Reflection: My Ability to Critique an Article (Online activity 3.1)

What?

I have always thought that critiquing an article was about finding something wrong with it, but after reading the guidelines on the Massey University Owll site about how to critique an article, I discovered that this isn't the case. It is about identifying, evaluating and responding to the author's ideas. Out of the two articles we could choose from to critique, I chose Bonk & Khoo's (2014) article on Online Motivation from Four Perspectives because it was easy for me to relate it to the education context I work in being a blended primary school classroom. It also referred to four perspectives I had recently read a lot about for assignments I had completed, so then looking at motivation through the lens of each of these perspectives became a lot easier to understand and was interesting. I found the guiding questions provided by Maggie very helpful for completing this critique.

So What?

I feel that I did an average job of critiquing the article, as it was my very first article critique that I can remember doing. It was very interesting reading the critiques of others from the class as they had brought up other aspects of the article that I hadn't really thought about which broadened my understanding. I was particularly impressed with Jennifer Moffett's critique of the article as she highlighted areas I wasn't sure about and was very clear, objective and fair which is what a good article critique should be. She also did some background research on the author's which is something I didn't even think to do. This showed me that her article critique was very thorough. Nikiforos et al. (2018) discuss how virtual learning communities promote interactions that support learning and lead to deeper understanding for its members. I feel this experience and online interaction provides a prime example of this happening for myself.

Now What?

I think there is definitely room for improvement in my skills to critique an article as I find that I get caught up in certain ideas instead of looking at the bigger picture. In hindsight I wish that I had looked at the Massey University Owll site sooner to clarify my understanding about what an article critique involves. This reflective piece was completed using Rolfe et al. (2001) model of reflection because I feel it guided my thinking in a simple and effective way. Although this reflective model is designed for nursing, it can be applied to any profession. This reflection links to learning outcome 1 in this course as it prompted me to reflect on my own ability to critique an article in comparison to others about current motivational strategies in digital education.

References:

Bonk, C. J., & Khoo, E. L. (2014). Online motivation from four perspectives. Adding some TEC-VARIETY : 100+ activities for motivating and retaining learners online. Open World Books.

Massey University. (n.d). Article Critique. Retrieved May 19, 2020, from https://owll.massey.ac.nz/assignment-types/article-critique.php

 Nikiforos, S., Tzanavaris, S., & Kermanidis, K.-L. (2018). Virtual learning communities (VLCs) rethinking: The virtualization process. Journal of Computers in Education, 5(4), 481-497. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40692-018-0125-x

Rolfe, G., Freshwater, D., & Jasper, M. (2001). Critical reflection for nursing and the helping professions: A user’s guide. Palgrave Basingstoke.

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