Higher order thinking collection
This collection of digital resources has been put together to help educators save time finding materials to build students’ transferable skills. The resources in this collection can be used to help learners develop their higher order thinking skills in areas such as critical and creative thinking, problem solving, and reflective practice.
Here you will find resources from RMIT’s Learning Lab, and an open educational resource (OER) called Learning Lab Contextualised Content. There is also a selection of carefully curated OERs from outside RMIT, which educators can take as a whole, adapt, or use as a starting point to create their own resource.
Although this collection focuses on the four main skills in the list to the right, each resource gives learners a chance to build multiple sub-skills. Use the skills and sub-skills in the search bar of the tables below to find relevant resources.
At present, it is challenging to find open educational resources online which tackle some of these capabilities at a sub-skill level, but as this collection is dynamic, we hope that more materials will be developed and incorporated to address some of the less prominently featured sub-skills. We invite suggestions for additional high-quality OERs that could enhance and expand this collection.
RMIT Resources
Use the search bar in the tables below to locate resources focusing on specific skills or sub-skills from the skill set list above.
Learning Lab
Learning Lab is an RMIT Library digital resource offering support materials covering a large range of subject and skill areas. Learning Lab is currently open access, meaning it’s on the open web, and is expected to go a step further soon, becoming an OER, which can be freely used and adapted on other platforms. This is a collection of the Learning Lab tutorials which relate to higher order thinking skills.
| Page or tutorial | Module | Skills and knowledge |
|---|---|---|
| Analysing an argument | Critical thinking and argument analysis | critical analysis, critical evaluation, critical reading, bias recognition, questioning, judging and reasoning |
| Critical reading | Critical thinking and argument analysis | critical analysis, critical evaluation, critical reading, bias recognition, questioning, judging and reasoning |
| Introduction to critical thinking | Critical thinking and argument analysis | critical analysis, critical evaluation, bias recognition, questioning, judging and reasoning, synthesising, intellectual independence, problem solving |
| Logical fallacies | Critical thinking and argument analysis | critical analysis, critical evaluation, bias recognition, questioning, judging and reasoning, intellectual independence, accountability |
| Engaging critically with social media | Critical thinking and argument analysis | critical analysis, critical evaluation, bias recognition, questioning, judging and reasoning, intellectual independence |
| Synthesising | Referencing | synthesising information |
| Choose valid sources | Researching your assignment | critical evaluation, questioning, bias recognition, judging and reasoning |
| Writing an academic reflection | Reflective writing | reflective thinking, critical analysis, critical evaluation, problem solving, questioning, accountability |
| How to use DIEP | Reflective writing | reflective thinking, critical analysis, critical evaluation, problem solving, questioning, accountability |
| Reflective writing in design | Writing in design | reflective thinking, critical analysis, critical evaluation, problem solving, questioning, accountability |
Learning Lab Contextualised Content (OER)
Learning Lab Contexualised Content (LLCC) is a digital OER developed to add contextualisation to the skills and knowledge taught on RMIT’s Learning Lab. The learning content is delivered in scenarios that allow students to appreciate the practical application of skills in their everyday lives. The LLCC resource can be used on its own, or to complement and supplement Learning Lab material. Its Creative Commons BY-NC-SA licence means you can take and adapt the content to suit your needs, providing the content is attributed, used for non-commercial purposes (such as public education), and your own iteration is shared with the same licence. Here you will find a collection of the LLCC learning objects which relate to higher-order thinking.
| Learning object | Topic | Skills and knowledge | Learning Lab alignment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Evaluating market information | marketing | critical thinking, research skills, critical evaluation, critical reading, bias recognition, synthesising ideas | |
| Investigating the reliability of online health information | communication, health | critical thinking, research skills, critical evaluation, critical reading, bias recognition | |
| Managing social media responsibly | communication, social studies | critical thinking, research skills, critical evaluation, critical reading, bias recognition, problem solving, accountability | |
| Recognising flawed arguments | sustainability, communication | critical thinking, critical evaluation, bias recognition, intellectual independence | |
| Thinking critically when treating patients | health | critical thinking, accountability, decision making, problem solving, clinical reasoning | |
| Using a risk assessment matrix | engineering, event management | critical thinking, critical analysis, critical evaluation, decision making, problem solving | |
| Job advertisement: Aerospace Engineer – Spacecraft | careers, engineering | importance of critical thinking | |
| Job advertisement: Graduate Nurse Program | careers, health | importance of critical thinking | |
| Job advertisement: Schools Speech Pathologist | careers, health, social studies | importance of critical thinking | |
| Job advertisement: Social Policy Officer – Community Wellbeing | careers, social studies | importance of critical thinking |
External Open Educational Resources
These OERs cover a range of higher-order thinking skills and knowledge areas. They have been selected after going through an evaluation process and all have Creative Commons licenses which allow them to be used freely for educational purposes.
