedagogical strategies based on blogs were applied in the context of this study. Pedagogical uses of wikis A wiki is another tool that is being widely used in educational contexts. Coutinho and Bottentuit Junior (2007) argue that a wiki is a Web space that can allow the collective work of a group of people. In the educational context this tool allows students to share content, create and publish texts, developing projects in small groups, work a part of a joint project of the class or to create and maintaining the Website of the discipline or course. Similarly, Duffy and Bruns (2006) state that wikis offer an online space for collaborative writing; they are available online to any Web user or to members of a specific community. Duffy and Bruns (2006) systematize the potential benefits of using wikis in the educational settings as follows: Wikis can be used by the students to develop research projects and to add summaries of their reflections from literature-based readings. In distance learning, the instructor can publish course materials and students can edit and comment on such materials. Wikis can be used as knowledge based for teachers, to organize concepts for brainstorming, to allow a presentation in place of conventional software, like PowerPoint, and students are able to comment and to review. Wikis can be used to evaluate courses. Looking at the potential benefits of wikis identified by the authors mentioned above can be said that wikis can bring many benefits both for students and teachers. For both parties, these tools can enable the development of personal and professional skills (Gomez & Lopez, 2007). In this study, the pedagogical strategy based on wiki was applied to develop themes that integrate the module Professional Development and Lifelong Learning. Critical thinking According to Tenreiro-Vieira (2004), critical thinking plays an essential role in the adaptation, with success, to the individual, social and professional demands of the XXI century. The changes resulting from the expansion of knowledge at different levels of education and labour implies a permanent learning attitude from students and teachers in order to cope with the rapid propagation of information as well as to be able to adapt to different areas of 4

5 occupation. On this issue, Tenreiro-Vieira (2004) puts emphasis on the need for students to improve, more and more, their critical thinking skills so as to take concrete decisions, rational and solve problems related to real life situations. Facione (1990c:2) define critical thinking as purposeful, self-regulatory judgment which results in interpretation, analysis, evaluation and inference, as well as explanation of the evidential, conceptual, methodological, criteriological, or contextual considerations in which that judgment is based. In the view of Halpern (1996, quoted by Tenreiro-Vieira & Vieira, 2000), critical thinking is the application of thinking skills that improves the likelihood of attaining the desired results. In contrast, Paul and Elder (2007) describe critical thinking as being a process of analysis and evaluation of thought in order to improve it. Authors like Thompson, Martin, Richards & Branson (2003) and Tenreiro-Vieira & Vieira (2000) acknowledge that: The critical thinking skills conduct the student to be more productive and prepared to face the job market in contemporary society (Thompson et al., 2003). The contemporary technological society needs individuals capable of addressing the changes, to use their potential for critical thinking, apply the information, create and evaluate solutions in order to compete in the world labour (Tenreiro-Vieira & Vieira, 2000). Developing the potential of reflective thinking in the students requires a conscious activity, determined and systematic, which is supported by reasoned arguments and valid (Tenreiro-Vieira & Vieira, 2000). Among different authors, Robert Ennis is considered the most influential theorist in the development of the traditions of critical thinking (Fisher, 2001). According to Ennis (1985), the term critical thinking means reflective thinking and reasonable decision that's focused on what is intended to believe or do. Critical thinking skills and dispositions The relevance of both the abilities as well as the dispositions of critical thinking has been widely emphasized by several authors in the educational literature (Ennis, 1987; Sternberg, 1986; Facione, 1990c). Giancarlo and Facione (2001) claim that a conceptualization of critical thinking that focuses only on cognitive skills it is incomplete. In this line of thought, Vieira, Tenreiro-Vieira & Martins (2011), advocate that critical thinking should cover as many skills as dispositions. This is because, the skills are related to the more cognitive issues, while dispositions to the more emotive aspects. From a comprehensive point of view, Facione (2006, 2009) describes cognitive skills as being the mental skills and the attitudes that a critical thinker should display to justify a reasoned explanation of what he thinks. Dispositions of critical thinking refer to the individual attitudes that are oriented to particular standard of intellectual behaviour (Tishman & Andrade, 1996). According to the literature review, several taxonomies of critical thinking have been developed (Tenreiro-Vieira & Vieira, 2000) and efforts have been done in order to indentify the lists of abilities and dispositions of critical thinking (Vieira et al., 2011). For example, the taxonomy of Robert Ennis is a list of abilities and dispositions which are relevant for the process of critical thinking. Besides this taxonomy being typology of abilities and dispositions, it also considers that critical thinking results from interaction between a set of dispositions towards critical thinking and a range of abilities in order to foster critical thinking (Sternberg, 1986). 5

