Alien from another Universe-ity

Job postings often state that the successful applicant must have superior critical thinking and problem-solving skills. Yet employers tell college administrators that graduates, both from undergraduate and graduate programs, often lack these skills.
Having read this week’s assigned materials, how would you define critical thinking? 
Why are employers making these comments? Are they justified?

          In the modern world, everyone knows that critical thinking is very important. At the same time, not everybody can explain what it means and have a very vague idea of what it actually is. Some people truly believe that critical thinking is all about criticism and the ability to find and explain weak points of some ideas but actually it is also about finding the value of these ideas and clearly state why you agree or disagree with something, why it is good or bad and consider all points of view and evidence before making any decisions.

Who is at fault for plagiarizing, and why? How could plagiarism have been avoided?

Why do students plagiarize? 

How will you ensure that you will not inadvertently plagiarize while engaged in your studies at UoPeople? Be sure to discuss at least two strategies you will use to prevent plagiarism in your work and to address the importance of APA citation and references. 

         Even though many students believe that they won’t be caught plagiarizing (especially if they “stole” the idea or a short sentence only and paraphrased them well), for an instructor it is not that difficult to find out that these words are not unique – they know a lot about the subject and read too many books, articles, and works, after all.

Self-assessment and peer-assessment are very important for improving your work. The problem is, that usually when we reread our own writing, we believe that it is perfect – that is why we need someone else to assess it afterward. It often happens, that your peers give you clearer advice because they are on your level. In fact, this is also the reason why some students need peer assessment – they might be scared of the teacher’s feedback, and it’s often easier to accept your peers’ ideas and advice. Peers assessment also helps to become active learners instead of being passive ones which leads to gaining more knowledge and skills needed in the modern collaborative world. Many universities start using this system because it has too many advantages – from learning how to express one’s thoughts to building and honing critical thinking skills.

Is writing easy for you, or difficult? Why?

What strategies are helpful for college-level writing assignments? How do you start your assignments that require a lot of writing?

When you write, what is the difference between writing a paper and writing a discussion post? What is the difference between writing an initial discussion post and a response to one of your classmates?

Writing might seem a very easy task but, usually, it doesn’t feel so after I actually start doing it. At first, I have so many ideas of what and how I can mention but when I begin writing I suddenly realize that none of my thoughts and ideas can be used to write the introduction. It is always extremely difficult to start – I know what will be in the middle of my text, but usually, it is almost a torture to come up with a good introduction. Probably, I spend most of my time trying to simply begin my writing assignments. The funny thing is, that after I finally write the body paragraphs, I simply cannot stop. I want to write more and more, so writing the conclusion is very difficult for me, too.

What are the benefits of collaborative learning? How does University of the People integrate community-oriented learning into the classroom? In your response, be sure to share any experience you have with collaborative learning.

Nowadays most modern institutions more or less apply collaborative learning as soon as it helps to achieve greater results. I think that one of the main benefits here is the fact, that working together and discussing different subjects students feel more confident about the theoretical knowledge they get. Sharing ideas is very important: two individuals can understand the same passage differently.