Use the table to search for resources by skills or discipline. To help educators find what they are looking for, descriptions of the selected OERs have been included below the table – here you will find links to each resource’s licensing instructions, a summary of the content and activities in the resource, and suggestions on how they can be used.
| OER | Institution or platform | Discipline | Skills and knowledge |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reflection Toolkit | The University of Edinburgh | multidisciplinary | reflective thinking, critical thinking, critical analysis, critical evaluation, questioning, judging and reasoning, accountability, interpreting information, problem solving |
| Reflective Practice Toolkit | University of Cambridge | multidisciplinary | reflective thinking, critical thinking, critical analysis, critical evaluation, questioning, judging and reasoning, accountability, interpreting information, problem solving |
| Principles of Reflection: An aid to reflective writing | University College Dublin | education | reflective thinking, critical thinking, critical analysis, critical evaluation, questioning, judging and reasoning, accountability, interpreting information, problem solving |
| Practical guides: Reflective writing | University of York | multidisciplinary | reflective thinking, critical thinking, critical analysis, critical evaluation, questioning, judging and reasoning, accountability, interpreting information, problem solving |
| Leading Innovation | eCampus Ontario (Pressbooks) | business, multidisciplinary | critical thinking, creative thinking, innovative thinking, problem solving |
| Nursing Virtual Case Studies | BC Campus (Pressbooks) | health, nursing | critical thinking, problem solving, questioning, judging and reasoning, bias recognition, decision making, interpreting information, synthesising ideas, accountability |
| Judgment and Decision Making | NOBA | psychology, multidisciplinary | decision making, critical thinking, critical analysis, critical evaluation, questioning, judging and reasoning, bias recognition, problem solving |
| College Success: Thinking | OpenStax | multidisciplinary | critical thinking, creative thinking, critical analysis, problem solving |
| Creativity | NOBA | psychology, multidisciplinary | creative thinking, critical thinking, reflective thinking, problem solving, innovative thinking |
| Critical Thinking - Let's get critical | University of York | multidisciplinary | critical thinking, critical analysis, critical evaluation, bias recognition, reflective thinking, critical reading, synthesising ideas, interpreting information |
Resource descriptions
Reflection Toolkit
- Licence: CC BY NC 4.0
- Institution/Platform: University of Edinburgh, UK/website
This toolkit is a comprehensive suite of open educational materials designed to foster reflective thinking and practice across multiple disciplines. It consists of sections catered to both learners and facilitators and is licensed under CC BY NC, allowing attribution-based non-commercial use.
This OER includes a range of student-centered materials on models of reflection, goal setting through reflection, reflection for employability, peer reflection, and techniques for crafting freeform or academic reflections. Additionally, it includes a curated list of supplementary resources. The content is mostly text, but it is thoughtfully organised into shorter sections, making it more reader-friendly and approachable for learners. There are some video elements with animations and student interviews. These materials can be used as is or adapted, and are ideal for integration into coursework, workshops, and self-paced learning.
The content meets accessibility standards. Videos have closed captions, images contain alt-text, and the writing stye is in a clear, active voice, without academic jargon or any language that may limit learners from engaging with the content.
The Facilitators’ Toolkit also includes a range of resources on teaching reflective practice, including tips on how to introduce reflection as an activity or part of an assessment. Additionally, there are reflection case studies, which may be of particular interest to educators, but it should be noted that they are in a UK context.
- Licence: CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0
- Institution/Platform: University of Cambridge, UK/website
This OER is part of a suite of study skills resources within the Cambridge Libraries LibGuides. The resources are appropriate for learners who are new to the concept of reflective practice and those who have some experience using reflective thinking.
The toolkit includes sections on:
- reflective practice as a concept
- how people use reflective practice in everyday life
- the common models of reflection (ERA, Driscoll, Kolb, Gibbs)
- possible barriers to reflection
- reflective writing tips, terms
- reflective writing activities
The content in the Toolkit is general, which makes it suitable for use in any discipline, but also means it may require some supplementation of subject-relevant material. The Toolkit includes videos, graphic elements, activity suggestions, and accessibility documents. The language used in this resource is informal and student-facing. However, be aware that there are occasional typos throughout.