6 Linking to this idea, it is evident that the intention of Robert Ennis in his taxonomy it was to provide a reasoned explanation for critical thinking. In conclusion, the author defends that his taxonomy provides significant features that enable individuals to focus on deciding what to believe and on the practice activity and it contains statements of things that individuals do or can do; it includes both dispositions and abilities; it is organized in such a way that may constitute grounds of thinking for the curriculum programs as well as for separated courses (Ennis, 1987) In this context, this study followed the philosophical taxonomy of Ennis (1987) because it is considered suitable for this research on the one side, and on the other hand it presents a clear conceptual overview of critical thinking and it is considered the one most employed in the educational domain. Thus, some key elements of his taxonomy were used to build a framework to guide the teacher s activities in order to promote critical thinking in the students. In the following figure the framework is shown. 6

7 Mean Concept Dimensions Indicators of critical thinking Abilities Sub-abilities Focusing on a question 1. Identifying or formulating a question 2. Identifying or formulating criteria for judging possible answers 3. Keeping the situation in mind Analyzing a problem 1. Identifying conclusions 2. Identifying unstated reasons 3. Seeking similarities and differences 4. Seeking the structure of an argument Abilities Asking and answering questions of clarification 1. Why? 2. What is your main point? 3. What do you mean by...? Critical thinking Knowledge about the subject, issues, learning activities Judging the credibility of a source 1. Expertise 2. Agreement among sources 3. Reputation 4. Use of established procedures 5. Ability to give reasons Dispositions Defining terms and judging definitions 1. Form: synonym; classification; equivalent expression; operational; example 2. Definitional strategy: report a meaning; stipulate a meaning; express a position Pedagogical strategies of Web 2.0 tools to foster critical thinking 1. Seek a clear statement of the thesis or question 2. Seek reasons 3. Try to be well informed 4. Use and mention credible sources 5. Try to remain relevant to the main point 6. Keep in mind the original and/or basic concern 7. Look for alternatives 8. Be open mind 9. Take a position (and change a position ) when the evidence and reasons are insufficient to do so 10. Deal in orderly manner with the parts of a complex whole 11. Use one s critical abilities 12. Be sensitive to feelings, level of knowledge, and degree of sophistication of others 13. Impartiality Figure 1: Framework to foster student s critical thinking adapted from Ennis (1987) The figure 1 represents critical thinking as a key concept, which comprises three relevant dimensions namely, knowledge, abilities and dispositions. In other words, these dimensions converge in the point where the pedagogical strategies of Web 2.0 tools are introduced in such a way to foster student s critical thinking. It also highlights some of the indicators that can orient in the observation of what critical thinking abilities and dispositions occurred by the use of pedagogical strategies based on Web 2.0 tools. 7

8 Research Methodology The present study took the form of an action research adapted from O Leary s cycles of research (Koshy, 2005:7). The research was organized in two cycles that involved four stages such as planning, acting, observing and reflecting (Kember, 2000) as illustrated in the following figure: Observe (Research/data collection Act (Implementation ) Reflect (Critical reflexivity) Plan (Strategic action) Observe Act Reflect Pedagogical strategies of using Web 2.0 tools!!!! Plan Observe Act Reflect Figure 2: Adapted from O Leary s cycles of research (Koshy, 2005:7) Plan Etc. The horizontal line introduced between action and critical reflection in the Figure 2 illustrates where the application of pedagogical strategies of Web 2.0 tools based on blogs and wiki will discontinue. The participants consisted of fourteen students registered for the academic year (2009/2010) in the master s program in Adult Education. All students registered for the module Professional Development and Lifelong Learning, which is part of the specialization phase offered in the second year of the program. In terms of gender, nine of the students were female and five were male, with ages ranging from twenty-six to forty-six. Regarding to their academic training area, there was a higher incidence in the field of Educational Science (8), followed by Communication Science, Psychology, Physical Education, Psycho-pedagogy, History and Geography (each representing 1). In relation to the professional field, the majority are teachers (8), followed by military (2), technical professional relationships, documentaries, scientific researcher and marketing adviser (each representing 1). 8

