Welcome to PSY 700, Critical Thinking, Spring 2011

Overview

Welcome to the PSY 700 Course on Critical Thinking. This course is designed for incoming cohorts to Fielding’s Media Psychology program to stimulate discussion about critical thinking, which is deemed essential for successful scholarly research and practice. The course is led by Dr. Jason Ohler and Dr. Jean-Pierre Isbouts. PSY 700 unfolds over a six-week period. The schedule is as follows:

Week #1: Feb 7-13 -- Creating a Blogfolio

Week #2: Feb 14-20 -- What is Critical Thinking

Week #3: Feb 21-27 -- The Power of Social Media

Week #4: Feb 28-March 6 -- Bias and Stereotyping on the Web

Week #5: March 8-13 -- How Marketers view the Psychology of Consumers

Week #6: March 14-20 -- Capstone Essay

How it Works

Each week runs from Monday through Sunday, and is dedicated to a particular topic.

• The first three days of the week are designed to familiarize yourself with the week’s readings and screenings.

• By Thursday 9:00 PM (PST), you should post a 2-paragraph reflection on these materials on the PSY 700 forum, which is located on Fielding’s on-line environment called Felix. Click here to go to the Felix forum.

• You should also read and respond to at least three other postings by your fellow students, and be sure to continue to engage in discussions in your own thread. All of these discussions should be concluded by Saturday evening by 9:00 PM (PST).

• Based on your initial posting and the subsequent forum discussions, you should then post your own scholarly analysis of the week’s topic in your own personal e-portfolio. Creating an eportfolio is the first week's task. To create an e-portfolio, you can do create a blog, a Google site; you can even use Facebook; whatever works. It just needs to be an organized, professional site that accommodates your work in this class.

Blogger - a good default. If you are new to this, then we recommend use Blogger. It is very simple and will do everything you need it to for this course. Go to Blogger and follow instructions for choosing a template and personalizing your blog.

After you create you e-portfolio, email me to tell me your website address. When you give me your web address, I will turn it into a link on our class website. Email me at jasonohler@gmail.com.

Your Electronic Venues in this course

You will use four primary venues to take this course:

1. The class website. That is, the website you are currently looking at.
2. Your e-Portfolio site. That is, the site you create to hold your work, described above.
3. Felix. You use this for forum reflection and peer discussion (both addressed later in this posting).
   
4. Snapgrades. This is a grading site that allows us to post the discrete grades you earn in this course. Snapgrades is addressed below.

Snapgrades

A few notes about Snapgrades.

For most courses you take at Fielding, you only turn in a few assignments. Thus, grading is easy to stay on top of. However, for this course, you turn in a number of small assignments. While we will always tell you what your grades are, you can go to Snapgrades to see them all in one place.

To check your weekly grades, go to Snapgrades. When signing on, just enter your name as it appears in the list below:

Christopher Zadeh

Janice Sequeira-Higgins

Vincent Gardner

Your temporary password is your first name, all lower case. Once you are in, you can change your password.

The first time you sign on, you may be asked for some information. If so, respond as follows:

• School: FGU
• City: Santa Barbara
• State: California

Writing Styles - Avoid blogspeak

Since Fielding’s doctoral program is primarily assessment-based (meaning, faculty read and critique papers you write to demonstrate your mastery of the theoretical material), the quality of your writing is very important. In both forum discussions and e-Portfolio essays, you should use proper grammatical English that is devoid of syntax or spelling errors. Use of incorrect English will negatively affect your grade. Colloquial English, “chat room” language or the use of slang is to be avoided, with the exception of citations. Bear in mind that this is a PhD program focused on scholarly skills of research and analysis, so that the use of proper scholarly English is essential.

Your Postings

• Forum Reflection

Each week you will post your initial reflections on the week’s topic on our class forum. You should use this reflection to summarize the key arguments presented in the week’s readings and screenings, as seen from your specific professional or academic perspective. You may certainly cite examples from your own experience to illustrate your reflections, provided the focus on the week’s conceptual ideas remains intact. We as faculty need to see that you have not only read and absorbed the theoretical material, but are able to analyze it critically, using a variety of perspectives, and in your own voice. Failure to cite relevant samples from the week’s readings will negatively affect your grade, while a cogent discussion of these topics in an imaginative and personal context will improve your grade.

