Online Course
Critical Thinking at University: An Introduction
All-Time Top 100- Provider FutureLearn
- Cost Free Online Course (Audit)
- Session Upcoming
- Language English
- Certificate $44 Certificate Available
- Effort 4 hours a week
- Duration 2 weeks long
- Learn more about MOOCs
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Overview
Make sure you have the critical thinking skills required for university
Critical thinking is a vital skill at university and later in life. University study introduces you to new concepts, ways of learning and requires you to think critically. You need to know how to question information sources and how to evaluate different arguments.
Despite critical thinking being so important, students are often unprepared when they start their studies. This course will show you what critical thinking skills you need at university level, how they can be applied to different disciplines and how to use practical strategies to develop these skills for a successful academic life.
This course is for anyone preparing to study at university level or for current university students. You may be an undergraduate or a new taught postgraduate student who might be unfamiliar with studying in the UK. If you want to have a successful academic life, this course will give you the foundations whatever your discipline at university.
Critical thinking skills are also valued later life by employers, so if you want to refresh your skills, this practical online course is for you.
The course is part of the academic skills courses portfolio at the University of Leeds aiming to improve skills required for academic study.
Taught by
Jiani Liu and Michelle Schneider
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- #1 in Subjects / Self Improvement / Critical Thinking
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Reviews for FutureLearn's Critical Thinking at University: An Introduction Based on 48 reviews
- 5 stars 79%
- 4 stars 21%
- 3 star 0%
- 2 star 0%
- 1 star 0%
Did you take this course? Share your experience with other students.
Write a review- 1
Anonymous
Anonymous
completed this course.
I think this course is really useful, especially for beginners. It introduces the concepts of critical thinking in the first week and then provides more examples and exercises for learners to get an idea of what they mean theoretically in the first week, enabling learners to have a go with it and understand the strategies better:) Hope the course can contain more sample responses, which can further help beginners to briefly understand what a good critical thinking looks like. Also, more exercises will be certainly helpful:)
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Anonymous
Anonymous
completed this course.
A very helpful course - I'd say it took me a bit more than the 4 hours a week to complete, but it is what you make it as well I think. I'd recommend this to anyone looking for some support in their first weeks at university, or anyone like me who just wishes to improve their personal critical thinking skills.
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Anonymous
Anonymous
completed this course.
Course was informative, I found it useful as it taught me how to be a critical thinker which will be useful for my university life plus it transferable too. I would recommend this course as to any one going to university as it help you to critique article and how to not get overwhelmed with information that out there. Try it you won't be disappointed.
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Anonymous
Anonymous
completed this course.
The course was very systematic and scaffolded very well. It has done well to make concise and clear a complex thought process. The Critical Thinking Model especially was useful and very useable in laying out thoughts in an organized way.
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Anonymous
Anonymous
completed this course.
I have just completed yr 1 of a degree. This course has just explained very clearly what I should have been doing when I wasn't altogether sure. I totally get it now. It all makes sense. Sometimes it is simply how a thing is explained to you which makes all the difference to your understanding. Thank you
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Anonymous
Anonymous
is taking this course right now.
I found this course to be a very useful introduction especially as I am going back to school after an extended period. It really gave be a lot to consider and to think about as I go back to the basics. I would highly recommend it for new students.
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Desu D
by
Desu
completed this course, spending 3 hours a week on it and found the course difficulty to be medium.
Great course and awesome materials.
I haven't been able to access the course fully, since I am already a fan of critical thinking and apparently practice it everyday.
Still, the tools the course gives the learner are really useful and now, after completing the course, it is all about applying them to university classes.
I especially liked the videos of learners who give their review of the Critical thinking class they have taken(unclear if it was the same MOOC). There are also great possibilities for further reading by the links provided in the course.
I agree with other review, I hope the course would contain more sample responses. And also more assessments to practice and strengthen the knowledge given. I felt I am a bit vague about using the tools.
It's more like 4,5 than 4!
I haven't been able to access the course fully, since I am already a fan of critical thinking and apparently practice it everyday.
Still, the tools the course gives the learner are really useful and now, after completing the course, it is all about applying them to university classes.
I especially liked the videos of learners who give their review of the Critical thinking class they have taken(unclear if it was the same MOOC). There are also great possibilities for further reading by the links provided in the course.
I agree with other review, I hope the course would contain more sample responses. And also more assessments to practice and strengthen the knowledge given. I felt I am a bit vague about using the tools.
It's more like 4,5 than 4!
Was this review helpful to you?
Yes
Anonymous
Anonymous
completed this course.
I think that the information I have learnt during the course will be beneficial for me to be successful in my career. In this course, I've learnt:
-what the critical thinking means,
-which stages a person should follow to make tudy subjects better,
-which challenges a person may encounter while thinking ciritically,
-how to make good notes to develop the subject knowlege,
-the differences between good and less critical engagement,
-how to create an action plan.
I really believe that I will use the information I've learnt in this course for my study subjects.