Principles of Reflection: an aid to reflective writing
- Licence: CC BY
- Institution/ Platform: University College Dublin, Ireland/OER Commons
This OER is a 24-page Google PDF authored by David Jennings and Paul Surgenor. It is aimed at tertiary students training to be educators. The resource introduces reflective practice in education and includes supportive activities for reflective writing. This resource can be used and adapted with attribution.
The document steps students through discussing the meaning of reflective practice and its relevance to the discipline of teaching, different types and models of reflection (What?, Gibbs, Johns, Kolb), guided reflections, and reflective and critical writing with vocabulary suggestions. It also comments on the potential limitations of self-reflection.
This resource could be printed, or a digital copy could be given to students to go through as a workbook as it has blank boxes for responses. It includes informative sections followed by independent or collaborative discussions and writing activities. It would be good for guiding students through a tutorial on reflective writing and could also be used as a reference document. The PDF includes diagrams which make the information more visually accessible and engaging.
- Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 3.0
- Institution/Platform: University of York, UK/ website
This OER is a page within the subject guides on the University of York’s library website. The resource includes materials on reflective writing for academic and employment purposes. The content is separated into sections to make it easier for learners to navigate. Each section has a brief introduction on the page itself and is then built out with Google Slides or Google Documents which can be downloaded and edited, as well as links to related pages on the University of York website.
The sections on the Reflective writing page include:
- What is reflection? (Presentation slides with information on reflection in everyday life with basic learner tasks at the end of each slide)
- What is reflective writing? (Information on what makes reflective writing distinctive, and a step-by-step guided written reflection task)
- The language of reflective writing (Tips on language for exploring outcomes, interpretation, analysis and evaluation)
- Reflective writing in academic studies (Descriptions of different types of academic reflective writing, discusses planning reflective writing and how it is assessed)
- Reflective writing for employability (Examples of how to change academic writing into employment applications and links to further careers resources).
The resource offers various examples of reflective writing, but it should be noted that while they demonstrate the general principles of reflective thinking and writing, the content of these examples is in a UK context.
Leading Innovation
- Licence: CC BY NC SA 4.0
- Institution/ Platform: eCampus Ontario, Canada/Pressbooks
This high-quality digital textbook, authored by Kerri Shields, is part of the eCampus Ontario open textbook library, which provides learning resources for a range of topics, like RMIT’s Pressbooks instance, Open Press.
The Leading Innovation textbook consists of chapters on:
- Business Innovation Foundations
- Thinking Creatively
- Service Innovation
- Process Innovation
- Sustainable Innovation
- Growth Strategy
- Design Thinking
- Product Innovation
- Innovation Risks
- Leading Innovation
Although this resource focuses on business innovation, much of the content can be used within a range of disciplines. For example, the parts addressing team creativity enhancement, fostering change through sustainable innovation design, and outlining the five stages of design thinking can be applied across diverse fields. It should be noted that some examples are within a Canadian context. However, the ideas on innovative thinking are universal.
There are learning objectives at the start of each chapter, setting clear expectations for learners. At the end of each chapter there are key takeaways, review exercises, H5P knowledge-check quizzes, and additional resource links, which makes this resource ideal for sharing with learners to work through independently. Alternatively, with attribution and the relevant CC licence, the text and H5P activities can also be adapted and integrated into educators’ LMS courses, made collaborative, and completed by students as coursework.
Nursing Virtual Case Studies
- Licence: CC BY 4.0
- Institution/Platform: BCampus Open Education, Canada/Pressbooks
This engaging resource provides four case-based scenarios and activities to support undergraduate nursing students’ clinical decision-making and judgment. The case studies increase in level (novice to advanced) and can be completed separately, as they are not connected to each other.
The scenarios examine the care of:
- an older adult with impaired perfusion in a community setting
- an older adult with infection and impaired cognition in an acute medical setting
- a young adult with diabetes, altered mood and substance use in a community setting
- an adult experiencing post-operative complications.
Each scenario begins with learning objectives, instructions, and a client briefing. Pre-requisite knowledge for the scenario is then outlined, and the learner begins pre-learning tasks in the form of videos and H5P interactives. The learner then moves on to an H5P interactive, which guides them through the case-based scenario, with quiz questions and feedback. Having completed the scenario, the learner responds to reflection questions.
Depending on the level and needs of the students, these scenarios can be used in class or self-directed, asynchronous, learning. The H5P documentation tool is used for several activities – allowing learners to download their question responses for their own records or to share with their peers or educator.
