A Learning Object Organiser System for Higher Order Thinking

This paper presents a study of the higher order thinking involved in the delivery of computer science courses. The study involved two phases. In the first phase, a preliminary study was conducted to evaluate higher order thinking skills among the computer science students exposed to conventional teaching and learning. The results of the preliminary study revealed an obvious lack in the acquisition of higher order thinking by the students at the end of a course. The second phase of the study involved the development and evaluation of the Web-based learning system that is intended to promote higher order thinking skills in a technology-enabled learning environment. Several attributes of the system were studied, including the usability of the system in terms of its design to support outcome-based learning, learning strategies in promoting higher order thinking skills, collaborative learning, motivation and user control. Despite some weaknesses in the system, the results obtained were quite positive, indicating the potential of such a system to be used on a wider scale for the promotion of higher order thinking skills in computer science education.