Critical thinking: Basic competence in a virtual context of educational emergency

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has posed various challenges for educational institutions, notably including the adaptation of face-to-face study programs to virtual or distance education alternatives. The experience described in this paper presents the adjustment, to the latter form of study, of a subject forming part of the bachelor’s degree studies in Education Sciences at a Mexican university, bearing in mind some students’ lack of such resources as personal laptops. It also presents the need to rethink the program contents in the light of the health emergency situation. This last-mentioned aspect derives from the fact that the pandemic modified the daily social and educational dynamics, making it necessary in consequence to reposition teaching in order to adapt it to the conditions of the current situation. For this reason, the following aspects were analyzed and reconsidered: 1) learning objectives and professional competences; 2) methodology of teaching and learning; and 3) evaluation strategies. The focus of this reconsideration was the use of critical thinking as a fundamental competence for the acquisition of knowledge on the subject, together with the development of the skills involved in the learning objectives.

Keywords: Critical thinking, university education, educational adaptation, virtual education, study programs, educational emergency.