Developing critical thinking and discussion skills: a new online course at St Petersburg University
The ability to express yourself clearly and concisely by making a convincing argument based on logic is useful not only in studies or work but also in everyday life.
The online course "Argumentation and Critical Thinking" will help develop practical reasoning and argumentation skills. Students will learn: how to manage different modes of their mind and understand what is happening through reasoning; the rules and techniques of constructive dialogue and discussion; and basic aspects of the psychology of human relations in society.
The course contains 10 modules, the first of which introduces the basic principles of critical thinking, followed by an exploration of deductive, inductive, and truth-telling arguments. The course also explores the communication design and knowledge mapping.
The course will develop techniques for overcoming cognitive distortions and dealing with errors in reasoning. The end of the programme is devoted to useful critical thinking techniques, rhetoric, and argumentation practice.
The course can be useful for all those studying for degrees in the social sciences, humanities, natural sciences, and the hard sciences. The course is already available on the OpenEdu platform and you can enrol now!