9 Description of first iteration The learning intervention was created using blogs and wiki. The implementation stage took three weeks and half, from 17 May to 11 June The class was divided into teams of 3 to 4 members. All the actions are illustrated in the Table 1. Table 1: Implementation of the intervention Week Themes Actions Web 2.0 tools: Training on the creation - Administration of questionnaire of blog and wiki - Creation of working groups - Collaborative decisions of the assessment criteria - allocation of the working themes - Training on the use of blog and wiki - Practice on the creation of blog and wiki through the following services: and 17/05 21/05 24/05 28/05 31/05 04/06 07/06 11/06 Social developments in the relationship between learning and work Learning at work: human resource development Learning for obtaining employment: vocational training projects Tools for educators: skills and competencies Finalizing all tasks - Consulting Lecturers Presenting the final product- the class wiki - The students were encouraged to create an account - Reading and synthesizing Martins (1999) chapter Individual task in the blog of group - Discussion about social developments in the relationship between learning and work and its consequences for the Adult Education group task into wiki of the class - Researching articles and relevant websites on the Internet to sustain the debate s topic into blog of discussion - Lecturers provided a controversial question about the theme in order to generate discussion into blog of discussion - Topic to be developed in group of students into wiki of class - Compose a list of questions about practices of Human Resource Development (HRD) based on the available literature. Make a visit to one Department of Human Resource Development and interview a person about his/her HRD practices. Examine the practices of Human Resource Development obtained and then write an essay that analyzes and proposes to improve such practices - task in group into wiki of class - Lecturers provided a controversial question on the topic into blog for promoting discussion - Researching articles and relevant websites on the Internet about the topic to support the argument - Topic to be developed in group of students into wiki of class - Make a visit to a place of training / vocational education and making analysis of its functioning by linking it to the labour context - Lecturers provided a controversial question on the topic into blog of discussion - Researching articles and relevant websites on the Internet about the topic to sustain the question - Topic to be developed in group into wiki of class - Interviewing an employee of a company to obtain information on the competencies required in this enterprise, in order to develop the corresponding competence profile - Lecturers provided a controversial question on the topic into blog of discussion - Researching articles and relevant websites on the Internet about the topic to sustain the question - Topic to be developed in group of students into wiki of class - Presentation of the final product wiki of the class - Administration of interviews to the students 9

10 During the implementation stage, 14 questionnaires were administered to students in order to attain evidences about their level of knowledge and skills on ICTs usage and later offered training on the use of blogs and wikis. It was also in this stage in which the researcher carefully observed systematically all the events and made relevant data collection. In addition, 14 interviews were undertaken during the last week of the class. The interview aimed to understand and evaluate to what extent the students have acquired and/or developed a range of critical thinking abilities during the running module. All interviews were recorded and transcript. In short, the stage of observation occurred simultaneously with the implementation stage. In the 2 nd stage the investigator played a dual role of lecturer as well as researcher, having taught in collaboration with the lecturer of the module, in the mode of blended learning by using pedagogical strategies of Web 2.0 tools. Thus, four blogs of groups; a blog for promoting debates and a wiki for class were created as the pedagogical strategies of Web 2.0 tools. Preliminary findings and discussion This section provides the answers to the research question mentioned early. Critical thinking abilities Vs types of documents 20 indicators of critical thinking abilities (adapted from Ennis, 1987) were observed in the blogs and wiki. Then similar data from blogs, wiki and interviews were analysed and clustered in the same categories using NVivo8. Table 2 shows coding references added to portion of texts that corresponding to each category of critical thinking abilities. Table 2: Critical thinking abilities Vs Types of documents Coding References Categories of critical thinking abilities Blogs Interviews Wiki Pay attention to different perspectives Explaining arguments by examples Identifying conclusions Identifying unstated reasons Look for contradictions Seeking differences Looking at the structure of an argument Seeking similarities Synthesizing or summarize Be confident on the reasons stated Assessing credibility of sources Definitional strategy Form of the definition Making value judgments Asking and answering questions of clarification Analysing a problem Indentify and formulating criteria for judging arguments Formulating a problem Identifying or formulating a question Individual perspectives Total /Categories

