Online courses take just as much critical thinking skill as do traditional courses, sometimes more. In this study from the International Journal of Instructional Technology & Distance Learning the authors look at how students use their critical thinking skills in online courses and is full of helpful information for any student.

Research indicates that critically reflective learning provides students with an opportunity to evaluate concepts learned and apply them to their experiences, contemplating its affect on future learning. This process occurs in a learning community where student interaction and feedback fuels the learning process leading to a higher level of critical reflective thinking for the learner. The challenge for online instructors is how to incorporate critical thinking in the online environment in an effective manner.


This paper addresses the issue of critical thinking and how it is applied in an actual online environment through an interactive exercise created by the instructor. The exercise not only fuels student learning but also creates a learning community in which students interact and share ideas. The BUS105 Create-A-Problem exercise described in this paper incorporates critical thinking in the online environment to meet the goals of developing reflective critical thinking in students and to nurture and online learning community that can be used as a model for other online instructors.Via Distance Educator, an extremely useful site for deciding which online courses would be best for you.