In this fascinating episode, University of East Anglia's David Holland talks to us about critical thinking in Higher Education. Often lauded as one of the key selling points of a university education, critical thinking represents one of those higher education buzzwords that is often difficult to define, despite being used frequently across curricula as part of learning outcomes, assessments, and various standards frameworks. David helps us to unpick some of the key challenges of the concept of critical thinking, including the problem of clearly defining critical thinking as a concept, as well as some of the issues teachers face when teaching critical thinking to students. David also provides some insights into the place of critical thinking in then wider HE landscape, and also comment on what the future for critical thinking in HE might look like. David welcomes listeners to contact him if they have any further interest in the concept of critical thinking in Higher Education. You can reach David at d.holland@uea.ac.uk.
University of East Anglia's David Holland has a teaching background spanning 4 HEIs and developed many of his learning interventions in an FE setting while leading the Psychology BSc at the UEA's partner institution - City College Norwich. Since moving back across to the UEA he was awarded an institutional Teaching Fellowship in 2022 for his work developing skills and critical thinking curricula for first year students and is a deeply passionate advocate for the demystification of thinking skills, and how this can fuel improved academic literacies, standards, and outcomes