It should be noted that these scenarios are contextualised to healthcare settings in Canada and some terms or standards may differ to those used in Australia. Additionally, H5P branching scenarios are keyboard navigable, and can be read by most screen reading software, but are not optimised for all software.
Judgment and Decision Making
- Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
- Institution/Platform: Harvard University, US/Noba
This resource is a digital module on NOBA, an OER platform for psychology-related content. The module was authored by Max H. Bazerman, a professor at Harvard Business School. The resource examines the psychology of decision-making and offers thought-provoking exercises to encourage learners to consider how biases can come into our decision-making processes.
Three main biases are explained in the module: overconfidence, anchoring, and framing, and these are explained using example problems. Learners are encouraged to answer questions to discover and reflect on their own decision-making biases. The module also includes ideas on reducing bias and improving decision-making skills. Discussion questions and a helpful vocabulary list of the terms used in the module are provided at the end, along with further resources.
The resource does not include digital interactive activities, but its textual exercises can be adapted for interactivity. The module would be ideal for self-directed learners who are curious about judgement and decision-making behaviour. It could also form a full lesson plan with content, independent or collaborative tasks, steps to take to improve decision-making, and reflective discussion prompts. Depending on the learners’ proficiency levels, additional guidance might be necessary to navigate the problems presented in the module, which involve making estimations, setting confidence intervals, and then reflecting on the accuracy of those estimations.
Creativity
- Licence: CC BY-NC-SA
- Institution/Platform: University of California, US/NOBA
This resource is a digital module on NOBA, an OER platform for psychology-related content. The module was authored by Dean Keith Simonton, a professor at the University of California.
It includes learning objectives, textual information with images, further resources and videos, discussion questions, and a vocabulary list.
The content sections in the module are:
- Creativity: What is It?
- Cognitive Processes: How Do Creators Think?
- Personal Characteristics: Who is Creative?
- Social Contexts: What environments Affect Creativity?
This module can serve as an introduction to creative thinking skills. While it does not contain activities throughout, the in-depth discussion questions provide the opportunity for interaction and active learning through reflection. It can be given to learners to read outside of class, and the discussion questions explored further synchronously or on discussion boards. The language is Informal and approachable, and specialist terms are addressed in the vocabulary section, making it suitable for learners across levels and disciplines.
College Success: Thinking
- Licence: CC BY 4.0
- Institution/ Region: OpenStax/ USA
This chapter on ways of thinking is part of a larger digital textbook called College Success. It encourages learners to consider how they think, generate ideas, and apply different thinking approaches depending on the desired outcome.
The chapter includes pages on:
- What Thinking Means
- Creative Thinking
- Analytical Thinking
- Critical Thinking
- Problem-Solving
- Metacognition
- Information Literacy
The Creative Thinking resource is largely text, with some images, and diagrams. It is clearly laid out and sectioned. Each page includes activities requiring the learner to use creative thinking skills or reflect on their own knowledge and experiences.
Although the resource does not include digital objects, so learners are unable to receive real-time feedback, the content lends itself to active learning when used in a synchronous educational setting. The informative content could also be used for self-directed learning, or flipped learning, with the learners studying the content independently at home and delving into the discussion questions during class.
Critical thinking – Let’s get critical
- Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
- Institution/Platform: University of York, UK/ website
This OER is a subject guide on the University of York’s library website. It is an extensive resource with different sections offering a range of material. The sections include:
- Critical thinking
- Consists of a video introducing critical thinking, and Google Slides on criticality in everyday life and in different academic situations (like tutorials, labs, or writing tasks). The slide decks include potential talking points and reflective questions for learners.
- Evaluating information
- Presents an engaging scenario highlighting the significance of evaluating online information. Additionally, there are Google Slides focusing on data literacy and how data can be used to mislead readers.
- Critical reading
- Offers information on reading strategies and developing questions for analysis. It consists of text on the page, Google Docs, a video, a slide deck on active critical reading, and a small number of interactive activities.
- Critical writing
- Includes a slide deck introducing critical writing, a Google Doc with examples of being ‘too critical’, a video on building a critical argument, and curated links to York University Library’s related academic writing pages.
Although it includes a lot of valuable content, learners might find the layout and volume of material in this resource overwhelming. However, if they are guided to the relevant sections, this resource could be used independently. Alternatively, much of the content, like the slide decks, can be downloaded (with a Google sign-in), attributed, and used within an educator’s own learning environment to support class activities and assessment.
Please note that this resource uses articles and examples set within a UK context.
Last updated February 2024. If you notice that a resource in this collection needs updating or know of an open educational resource that should be added to this collection, please contact us at digital.learning.library@rmit.edu.au
