Leading by Bad Example: Using Lousy Sources to Bolster Critical Thinking

Type of Presentation

Individual paper/presentation

Conference Strand

Critical Literacy

Target Audience

Higher Education

Second Target Audience

K-12

Location

Session 2 Papers

Relevance

By encouraging critical thinking and dissection of outside sources and sample mentor texts, students are better able to evaluate their own choices and processes in their final projects.

Abstract

During assignment sequences, students are typically shown examples of ideal projects. Textbooks are full of strong student examples that highlight what a stellar response to the assignment would be. However, only using strong elements ignores a valuable lesson to be learned from critically analyzing bad examples. Being able to explain the weaknesses present in a bad example helps students understand concepts on a deeper level and apply them to their own work. This presentation explores the non-traditional use of bad examples as a means to bolster students' understanding of key concepts in their courses. During our session, we will provide attendees with examples of assignments that are currently being used in an English Composition course and a Technical Writing course. Part of the assignments include examining outrageous and gnarly outside sources and lousy published user manuals that illustrate horrifying design elements. Students benefit from the exploration of these weak real-world published documents and websites, as the students learn to critically pick apart the inherent issues related to information literacy and user experience. Students learn what to avoid and why, which strengthens their own critical thinking about their subject. These ideas can be applied to any course at any level using writing, document design, and/or outside research and citation.

Presentation Description

This presentation explores the non-traditional use of bad examples as a means to bolster students' understanding of key concepts in their courses. We will provide examples of assignments that benefit from the exploration of weak or bad real-world published documents and websites. Students learn what to avoid and why, which strengthens their own critical thinking about their subject.

Keywords

Outside Sources, Critical Thinking, Document Design, Writing, Practical Samples

Publication Type and Release Option

Presentation (Open Access)

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Mar 30th, 11:00 AM Mar 30th, 11:30 AM

Leading by Bad Example: Using Lousy Sources to Bolster Critical Thinking

Session 2 Papers

During assignment sequences, students are typically shown examples of ideal projects. Textbooks are full of strong student examples that highlight what a stellar response to the assignment would be. However, only using strong elements ignores a valuable lesson to be learned from critically analyzing bad examples. Being able to explain the weaknesses present in a bad example helps students understand concepts on a deeper level and apply them to their own work. This presentation explores the non-traditional use of bad examples as a means to bolster students' understanding of key concepts in their courses. During our session, we will provide attendees with examples of assignments that are currently being used in an English Composition course and a Technical Writing course. Part of the assignments include examining outrageous and gnarly outside sources and lousy published user manuals that illustrate horrifying design elements. Students benefit from the exploration of these weak real-world published documents and websites, as the students learn to critically pick apart the inherent issues related to information literacy and user experience. Students learn what to avoid and why, which strengthens their own critical thinking about their subject. These ideas can be applied to any course at any level using writing, document design, and/or outside research and citation.