11 In relating to the coding references zero in Table 2 indicates that both in the blogs as well as in the wiki such critical thinking abilities was not fostered by the students. Unlike the interviews, the coding references zero indicates that the respondents did not answer the questions put to them as a way to confirm that each participant was able to develop critical thinking abilities through the learning activities undertaken throughout the module. By observing Table 2, it can be confirmed that assessing credibility of sources with coding reference 63 emerges as the most promoted by students into blogs, followed by identifying unstated reasons (26), identifying or formulating a question (20), synthesizing or summarize (13), and definitional strategy (12). In relating to wiki, if we look in the Table 2 it can be verified that the category assessing credibility of sources with the coding reference 187 appear as the most fostered by groups of students and individual students, followed by definitional strategy (38), formulating a problem (19), identifying conclusions (13), explaining arguments by examples (11) and Seeking differences (11), Identifying or formulating a question (10). In short, it can be said that the wiki (305) was the tool that most promoted critical thinking abilities in the student s activities when compared with blogs (169). This does not mean that this process cannot happen in the reverse way. Once the promotion of critical thinking abilities depends largely on how the pedagogical strategies of Web 2.0 tools are planned. In general the interviews revealed that the students paid attention to different perspectives posted by the various groups of work into blogs and wiki. As they had to moderate and assess the debates into blogs, for example, it was required more attention to judge the possible arguments. However the observations into blogs and wikis revealed that the students experienced obstacles such as phrase breaking syntax errors, errors of quotations and references, misspellings and stress, lack of textual coherence, difficulties in editing texts, in clearly define criteria for judging possible answers from controversial issues and in formulating a question. This is in accordance with the findings of Duffy and Bruns (2006) who claim that on blogs, students can demonstrate their critical thinking and they can take risks and make use of the language skills. In virtue of this, the students attain creative skills, critical, communicative and collaborative that might be useful both in academic and professional contexts. 11

12 Critical thinking abilities Vs controversial questions and discussion themes 20 indicators of critical thinking abilities (adapted from Ennis, 1987) were observed in the blogs and wiki. Then similar data from controversial questions in the blogs and the discussion s topics in the wiki were analysed and clustered in the same categories by NVivo8. The following table exemplify coding references added to a portion of texts that corresponding to each category of critical thinking abilities identified. Table 3: Critical thinking abilities Vs Controversial questions and Discussion themes Coding References Blogs Wiki Critical thinking abilities Cq-1 Cq-2 Cq-3 Cq-4 Dt-1 Dt-2 Dt-3 Dt-4 Pay attention to different perspectives Explaining arguments by examples Identifying conclusions Identifying unstated reasons Look for contradictions Seeking differences Looking at the structure of an argument Seeking similarities Synthesizing or summarize Be confident on the reasons stated Assessing credibility of sources Definitional strategy Form of the definition Making value judgments Asking and answering questions of clarification Analysing a problem Indentify and formulating criteria for judging arguments Formulating a problem Identifying or formulating a question Individual perspectives TOTAL/Coding References Cq - Controversial question Td -Discussion theme The coding references zero in the Table 3 indicate that such critical thinking ability did not occur. In the Table 3, the Cq-2 with the total of coding reference 57 appears to be the one that most motivates the students to think critically, followed by the Cq-1(35), the Cq-3 (21), and the Cq- 4 (20). It is worth noting that, a new category of critical thinking ability making value judgments (1) emerged during the analysis of the Cq-2. The Dt-3 & 4 with the total coding references 30 for each emerge as the ones that most motivates the students to think more critically, followed by the Dt-1 (25), and the Dt-2 (13). 12

13 In general, the preliminary findings in the Table 3 shows that both the controversial questions developed into blog as well as the discussions topics undertaken into wiki may allow coordinating the various critical thinking abilities. This is in accordance with the findings of Tenreiro-Vieira and Vieira (2000) who maintain that unstructured response tests are used to determine whether or not students are able to coordinate the various critical thinking abilities while working in a complex setting. Critical thinking dispositions Vs types of documents 15 indicators of critical thinking dispositions (adapted from Ennis, 1987) were observed into blogs and wiki. Then similar data from blogs, wiki and interviews were analysed and clustered in the same categories by NVivo8. The following table illustrate coding references added to a portion of texts that corresponding to each category of critical thinking dispositions. Table 3: Critical thinking dispositions Vs Types of documents Coding References Critical thinking dispositions Blogs Interviews Wiki Impartiality Deal in orderly manner with the parts of a complex whole Improve formulation of the reasoning and argument Look for alternatives Seek a clear statement of the thesis or question Seek as much precision as the issue permits Seek reasons Be sensitive to the feelings, level of knowledge and degree of sophistication of others Try to be well informed Try to remain relevant to the main point Be open-minded Keep in mind the original and /or basic concern Take a position (and change a position) when the evidences and reasons are sufficient to do so Use one s critical thinking abilities Use and mention credible sources TOTAL/Coding References The coding references zero in the Table 3 indicate that both in the blogs as well as in the wiki such critical thinking disposition did not happen. Contrary, the coding references zero relating to the interviews indicates that no questions related to such dispositions were asked to the participants. Looking at the Table 3, it can be verified that the category use and mention credible sources (177) emerges as the most fostered by students in the blogs, followed by the seek reasons (26), be open-minded (16), and seek a clear statement of the thesis or question (12). Additionally, a new category of critical thinking disposition namely Impartiality (1) emerged during the analysis. In contrast, if we look at the Table 3 it can be verified that the disposition related to use and mention credible sources (262) was the only that was promoted into wiki. 13