• Peer Discussion

After you post your reflection, read those of your fellow students. Be sure to respond to at least three peer reflections (though we encourage you to do more, and continue to post responses as the discussion develops). In your response, identify what struck you and why, what you find particularly effective, and what areas you thought could have been further elaborated upon. The idea is not to “criticize” each other, but to foster a genuine academic discussion about important issues related to critical thinking in our modern media universe.

Since the purpose of the forum is to engender discussion, there is no set formula for writing your reflection. Use your good judgment. Imagine yourself giving a short but cogent presentation about what you’ve read to a group of friends. Therefore, the style of writing can be conversational, provided your posting adheres to the quality of writing we’ve identified in the foregoing.

Your forum reflection should be between 250 and 350 words. Responses to peer reflections can be shorter, but never less than 100 words. Remember to post your reflection no later than Thursday of each week, and complete your responses to others no later than the Saturday of each week.

• e-Portfolio Essay

At the end of the week, after you’ve digested the forum discussions and had a chance to revisit your initial reflection, it’s time to write a scholarly assessment. This is your opportunity to write a short but theoretically sound mini-essay to demonstrate a thorough understanding of the subject that is informed by the many points of view articulated during the forum discussions. Your e-portfolio posting should be a minimum of 400 and a maximum of 500 words (not including sources), and follow the following structure:

Abstract – a brief statement of the principal problem or subject matter

Treatment – a carefully drafted argument that briefly cites different conceptual perspectives on the subject, weighing the pros and cons of each point of view

Conclusion – a summary in which you argue which interpretation you find most persuasive, and why.

Sources – a listing of any and all sources used in your blog essay, including articles, books, Internet sources or media.

Since you are using an audiovisual medium, try to illustrate your key arguments with images, graphs, or (embedded) YouTube videos.

We strongly recommend you write your e-portfolio entries first in a word processing program like Word. This will enable you to write multiple drafts before posting the final version to your e-portfolio. Our experience has shown us that students who write directly to their e-portfolio score significantly lower than students who take the time to lay out their argument first, before posting it. Be sure to verify the quality of your writing and the consistency of your argument. Your e-portfolio essay is due each Sunday by 9:00 PM (PST).

Due Dates

Please post your work when it is due. Since this is a collaborative exercise, we must all work in tandem lest you deprive your fellow students of a timely opportunity to read and critique your work. Late postings will incur a penalty in grading. To reiterate, your work is due as follows:

• Your forum reflection: due each Thursday by 9:00 PM (PST)

• Your discussion postings: due each Saturday by 9:00 PM (PST)

• Your e-portfolio essay: due each Sunday by 9:00 PM (PST)

Grading Rubric

You will receive a grade each week up to a maximum of 6 points, based on (1) the quality of your initial posting and that of your responses to other student postings, and (2) the quality of your end-of-the-week blog, as follows:

Postings (3 points maximum): 1 point (=poor); 2 points (=fair); 3 points (=good)

e-Portfolio (3 points maximum): 1 point (=poor); 2 points (=fair); 3 points (=good)

Maximum total: 6 points per week.

Your media project, at the Media Boot Camp in Santa Barbara on September 13, can receive up to 5 points, and your capstone essay at the end of the course can receive up to 10 points.

Grade summary

To summarize, here the assignments and point value associated with each:

Week 1 - Setting up your e-Portfolio: 1 point (Total= 6)

Week 2- Felix postings, discussion: 3 points; your e-Portfolio posting: 3 points (Total= 6)

Week 3- Felix postings, discussion: 3 points; your e-Portfolio posting: 3 points (Total= 6)

Week 4- Felix postings, discussion: 3 points; your e-Portfolio posting: 3 points (Total= 6)

Week 5- Felix postings, discussion: 3 points; your e-Portfolio posting: 3 points (Total= 6)

Week 6- Capstone Essay: 10 points (Total= 10)

Total points possible: 40 points.

Can you redo your forum postings to increase your points? No. The discussion comes and goes too quickly to make this possible.

Can you redo your blog posting to increase your points? Yes. I wish you would.

* "thinking man" image from Clipart.com, through a paid subscription

Week #1: Creating an e-Portfolio

(Week 1: Feb 7-13/2011)

Goals, overview. This week is dedicated to getting you started by having you create your personal “e-portfolio” – that is, a social media presence that serves as your portfolio during the course. We will use Felix for student discussions.

You can use any number of blogging or other social media services to do this, from Ning to Blogger to MySpace. If you are new to this, we recommend using Blogger, simply because it is easy. But feel free to use what you are comfortable with.

