Strategies for effective faculty involvement in online activities aimed at promoting critical thinking and deep learning

Highly-traditional education systems that mainly offer what is known as direct instruction usually result in graduates with a surface approach to learning rather than a deep one. What is meant by deep-learning is learning that involves critical analysis, the linking of ideas and concepts, creative problem solving, and application (Harvey & Kamvounias, Higher Education Research & Development, 27(1), 31–41, doi: 10.1080/07294360701658716 2008)- all of which prepare graduates for life in the 21st Century. It is precisely this kind of deep learning that the current national educational reform initiatives in Bahrain are trying to promote, in contrast to what has usually been offered historically. Unfortunately, this noble aim is not always achieved and teaching methods need to be examined and developed, since there definitely are a lot of alternatives to stereotype lecturing in academic institutions (Annerstedt, Garza, Huang-DeVoss, Lindh & Rydmark, Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 10(2), 107–127, 2010). One such alternative suggested in this paper is that of increasing faculty involvement with students in online contexts, as a means for promoting critical thinking and deep learning.