In today’s fast-paced information environment, critical thinking is needed to evaluate information that circulates instantaneously through social networks. This requires a careful analysis of the information we engage with through a wide range of sources. Metaliterate learners pay attention to the information created by authors and producers who may or may not be experts or authorities on a particular topic. While the online environment makes it possible for many people to share their ideas, this does not mean that every document we encounter is legitimate or truthful. Critical thinking reinforces the ability to identify experts and expert knowledge and differentiate those views from someone without expertise who is simply expressing an opinion.

Lifelong metaliterate learners continuously gain new knowledge, both as self-directed individuals and in collaboration with others. They think critically and transfer this ability to new learning situations and experiences. This requires evaluating and then re-evaluating information as an ongoing process throughout one’s lifetime. A life lesson we learn today, for instance, may serve us well in another setting or into the future. In addition, circumstances may change through the discovery of new evidence, requiring us to always take another look and reassess the information and the situation in which that information is presented.

Through the following activities you will explore ways to effectively evaluate and re-evaluate information that you consume. You will learn about how critical thinking is defined and apply it when presenting your own ideas through the content you produce and share. Finally, you will assess the ways that you engage with these concepts and take them with you on a lifetime journey of discovery.