Structure and Function of Argument: Introduction to Critical Thinking
Explore the underlying structures of everyday arguments and develop the tools to communicate effectively..
You will build a toolkit to engage in more constructive conversations and to actively listen to better understand others’ points of view.
What You'll Learn
Life is full of arguments—you encounter them everyday in your social and professional circles. From casually discussing what to have for dinner tonight with your family to passionately debating the best candidate to vote for in the upcoming election, arguments are a method to better educate ourselves and understand others.
All arguments share an underlying mapping structure that backs a main claim with supporting reasons, sometimes including counterpoints to anticipated objections. In order to present an argument that will clearly communicate your perspective, you must first understand the basic structure of any argument and develop your logic and critical thinking skills.
In Structure and Function of Argument: Introduction to Critical Thinking, you will engage in dynamic practice exercises to develop the ability to recognize, analyze, and construct arguments you encounter on a daily basis. You will consider the structure of an argument, focusing on the underlying organization of claims and reasoning. You will determine if the reasons support the author or speaker’s main claim, build well-constructed responses, and grow your overall English language skills. You will also test your listening skills by recognizing how things like logical fallacies, conflicting points of view, and controversial subjects can impact effective communication.
Using a tool called “argument mapping,” you will visually diagram the structure of an argument to identify how reasons connect and function in an argument. You will then apply your learnings and test your own arguments using this tool – allowing you to gauge the overall quality of your arguments and take steps to make them stronger.
By the end of the course, you will have built a toolkit to engage in more constructive conversations and to actively listen to better understand others’ points of view.
The course will be delivered via edX and connect learners around the world. By the end of the course, participants will be able to:
- Explore the shape and structures of arguments you encounter daily, helping improve your overall communication and English language skills.
- Learn how to visually map an argument, analyzing, evaluating, and optimizing the strength of your argument along the way.
- Become a better listener by seeking to understand others’ perspectives and engaging in respectful discussion and disagreement.
- Experiment with philosophical thought experiments to build your argumentation skills.
- Build the tools to improve your logical reasoning and emotional intelligence by understanding how conflict and tension can impact communication.
- Improve your ability to think critically, seek to understand underlying assumptions, and identify biases – allowing you to create more compassionate, compelling, and convincing arguments.
- Learn how to regulate your emotional response to differing points of view, expressing genuine curiosity and inquisitiveness as a means to learn from the other party.
Your Instructor
Edward J. Hall is the Norman E. Vuilleumier Professor of Philosophy at Harvard University and works on a range of topics in metaphysics and epistemology that overlap with philosophy of science. He believes that philosophical discourse always goes better if the parties involved resolutely avoid any “burden-shifting” maneuvers, and that teaching always goes better if you bring cookies.
Aidan Kestigian, Ph.D. is an Associate of the Department of Philosophy at Harvard University and the Vice President for ThinkerAnalytix (TA), an education non-profit organization. TA programs are designed to help move learning and working communities from discord to discourse by building reasoning and communication skills. Aidan received her Ph.D. in Logic, Computation, and Methodology from Carnegie Mellon University in 2018, and taught logic and ethics to college students for a decade before and during her time at TA.
Nate Otey is the Lead Curriculum Consultant for ThinkerAnalytix and received his undergraduate degree in Philosophy and Mathematics from Harvard College, where he fell in love with teaching. He then served as a Fellow in the Harvard Department of Philosophy, where he led the development of ThinkerAnalytix curriculum and partnerships. He currently teaches at Boston Trinity Academy.
Ways to take this course
When you enroll in this course, you will have the option of pursuing a Verified Certificate or Auditing the Course.
A Verified Certificate costs $209 and provides unlimited access to full course materials, activities, tests, and forums. At the end of the course, learners who earn a passing grade can receive a certificate.
Alternatively, learners can Audit the course for free and have access to select course material, activities, tests, and forums. Please note that this track does not offer a certificate for learners who earn a passing grade.
Related Courses
Rhetoric: the art of persuasive writing and public speaking.
This course is an introduction to the theory and practice of rhetoric, the art of persuasive writing and speech. In it, learners will learn to construct and defend compelling arguments, an essential skill in many settings.
