Critical thinking in asynchronous online discussions: examining the role of the student facilitator

Abstract

This paper is part of a larger study that investigates the types of facilitation techniques exhibited by student facilitators and how these techniques may foster in-depth levels of critical thinking in asynchronous online discussions. Data were collected from ten discussion forums, involving education major students. The top 30% of forums in terms of the most number of in-depth critical thinking incidences were first identified (i.e., higher-level group). Next, the bottom 30% forums were identified as the lower-level critical thinking group. Results indicated that student facilitators in the higher-level group acknowledged the participants’ contributions, and posted more questions than their counterparts in the lower-level forums. Facilitators in the high-level group also tended to pose questions throughout the entire discussion, unlike those in the lower-level group who only posted questions at the start of the discussion. Six types of questioning techniques were found. Directions for future research are proposed.