You have the following tasks this week:

1. Create your e-Portfolio. If you are going to use Blogger, then go to www.blogger.com, register if you need to and pick a template. That should be all you need to do. Problems? Email Jason at jasonohler@gmail.com.
   
   
2. Let us know what your e-Portfolio address is by mailing it to me. We will maintain a list of these on this site so that your colleagues can view your work. They appear in a list on the right hand side of our class blog.
   
   
3. Post your first e-Portfolio entry. This will be a brief posting about yourself, your professional and/or academic background, and your professional objectives as a future Media Psychologist. This is your chance to introduce yourself to your fellow student cohort, as well as your faculty. Feel free to add relevant photos, videos or illustrations.


4. Lastly, make sure you can access your grade sheet at snapgrades.net. I should have sent each of you your name and password before the first week. The first time you log in you may need to enter the following:
   
   
• School: FGU
• City: Santa Barbara
• State: California

Thereafter you should only need to enter your name and password.

If you are having any troubles with this, contact Jason at jasonohler@gmail.com.

A word about successful blog or e-Portfolio management. Blogs, Google sites, Nings and other forms of social media are often misunderstood to be websites that have to be used to host public interaction. In fact, they can be private, invite-only or widely publicized. And it can be used in a variety of ways.

From a functional perspective, a media site - whether a blog, Ning or Facebook page - is simply a basic Web-page template for non-programmers (though it scales to programmers' needs if required) that can serve multiple purposes. Using social media successfully in your professional practice depends largely on choosing the appropriate metaphor for your application. Will your site function as a newsletter? A debating venue? A cooperative research project?

The metaphor for your social media site in this class is "a professional portfolio." We focus our conversation in Felix, away from your e-Portfolio site, and reserve your social media site just for your work. The question your posting should address is: Having read articles, watched media, and discussed the class material with your colleagues, what is your understanding of the topic? Use scholarly writing as you address this. Please don't use "blog speak," which tends to ramble, use too much vernacular and approach writing as though only good friends were reading it. In this case, your teachers, fellow PhD students and the professional community will be reading it, so you want it to be as professionally written as possible.

A word about the Felix discussion forum. Starting next week, there will be mandatory forum discussions as part of this class. Although you do not have to discuss this week's assignment, we have created a discussion forum should you find it helpful to talk to colleagues.

Week #2: What is critical thinking?

(Week 2: Feb 14-20/2011)

Goals, overview. This course is about “critical thinking,” which Wikipedia defines as “…purposeful and reflective judgment about what to believe or do in response to observations, experience, verbal or written expressions, or arguments.” The goal of this activity is to consider critical thinking as a perspective that is essential to you as a researcher and Media Psychology PhD student.

Activities. Go to the Wikipedia article about critical thinking and spend an hour or so reading the material and linked materials it provides. Feel free to read any other materials you wish on this topic.

Then visit The Critical Thinking Community website. It is run by Richard Paul, a long time leader in the critical thinking movement. Two provisos about the Paul material:

1. Paul focuses a good deal on education, as well as on the needs of teachers who are trying to find ways to infuse instruction with his critical thinking concepts. Thus, he makes a number of references to this focus. However, his principles are widely applicable and translate easily to any profession.


2. Paul is trying to sell his services. You will see advertisements for materials and workshops throughout his material. While this doesn't devalue his contribution, be aware of the fact that you are being pitched a service. That is, use critical thinking as you assess what it is he has to say.
   

I recommend that you spend an hour or so scanning his resources, reading those materials that resonate with you. In particular I like Critical Thinking in Everyday Life: 9 Strategies and Personal and Professional Development.

Felix discussion. Go to the Felix Forum to discuss the following question: What are the two or three most important qualities of critical thinking that you discerned from your activities this week? How will they impact your work as a media psychologist? Respond to this question, as well as at least three other posts from colleagues. Discussion concludes Saturday night.

ePortfolio posting. For your post this week, please use the heading “A definition of critical thinking,” or something similar. In a minimum of 2-3 paragraphs, post a definition of critical thinking that you have cultivated as a result of this activity. What are your “take-away” realizations as a result of this activity? As always, feel free to note any biases you suspect in the materials that were used. e-Portfolio postings must be completed by Sunday evening.

Extra links, materials for your consideration

Professor Dowden's critical thinking materials:

• definition
• specific skills
• terms

Other links:

• A working definition by Michael Scriven and Richard Paul
• The 7 Qualities of a Critical Thinker by Janet Mills, posted on the Economic Opportunity Agency's web site
  

On the lighter side

• Cartoon - Are there any questions?
• Cartoon - Eternal Questions...