The Path to Happiness: What Chinese Philosophy Teaches us about the Good Life
Join Harvard professor Michael Puett to explore ancient Chinese philosophy to challenge assumptions of what it means to be happy and live a meaningful life.
Taught by lauded Harvard professor Michael Sandel, Justice explores critical analysis of classical and contemporary theories of justice, including discussion of present-day applications.
16 Best Free Online Critical Thinking Courses
Written by Argumentful
Critical thinking is one of the most fundamental skills you could focus on. In fact, these skills are so important that many educational institutions have listed them among their central goals. Critical thinking helps you sort the true from the false.
The bad news is that not many people own these skills. Einstein famously said:
“Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I’m not sure about the former.”
The good news though is that you can improve your thinking and you can do it without breaking the bank.
Below are listed 16 of the best free online critical thinking courses with details regarding their contents.
Go on, choose your preferred course and take action today! (You can thank me later😉!)
P.S. Apart from the general critical thinking courses, I’ve included 5 specific ones which focus on today’s burning issues- fake news and climate change , as well as correctly interpreting randomized clinical trials and screening trials. See numbers 12 to 16 below.
Jump to Section
Critical reasoning for beginners, critical thinking classes at fayetteville state university, logical and critical thinking, critical thinking: fundamentals of good reasoning, philosophy and critical thinking, critical thinking & problem solving, introduction to critical thinking and logic, teaching critical thinking through art with the national gallery of art.
- Critical thinking: Reasoned Decision Making
The Science of Everyday Thinking
Critical thinking at university: an introduction, making sense of news, sorting truth from fiction: civic online reasoning, making sense of climate science denial, thinking critically: interpreting randomized clinical trials, thinking critically series: interpreting screening trials.
Offered by : University of Oxford
Description :
4 hours, 6 modules
1: The Nature of Arguments
How to recognise arguments and what the nature of an argument is
2: Different Types of Arguments
Different types of arguments, in particular deductive and inductive arguments
3: Setting Out Arguments Logic Book Style
How to identify and analyse arguments, and how to set arguments out logic book-style to make them easier to evaluate
4: What is a Good Argument? Validity and Truth
How to evaluate arguments and how to tell whether an argument is good or bad, focusing specifically on inductive arguments
5: Evaluating Arguments Part One
Evaluation of arguments – this time deductive arguments – focusing in particular on the notion of validity
6: Evaluating Arguments Part Two
Fallacies: bad arguments that can easily be mistaken for good arguments
Also available on YouTube and iTunes
Offered by : Fayetteville State University
24 videos, 24 hours
Lectures from Spring 2011 Critical Thinking classes at Fayetteville State University held by Gregory B. Sadler. The textbook used was Moore And Parker’s Critical Thinking 9th edition .
- Issues, claims, arguments
- Arguments and non-arguments
- Value Judgments
- Complex arguments, unstated premises
- Deductive and inductive arguments with implicit premises
- Deductive and inductive arguments
- Information sources
- Experts and appeal to authority
- Critical thinking and advertising
- Rhetorical devices
Offered by : University Of Auckland
8 Weeks of study, 4 hours weekly
- Identify common flaws in belief construction
- Recognise and reconstruct arguments
- Evaluate arguments as being good or bad
- Analyse arguments using basic logical tools
- Apply basic logical strategies in areas such as science, moral theories and law
Offered by : IsraelX
9 weeks, 4-6 hours per week
You can create a free account on edx.org and have access to the course for 2 months. After 2 months, you can pay £37 to get unlimited access to the course.
The objective of the course is to improve the student’s ability in the basic skills of critical thinking:
- how to recognize arguments,
- how to interpret them,
- how to evaluate them,
- how to construct them.