14 In general, the total coding references (262) both for critical thinking dispositions promoted into blogs as well as into wiki are the same. However, looking at the distribution of promoted dispositions both into blogs as into wiki, can be observed that the blog allowed to coordinate different dispositions (12) when compared with wiki that only coordinated just one (1) Critical thinking dispositions Vs controversial questions and discussion topics 15 indicators of critical thinking dispositions (adapted from Ennis, 1987) were observed into blogs and wiki. Then similar data from controversial questions in the blogs and the discussion topics into wiki were analysed and clustered in the same categories by NVivo8. The following table exemplify coding references added to a portion of texts that corresponding to each category of critical thinking dispositions. Table 4: Critical thinking dispositions Vs Controversial questions and discussion topics Coding References Blog Wiki Critical thinking dispositions Cq-1 Cq-2 Cq-3 Cq-4 Dt-1 Dt-2 Dt-3 Dt-4 Impartiality Deal in orderly manner with the parts of a complex whole Improve formulation of the reasoning and argument Look for alternatives Seek a clear statement of the thesis or question Seek as much precision as the issue permits Seek reasons Be sensitive to the feelings, level of knowledge and degree of sophistication of others Try to be well informed Try to remain relevant to the main point Be open-minded Keep in mind the original and /or basic concern Take a position (and change a position) when the evidences and reasons are sufficient to do so Use one s critical thinking abilities Use and mention credible sources TOTAL/Coding References Cq - Controversial question Td -Discussion theme The coding references zero in the Table 4 indicate that such critical thinking dispositions did not happen. If we look again at the Table 4, the Cq-2 (52) appears to be the one that most promoted the dispositions of critical thinking on the students, followed by the Cq-2 (43), the Cq-1 (31), and the Cq-4 (20). A new category of critical thinking disposition related to impartiality (1) emerged during the analysis of the Cq-1. The Dt-4 (27) emerge as the ones that most promoted the dispositions of critical thinking by students, followed by the Dt-3 (26), the Dt-1 (22), and the Dt-2 (9). 14

15 In general, the preliminary findings in the Table 4 show that both the controversial questions into blogs as well as the discussions topics into wiki promoted critical thinking dispositions. Besides this, it can be concluded also that the controversial questions in Table 4 appears to be the learning activities that better allowed the students to coordinate different dispositions of critical thinking when compared with the discussion s topics which illustrates only the occurrence of the disposition use and mention credible sources. Preliminary conclusions Preliminary findings demonstrated that it is possible to promote critical thinking abilities and dispositions in the students by means of the use of some pedagogical strategies of Web 2.0 tools, such as blogs for discussion, blogs of groups and wiki of class. However it is essential that these strategies include learning tasks that focus on critical thinking. This agrees with Vieira, Tenreiro-Vieira & Martins (2011) who affirm that the teaching strategies as well as the learning activities should involve critical thinking. Although the preliminary findings reveal that the use of pedagogical strategies of Web 2.0 tools in the module promotes student s critical thinking and dispositions, it was verified that the participants experienced obstacles during the implementation stage of the first iteration. Obstacles such as phrase breaking syntax errors, errors of quotations and references, misspellings and stress, lack of textual coherence, difficulties in editing texts, in clearly define criteria for judging possible answers from controversial issues and in formulating a question impacted negatively on the quality of responses to the problem and therefore the answers to research question. These reasons led to the decision to make some changes from one implementation cycle to the next one. Lastly, the study concluded that the model adapted from Ennis (1987) was fundamental to verify the occurrence of abilities and dispositions of critical thinking into blogs and wiki. 15

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