-what the critical thinking means,
-which stages a person should follow to make tudy subjects better,
-which challenges a person may encounter while thinking ciritically,
-how to make good notes to develop the subject knowlege,
-the differences between good and less critical engagement,
-how to create an action plan.
I really believe that I will use the information I've learnt in this course for my study subjects.
Was this review helpful to you?
Yes
Shane
completed this course.
This course has taught me skills that I wish I had when I did my Undergraduate degree 30+ years ago. It has also provided me with very good links to various sources of information at UoL.
I found this course very useful in the sense that it has given me a insight in how to approach the Masters I am about to begin at the end of this month. Also confidence that there are resources to help me along the way.
Thank you for a very informative course. It was presented very well and at a good pace.
I found this course very useful in the sense that it has given me a insight in how to approach the Masters I am about to begin at the end of this month. Also confidence that there are resources to help me along the way.
Thank you for a very informative course. It was presented very well and at a good pace.
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Yes
Anonymous
Anonymous
completed this course.
The course I used as a refresher, I have a BA and a MA, but we all get rusty over time. I enjoyed the course, kept revisiting it over the two weeks when I had a spare moment to myself. For anyone new to academic study I wholeheartedly recommend this course. It will stand you in good practice for the years ahead.
If you want to fire up the synapses and get the brain ticking better this course is a useful refresher with some good hyperlinks to more modern resources.
William D
If you want to fire up the synapses and get the brain ticking better this course is a useful refresher with some good hyperlinks to more modern resources.
William D
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Jasraj
is taking this course right now, spending 4 hours a week on it and found the course difficulty to be very easy.
This course is absolutely stunning in terms of its advice with the resources and the challenges that I am faced with where you are able to build a visual picture of university with the type of language your essays should be structured in - description, analysis and evaluation. Overall, this is an amazing course which will benefit you a lot in grasping information and adapting to a university environment, building your sophisticated knowledge.
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Moe
completed this course, spending 3 hours a week on it and found the course difficulty to be medium.
A very useful class to take before you go to Uni or during you are taking Uni class. Not just only great for academic purposes but also helpful for your long life thinking skills.
The class structure is composed of articles, exercises, videos, and discussions. Most of the sections, ask you to comment your thought. Writing comments push me a lot to reflect my experiences and lead me to understand the other people (peer) thoughts.
The class structure is composed of articles, exercises, videos, and discussions. Most of the sections, ask you to comment your thought. Writing comments push me a lot to reflect my experiences and lead me to understand the other people (peer) thoughts.
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Anonymous
Anonymous
completed this course.
I found this course valuable. I chose to take longer than the 8 hours because I was interested and explored resources more than necessary to complete the steps, but I could have completed it in the assigned time by satisficing. I feel that I have a better understanding of critical thinking, and of why the academic world works the way that it does, and have been given tools that I will find useful going forward.
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Anonymous
Anonymous
is taking this course right now.
I wish I knew about this learning platform earlier. I am very pleased with explanations made to bring out meaning to critical thinking. Though I've read several critical thinking books and attend lectures, I was still struggling with analysis essay. This learning has broaden my knowledge of critical thinking and I hope to see better marks when I write next essay. Thanks for putting this up.
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Anonymous
Anonymous
is taking this course right now.
Such an informative course - i would really recommend all students starting off with their tertiary journey to do it so that they can be better equipped for their academic writing. Educators and librarians may also find it useful. I didn't take the course as a student but as a librarian to enhance my skills so that i can effectively transfer them to the students:) Thank you so much!
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Chantel
completed this course, spending 5 hours a week on it and found the course difficulty to be very easy.
This course, though short, I highly recommend to anyone that is thinking of studying at University or even is studying at the current time at University. This is an area that I have struggled with and nothing at my University was able to make it clear, this course broke through the confusion and allowed the knowledge to just flow through. Wish I took this unit before starting my studies.
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Anonymous
Anonymous
completed this course.
This course is very helpful for those who want to begin their university journey. It provide the necessary information, knowledge and academic skill a student requires in order to become a successful in the academic arena. I highly recommend it to those intending to join a university or for those who want to sharpen their critical thinking skills.
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Anonymous
Anonymous
completed this course.
This course is designed to educate undergraduate university students how they can learn by critical thinking. So it starts with what the critical thinking is, and how it would contribute for a professional after graduation. The core concept is a kind of universal so if you are the first time to touch upon the critical thinking, it’ll be beneficial.
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Anonymous
Anonymous
completed this course.
This course is well structured and helpful. Full of significant excercises and examples to guide you along the way. through the use of peer-to-peer reviews you are also able to get feedback from other learners and improve by thinking about what you could have done better as well as comparing your work with others'.
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Anonymous
Anonymous
is taking this course right now.
Through out the course it has provided me with good evidence what I will use for one of my assignments.
It was thought through, and gave me to the point explanations to each aspect of the course. I really enjoyed the interactive activities as it gave me a chance to reflect on what I had just learnt .
It was thought through, and gave me to the point explanations to each aspect of the course. I really enjoyed the interactive activities as it gave me a chance to reflect on what I had just learnt .
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