Lesson 1. What’s “Critical Thinking?” Lesson 2. What are Arguments Made Of? Lesson 3. From Premises to Conclusions Lesson 4. Recognizing Arguments: Introduction Lesson 5. Argument vs. The Text Containing It Lesson 6. Recognizing Conclusions Lesson 7. Arguments vs. Explanations Lesson 8. Argument Diagrams: Introduction Lesson 9. More about Argument Diagrams Lesson 10. Argument Diagrams: Examples Lesson 11. Hedges Lesson 12. Disclaimers Lesson 13. Examples Lesson 14. Rhetorical Language Lesson 15. Referential Attribution Lesson 16. Principles of Interpretation Lesson 17. Implicit Premises Lesson 18. What’s a Good Argument? Lesson 19. More Virtues of Arguments Lesson 20. Argument Ad Hominem Lesson 21. Argument Ad Verecundiam Lesson 22. Argument Ad Populum Lesson 23. Argument Ad Ignorantiam Lesson 24. Argument Ad Baculum and Ad Misericordiam Lesson 25. Venn Diagrams Lesson 26. Beyond Venn Lesson 27. Modus Ponens Lesson 28. Modus Tollens Lesson 29. Conditionals Lesson 30. Reductio Ad Absurdum Lesson 31. Process of Elimination Lesson 32. Separation of Cases Lesson 33. Truth Trees: An Example Lesson 34. How to Grow Truth Trees Lesson 35. Truth Trees: Another Example Lesson 36. Reflexive Relations Lesson 37. Symmetric Relations Lesson 38. Transitive Relations Lesson 39. Inductive Generalization Lesson 40. What’s a Good Sample? Lesson 41. The New Riddle of Induction Lesson 42. From Induction to Causation Lesson 43. Evaluating Causal Generalizations Lesson 44. Argument from Analogy: Basics Lesson 45. Argument from Analogy: Examples Lesson 46. Who Needs Analogues? Lesson 47. Inference to the Best Explanation Lesson 48. Experimentation Lesson 49. Building an Argument Lesson 50. Writing Up an Argument
Offered by : The University of Queensland
6 weeks, 1-4 hours per week
- How to think with clarity and rigour
- How to identify, analyse and construct cogent arguments
- How to think of solutions to the central problems of philosophy
- How to engage in philosophical conversations with others about topics that matter
Offered by : Rochester Institute of Technology
3 weeks, 4-6 hours per week
- How to perform strategic analysis and assessment
- How to perceive and assess a critical need and design a tailored solution
- How to identify key stakeholders and ensure their needs are met
- How to employ adaptive problem-solving
- How to work through obstacles collaboratively
- How to analyse failure to improve future performance
Offered by : Saylor.org Academy
This course will introduce you to critical thinking, informal logic, and a small amount of formal logic. Its purpose is to provide you with the basic tools of analytical reasoning, which will give you a distinctive edge in a wide variety of careers and courses of study. While many university courses focus on the presentation of content knowledge, the emphasis here is on learning how to think effectively. Although the techniques and concepts covered here are classified as philosophical, they are essential to the practice of nearly every major discipline, from the physical sciences and medicine to politics, law, and the humanities.
- Unit 1: Introduction and Meaning Analysis
- Unit 2: Argument Analysis
- Unit 3: Basic Sentential Logic
- Unit 4: Venn Diagrams
- Unit 5: Fallacies
- Unit 6: Scientific Reasoning
- Unit 7: Strategic Reasoning and Creativity
Offered by : Smithsonian Institution
16 weeks, 3-4 hours per week
- How to use Artful Thinking Routines to strengthen thinking.
- How to facilitate meaningful conversations in your classroom using art for artful learning and artful teaching.
- How to help learners of all levels develop more discerning descriptions, evidence-based reasoning, and meaningful questioning habits.
- Key strategies for using content information to push original thinking deeper.
- Exciting, immersive activities for any type of classroom.
- How to use online teaching resources from the National Gallery of Art, including downloadable Artful Thinking lesson plans
- Unit 0: Welcome (2 hours)
- Unit 1: Diving into Thinking Routines (3-4 hours)
- Unit 2: Observing and Describing (3-4 hours)
- Unit 3: Reasoning with Evidence (3-4 hours)
- Unit 4: Questioning and Investigating (3-4 hours)
Critical thinking: reasoned decision making
Offered by : Tecnológico de Monterrey
4 weeks, 5-8 hours per week
- Identify the theories that support critical thinking
- Employ a methodology for the application of critical thinking
- Relate the elements that make up the stages of critical thinking
- Analyse the standards of critical thinking practice
- Assess the responsibility of perpetuating the intellectual values of the resolution analysis