("thinking woman" photo appears through a paid clipart.com subscription)

Week #3: The Power of Social Media

(Week 3: Feb 21-27/2011)

Overview, goals. The world is awash in Web 2.0, also known as the social web, also known as the read-write web because of the free easy to use tools that allow the least technical among us to create web content. there are four basic pillars of Web 2.0:

1. Multifaceted connectivity. Consider all the different ways we can connect now, through services like MySpace, blogs, wikis, listservs, email... the list goes on and on. Most of them are free, easy to use, scalable and customizable.

2. Free read-write tools. Many of the tools that characterize Web 2.0 are developed with programming languages that many people use. The result is that there are lots of tools! Most of them feature a writing component, allowing you to contribute to web content. This is quite a shift from even 10 years ago.

3. A cornucopia of content resources. Because anyone can now "write the web," many do. They create podcasts, YouTube videos, MySpace pages and much more. There are blogs, wikis and listservs about every conceivable subject, including whatever you do for a living. Most of this is free.

4. Tools for taming and organizing the cornucopia. We have gone from information tease to overload in 20 short years. How do we manage the overflow of information we now live with? Fortunately there are tools that help you deal with all of the resources you have at your disposal. Tools like del.icio.us, Furl, RSS feeds and so on, help you manage your information. And tools like Wikipedia help you join others in managing what you know on a collective basis.

The goal of this activity is to develop an understanding of some of the basic technical building blocks of the social web, as well as how the social web is shaping education, politics and the overall evolution of society.

Activities. First, go the Go to Web 2.0 site and play. This site claims to be the clearinghouse for Web 2.0 applications. You can get lost there. I would limit yourself to an hour, or whatever RL (real life) can withstand.

Next, watch these brief, no-nonsense tutorials by Common Craft about some of the basic building blocks of the social web:

• RSS Feeds
• Blogs
• Wikis
• Social bookmarking
  

Lastly, watch this keynote speech delivered by Web 2.0 specialist and author of Here Comes Everyone, Clay Shirky:

• Clay Shirky keynote

Forum discussion question: Based on your activities this week, what major impact do you think social media have on your professional life? Go to our Felix forum and provide 1-2 paragraphs about why you think so by Thursday night. Also, respond to three other posts from colleagues. Discussion concludes by Saturday night.

Enter a post on your ePortfolio, using the heading "Social Media," or something similar. Post a minimum of 3-4 paragraphs of reflection that summarize how you view the impacts of social media. Include references to the material you watched. What are you key "take away" realizations as a result of this activity? As always, feel free to note any bias you detect in the materials that you used. Remeber: e-Portfolios need to be updated by Sunday evening.

Week #4: How do we determine bias on the web?

(Week 4: Feb 28-March 6/2011)

Goals, overview. When bias is obvious, we can snicker and turn away. But what happens when it isn’t, and we keep reading or watching something because it seems reasonable in its presentation? We need special radar and special skills to deal with this situation. The goal of this activity is to consider the bias of web materials by becoming better able to understand who owns them and what bias they might bring to their presentation.

Activities. In the age of "infowhelm and mythinformation" (Jukes, 2009) we are all vulnerable to information scams. To better understand how to navigate in such a world, visit Alan Shermer's Baloney Detection kit. It is posted on Infosavvy's blog.

Next we look at Alan November's work. Alan has developed a presentation and Youtube video that explain how to use website sleuthing to understand some of the hidden biases of web material, focusing on the martinlutherking.org site as an example. Go to Alan’s materials. Read through them and follow the directions. Then watch Alan’s explanation on Youtube.

Next, go to this site, and spend an hour or so reading through it:

• Evaluating Websites, by Maryland University


• Evaluating Websites, by Purdue University

Felix discussion. Go to our Felix forum to discuss the following question: Based on your activities this week, what kinds of things will you be looking for when you read or scan web materials? Respond to this question, as well as at least three other posts from colleagues. Discussion concludes by Saturday night.

e-Portfolio posting. Please use the heading “Web bias,” or something similar. Post a minimum of 2-3 paragraphs about what you discovered about understanding the nature of bias and authenticity on the web. What are your “take-away” realizations as a result of this activity? As always, feel free to note any biases you suspect in the materials you used. e-Portfolios needs to be updated by Sunday night.

