Maria Sanders

While there is no shortage of scholarship on the topic, there appears to be no widely accepted definition of critical thinking. This is coupled with the troublesome fact that those in higher education often believe their definitions are the norm. In this article, we demonstrate a lack of uniformity through a representative sample of historically influential definitions for critical thinking. These definitions are then classified into two distinct categories: context specific and cross-disciplinary definitions. From this lack of uniformity we argue that at least two problems in higher education arise: lack of proper critical thinking assessment and difficulty in interdisciplinary collaboration on the topic of critical thinking. Given the current focus on critical thinking assessment alongside a movement toward greater interdisciplinary collaboration within higher education, we conclude with a call for a uniform definition of critical thinking.

This essay provides a summary of the steps taken to build a critical thinking based faculty learning community (CTB-FLC) on the Lone Star College – CyFair campus across various disciplines. The author shares the motivations driving this project, the challenges and successes of the ten participating members, and the plans for future CTB-FLCs. The primary purpose of this essay is to encourage other colleges to build similar critical thinking based faculty learning communities as professional development opportunities on their campuses. The essay culminates with a set of recommendations which result from the lessons learned during the implementation of a CTB-FLC from 2008 to 2010 at Lone Star College – CyFair.