- Distinguish the vices of thought in decision making
- Apply critical thinking to groups
1. Thinking according to our times
1.1 Why critical thinking?
1.2 The exciting world of thinking and criticism
2. Evaluating our modes of thought
2.1 Intellectual values of a good thinker
2.2 Evaluating our critical thinking skills. Avoiding vices and biased thinking
3. Elements and standards of critical thinking
3.1 Elements of a critical thinking process
3.2 Standards to apply to our thinking modes
4. Articulating our decisions making process
4.1 The logic of our decisions and the behaviour derived from them
4.2 How to improve our critical thinking skills and become a fair-minded thinker
12 weeks, 2-3 hours per week
The course explores the psychology of our everyday thinking: why people believe weird things, how we form and change our opinions, why our expectations skew our judgments, and how we can make better decisions. We’ll discuss and debate topics such as placebos, the paranormal, medicine, miracles, and more.
You will use the scientific method to evaluate claims, make sense of evidence, and understand why we so often make irrational choices. You will begin to rely on slow, effortful, deliberative, analytic, and logical thinking rather than fast, automatic, instinctive, emotional, and stereotypical thinking.
- tools for how to think independently, how to be skeptical, and how to value data over personal experience.
- examining the mental shortcuts that people use and misuse, and apply this knowledge to help make better decisions, and improve critical thinking.
Offered by : University of Leeds
2 weeks, 4 hours weekly
- What is critical thinking?
- A model for critical thinking
- Why is critical thinking important at university?
- Challenges to thinking critically at university
- How can you improve your critical thinking?
- How will critical thinking help you at university?
Offered by : University of Hong Kong
4 weeks, 2-3 hours per week
This course will help you identify reliable information in news reports and become better informed about the world we live in. A discussion on journalism from the viewpoint of the news audience.
- What makes news? The blurred lines between news, promotion and entertainment.
- Why does news matter? Social sharing and the dynamics of the news cycles.
- Who provides information? How to evaluate sources in news reports.
- Where is the evidence? The process of verification.
- When should we act? Recognizing our own biases.
- How do we know what we know? Becoming an active news audience.
You’ll learn to:
- Distinguish news from opinion; media bias from audience bias; assertion from verification
- Apply critical thinking skills to examine the validity of information
- Contextualize the knowledge gained from news report
- Respond quickly to daily news events and make an informed decision
Offered by : Massachusetts Institute of Technology
9 weeks, 2-4 hours per week
Course aimed at fighting fake news and misinformation
Educators—from teachers to librarians—will learn about:
- New knowledge that can be applied in your lessons and resources for your own students.
- How to shift from ineffective information literacy practices towards the kinds of strategies employed by professional fact-checkers.
Unit 1: Search Like a Fact Checker
Unit 2: The Two Big Fact Checker Moves: Lateral Reading & Click Restraint
Unit 3: Evaluating Different Types of Evidence
Unit 4: Adapting Civic Online Reasoning
7 weeks, 2-4 hours per week
WEEK 1: Understanding The Climate Controversy During the first week of the course, we introduce the course content, interact with each other and complete an introductory survey. The week continues with an exploration of political consensus, the drivers and psychology of climate science denial and an overview of the controversy surrounding this topic.
WEEK 2: Global Warming Is Happening In week two, we will look at the indicators of global warming and myths related to temperature and glaciers.
WEEK 3: We Are Causing Global Warming Week three focuses on the ways in which humans cause climate change and the myths associated with the greenhouse effect and the rise in carbon dioxide.
WEEK 4: The Past Tells Us About The Future This week looks at the history of climate change in order to model future climate change. We also address myths related to models.
WEEK 5: We Are Feeling The Impacts Of Climate Change Week five covers climate feedbacks and the impacts of climate change on the environment, society and the weather.
WEEK 6 and 7: Responding to Denial The final weeks of the course look more closely at the psychology of science denial and debunking techniques. We also complete a peer assessment that asks students to practice debunking strategies on real myths that can be found in today’s media.
Approach: mini-lectures, video interviews, quizzes, activities, a peer assessed writing assignment, and readings.