* image from clipart.com, a paid subscription service

Week #5: How do marketers view the psychology of consumers?

(Week 5: March 8-13/2011)

Goals, overview. A few notes about this week. First, this is NSO week. We will begin the week with a "live" session, during which Drs. Ohler and Isbouts will each take you through a theme of critical thinking that is close to their area of interest. Also, you will build a piece of "new media narrative" - a brief digital story or movie related to some area that is of interest to you and is related to the topics addressed at NSO.

Then, the normal rhythm of the course resumes, with Felix discussions and e-Portfolio postings. This week's subject is marketing psychology.

Marketers tend to see us in very simple terms. The book The New Positioning by Jack Trout is a good case in point. His book is widely considered to be an influential consumer psychology reference manual for marketers. In it, Trout says there are six rules about the consumer mind:

1. Minds can’t cope
2. Minds are limited
3. Minds hate confusion
4. Minds are insecure
5. Minds don’t change
6. Minds can lose focus

Are we that basic? Many advertisers certainly think so. The goal of this activity is to understand how master marketers view the psychology of the consumer, and how companies use that understanding to market their products.

Activities. We will hear about consumer psychology from two of the most successful marketing consultants in the business: Clotaire Rapaille and Frank Luntz. We will then listen to a “cool hunter” talk about her work trying to find and market “the next cool thing.”

The material for this activity is drawn from two PBS Frontline episodes. I have found sources to watch them online for free, as well as links to their transcripts. However, I recommend you either buy or rent them, as your experience of watching them will be much more enjoyable than watching them on the web. I actually own these Frontline episodes and have watched them many times over the years. The two Front Line episodes you will be watching are:

The Persuaders

• Purchase it
  
• Watch it online
  
• Read the transcript

Merchants of Cool

• Purchase it
• Watch it on Youtube
• Read the transcript

What parts to watch, focus on

The Persuaders. Watch the entire episode, but focus on the following:

• The interview with Clotaire Rapaille (approximately 42:45 to minute 51)
• The interview with Frank Luntz (starts approx. 59 minutes, ends approx. 108:20).

Merchants of Cool. Watch the entire episode, but focus on the following:

• The section on “cool hunting,” which begins approximately 6 minutes into the episode, and ends at approx. 10 minutes.

If you want to understand more about cool hunting and the deliberate creation of marketable culture, go to the Cool Hunting site and sign up for updates.

Web resources

The following resources provide insight into particular topics in this area of inquiry:

• Propaganda techniques by Cuesta College.
• This Is Your Brain- This Is Your Brain On Brands by Joe Mandese. He explores how biology and advertising interact. (Media Daily News, 11/28/06)
• How to Control a Herd of Humans, by David Robson. He explores the psychology of group think. (New Scientist, 2/4/09)
• Crack this code by Danielle Sacks, about Rapaille "taking on India" (12/19/07)
• Instructions for the Rapaille & Luntz Method, a PowerPoint presentation by Jay Robinson
• Cool hunting site - I recommend you sign up.

Felix discussion. Go to our Felix forum to discuss the following question: Based on your activities this week, how do you think advertisers view consumers? Provide a response about why you think so. Also, respond to three other posts from colleagues. Discussion concludes by Saturday night.

e-Portfolio posting. Please use the heading “Consumer psychology," or something similar for your posting. Post a minimum of 2-3 paragraphs that summarize how you view consumer psychology as a result of this activity. Include references to the material that you watched. What are your “take-away” realizations as a result of this activity? As always, feel free to note any biases you suspect in the materials that were used. Remember: e-Portfolio posts are due by Sunday evening.

* "people behind packages" image from Clipart.com, a paid subscription service.)

Week #6: Return to critical thinking

(Week 6: March 14-20/2011)

(No discussion this week.)

Overview, goals, activities. In this final week we return to the issue of critical thinking. The goal of this activity is to apply critical thinking to your critical thinking. That is, to rethink and perhaps rewrite what is in your e-Portfolio. Your have three tasks this week:

That is, to create a final capstone essay of 1-2 pages, which you post on your e-Portfolio, in which you set forth what you have learned about critical thinking. Be sure to address the following three issues in some way:

• how it has changed the way you use media,
• how it has changed your own professional practice, and
• how critical thinking will inform your ongoing research and scholarly development during this Media Psychology doctoral program.

We look forward to hearing your thoughts.

Although there is no discussion this week, we have set up a Felix discussion forum should you find it helpful to communicate with your colleagues.