Offered by : Stanford University
1 week, 2-3 hours
This course seeks to fulfil the clinical community’s need to improve skills in the critical evaluation of clinical research papers. Competency in critical appraisal skills can have a significant impact by improving clinical practice, quality of research projects, and peer-review of manuscripts and grants. The course will utilize efficient and engaging videos with relevant clinical examples to cover essential research methodology principles.
- Analyse the concepts of randomization and blinding in reducing bias.
- Develop strategies to critically appraise randomized clinical trials and determine if study results are valid.
- Analyse the key design features of screening studies.
- Develop strategies to critically appraise screening studies and determine if study results are valid.
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How To Think Clearly With The Top 11 Best Online Critical Thinking Courses & Classes [Free Guide]
Looking for a game-changer in the way you think about the world around you? Well, you’re exactly where you need to be to get started!
In this guide, I cover some of the best online critical thinking courses for developing your skills. With courses ranging from under an hour in length to 16-week programs, there’s something for everyone.
Also, all of these online courses will equip you with the tools and techniques you need to become a great critical thinker, so let’s get into them!
Table of Contents
Top 11 Best Online Critical Thinking Courses & Classes 2024
1. how to think differently & critically (skillshare).
In 7 easy steps, this online critical thinking course, for beginners and advanced thinkers alike, will help you see the world differently by examining different perspectives and using logic and critical reasoning to expand your mind.
Troye Bates is your instructor for this course online class, who writes a popular online blog on brain-training, and began teaching several years ago, sparked by his passion for enhancing our mental capabilities.
Through the 7-step process, students learn how to become a mental master of critical thinking, logic, and reasoning, strategy, abundance, big-picture thinking, reflecting before they act, and tons more!
Global online learning platform Skillshare is where you will find this online course. There are over 29,000 other courses available on the platform and you even get a 1-month free trial! Overall, this is one of the best critical thinking classes you can find online!
- 10 video lessons
- 1 hour and 26 minutes of content
- 271 students have taken the course
- Suited to all levels
Activate FREE Skillshare Trial
2. Critical Thinking: How to Find Out What Really Works (Skillshare)
Keen to level-up your critical thinking skills at work, school, or in day-to-day life? Critical thinking is an essential life skill, and this online course teaches you key strategies to make better life decisions.
Andre Klapper , Ph.D., is your teacher, who is a researcher, psychologist, and neuroscientist with decades of experience in working with the mind and understanding cognitive processes. This is also 1 of 9 courses Andre currently has on Skillshare.
Spread across 14 lessons over 1-hour, students will learn the reasoning fallacy, everyday examples, how to eliminate alternative explanations, how to rule out coincidences, how to draw conclusions efficiently, the scientific thinking blueprint, and tons more!
Currently, you can find this online course hosted on the global online learning platform, Skillshare. There are over 29,000 other courses available on the platform, plus you get a 1-month free trial as a new user! Overall, this is a great introductory class to enroll in.
- 14 video lessons
- 1 hour and 11 minutes
- 211 students have taken the course
- Suited to beginners
3. Welcome to critical thinking (LinkedIn Learning)
Learn how to make more thoughtful and effective decisions in every area of your life with this online critical-thinking course designed to challenge and expand your current level of thinking. Clocking in at an hour, this introductory critical thinking course is just the right length to get some learning in on your commute or while out for a run!
Leading this online course is Mike Figliuolo , the Managing Director of Thought LEADERS LLC, and an author at LinkedIn Learning. Mike is also a nationally renowned speaker, blogger, author, and teacher.
Throughout the course’s one-hour running time, students explore a series of techniques to assist with developing critical thinking skills by sharing how to redefine problems and use specific strategies such as the ‘5 Whys’, the ‘7 So Whats’, and the 80/20 rule.
You can find this online critical thinking course hosted on LinkedIn Learning, offering over 150,000 courses on a range of topics, all available to students worldwide! The expert teaching and quality content make this a not-to-miss online course!
- Approx. 1 hour of content
- Downloadable on Apple and GooglePlay for offline learning
- 312,745 people have viewed the course
Visit LinkedIn.con
4. Critical Thinking In The Workplace (Skillshare)
Next up on my list is a critical-thinking course designed specifically for the workplace. Whether you’re looking to enhance your own skills, or you’re a manager or CEO aiming to increase staff productivity, this short 50-minute course is highly recommended.
Katie Hall is your instructor, a representative of Talent Zoom, which is a company that helps businesses identify their unique workplace talents. Katie also has 3 courses on Skillshare and is dedicated to helping people succeed in their professional lives.
Some of the many topics covered in this online critical thinking course include the foundations of critical thinking, as well as understanding left, right, whole-brain thinking, consistency of ideas, building an explanation, active listening, and tons more!
For those interested, this online course is hosted on the global online learning platform, Skillshare. There are over 29,000 other courses available on the platform, plus a 1-month free trial! Overall, this is one of the best online critical thinking classes out there!
- 50 minutes of content
- 429 students have taken the course
- 2 downloadable resources
5. Critical Thinking for Better Judgment and Decision-Making (Skillshare)
Did you know that having solid critical-thinking skills leads to better decision-making and a higher quality of life as a result? This online course empowers you to make the right decisions for your life by teaching you objective and rational analysis techniques to apply to any situation you might find yourself in.
Taught by Becki Saltzman , this class is expertly led in short-format video lectures. Becki is an author, speaker, and founder of the Applied Curiosity Lab. She is focused on teaching skills to companies to improve their operations, and how their teams innovate, tackle challenges, and respond to change.
Each module of this critical thinking course covers topics such as the foundational aspect of critical thinking, how to minimize bad judgment, improving vision quality, and creating a culture of curiosity.
Hosted on LinkedIn Learning, you can access this course and then choose from more than 150,000 others taught by industry experts once you’ve completed it! Definitely a recommended short class that you can access from anywhere.
- Approx. 55 minutes of content
- 78,641 people have viewed the course
- Suited to advanced level
6. Master Cognitive Biases and Improve Your Critical Thinking (Udemy)
My next standout pick is an online critical-thinking course to fast-track your mental upgrade. Master your understanding of cognitive biases and learn the most effective strategies to improve the quality of your thinking in just under 2.5 hours!
Kevin DeLaplante Ph.D. is your course instructor, who is a philosopher and the founder of the Critical Thinker Academy. Kevin has taught more than 62,000 students in his 4 online courses on Udemy and works with groups, universities, and in 1-1 coaching for improving critical thinking.
In over 50 von-demand video lectures, students are guided through an explanation of cognitive bias is and how it relates to critical thinking. Lessons include confirmation bias, pattern-seeking, hindsight bias, and the anchoring effect, ending with some helpful strategies for debasing ideas.
Udemy is where you can access this critical thinking course, a great online course platform that offers its students over 150,000 on-demand online courses from beginner to advanced level!
- 50 video lectures
- 2 hours and 26 minutes of content
- Lifetime access
- Certificate of Completion
- 4.4/5 from 4,812 ratings
- 13,803 students have taken the course
Visit Udemy.com
7. Teaching Critical Thinking through Art with the National Gallery of Art (edX)
Are you an artist or an art enthusiast? Next up is a specialist online course examining critical thinking through an artistic lens. You’ll learn how to strengthen your thinking and facilitate meaningful conversations by applying artistic critical-thinking techniques.
As for your instructor, this online critical thinking course is offered by The Smithsonian Institute with Julie Carmean , the Museum Educator and Coordinator of Professional Development at The National Gallery of Art in Washington, United States, as your leading you.
Through 4 content units, which will take up to 20 hours to complete via self-paced learning, students investigate thinking routines, observing and describing tactics, reasoning with evidence, and questioning and investigating, receiving downloadable artful thinking lesson plans as a bonus!
You can find this online critical thinking course can be found on the nonprofit education platform edX, founded by Harvard and MIT, and offering courses form the leading worldwide universities to more than 20 million students! This particular course is one of the best online critical thinking classes I’ve found.
- 18,073 students have enrolled
- Takes 16 weeks to complete
- 3-4 hours a week of work
- Great for all levels
Visit edX.org
8. Master your Decision-Making, and Critical Thinking Skills (Udemy)
Are you looking for a comprehensive online course to improve your decision-making? You can work towards mastering good decision-making in this 4-hour online critical-thinking course that comes highly recommended with a 4.4/5 rating!
Your course instructor is Sivakami S , an experienced business leader and research/doctoral scholar who has taught over 20,000 students in his 12 online courses on Udemy. With nearly 2 decades of experience, she has led many initiatives in large corporations such as Verizon and Microsoft.
Spanning 45 video lectures presented in just over 4 hours, students learn how humans think, judge, and decide key cognitive biases, irrationality versus rationality, de-biasing techniques, logical fallacies, and so much more.
Head to Udemy to check this course out, a global online learning platform that offers more than 150,000 on-demand courses on a whole range of topics no matter your level! Overall, this online course is a great deep-dive into critical-thinking!.
- 45 video lectures
- 4 hours and 3 minutes of content
- 4.4/5 from 1,183 ratings
- 5,129 students have taken the course
- 15 downloadable resources
9. Philosophy and Critical Thinking (edX)
Another online critical thinking course that I’m excited to show you is a totally free, university-led offering for anyone who wants to improve their critical thinking skills. Over a period of 6 weeks, students learn how to use philosophical inquiry to improve your personal and professional decision-making.
Two instructors share the teaching of this online course, Professor Deborah Brown and Dr. Peter Ellerton , both lecturers and Directors of the University of Queensland Critical Thinking Project who
Students are led through critical thinking content that teaches them how to identify, analyze, and construct cogent arguments, and how to think of solutions to the central philosophical problems. There is also an option to add a verified certificate for an extra fee, for students looking for this proof of completion of the course.
edX hosts this online critical thinking course, offering more than 20 million students incredible access to online courses at leading universities across the globe. Plus, as a nonprofit, it’s totally free! Overall, a high-quality course for anyone wanting to develop critical thinking.
- 95,967 students have enrolled
- 6 weeks long
- 1-4 hours of work per week
10. Critical Thinking (Udemy)
If you’re keen to study an online critical thinking course that’s both broad and detailed, this could be the one for you! In just 3 hours, you’ll have a greater grasp of logic and reasoning to apply to every area of your life.
Presented by Joss Colchester of Systems Innovation , an eLearning platform that is focused on complex systems and system change, this course is an entry into this subject. This course is led in an accessible way, making complex ideas feel easy to understand.
Joss takes students through course content covering cognition, including evolutionary psychology, as well as informal and formal logic examples and explanations, the different types of reasoning, the elements of reasoning, and argumentation rules and strategies.
One of the best online critical thinking courses around, you can find it on Udemy, which offers its students over 150,000 on-demand online courses on critical thinking and more, from beginner to advanced level!
- 21 video lectures
- 3 hours and 5 minutes of content
- 4.3/5 from 118 ratings
- 427 students have taken the course
11. Introduction to Critical Thinking (Udemy)
If you’re a critical-thinking newbie looking to get your decision-making off to a good start, this is a brilliant beginner’s course to help you process information and make thoughtful decisions.
Teaching duo Gorden Bonne t and Carol Bloomgarden are your instructors. Golden is the author of the blog Skeptophilio, which looks at science and media through a skeptical lens. He is also a novelist and teacher of critical thinking, and various other science topics. Carol is Gorden’s wife, and she is responsible for the video production and graphic design at Skeptophilia. They both lead this course with patience and passion.
Throughout 39 on-demand video lectures, students will explore the fundamentals of critical thinking, skepticism, learn how to recognize fallacies in the media, identify questionable statistics, construct arguments, and know when scientific terms are not being used correctly.
Udemy is where you will find this critical thinking hosted, a great online course platform which offers its students over 150,000 on-demand online courses from beginner to advanced level!
Udemy was founded in 2010 and has risen to the forefront of online learning in just a decade, to become the leader in skill-based and professional online education. To learn more, also check out my other posts on NLP and CBT !
- 39 video lectures
- 1 hour and 19 minutes of content
- Course: Introduction to Critical Thinking
- 4.5/5 from 34 ratings
- 46 students have taken the course
My name is Lewis Keegan and I am the writer and editor of SkillScouter.com. I'm extremely passionate about online education and what it can do for those to better their lives. I spend most of my time blogging, hiking, and drinking coffee. I also have a Bachelor's Degree in Education and Teaching.
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