Critical Thinking: The Key Skill For Today's Workforce

The key skill in the age of information – the skill that is universally required for participation in the service and technology economy – is the ability to think critically. Critical thinking is the art and science of forming a judgment, making a decision, or determining the truth based on analysis that is objective, logical, logically consistent, fair, and informed by evidence. If you can think critically, you can do anything. With a solid foundation in critical thinking, workers are truly prepared for the information age.

Unfortunately, while the phrase critical thinking gets a fair amount of lip service, critical thinking has actually been all but ignored in western education during our lifetimes. You can take college courses in logic, but most people never do. And regardless, critical thinking is much more than mere logic. To think critically, you need a fundamental understanding of a wide range of topics, including: logic, effective reasoning and argument, basic science, how brain biology affects your thinking, how to find and assess reliable information sources, biases, rudimentary statistics, and decision-making.

If you look hard enough, you can find courses that touch on various aspects of critical thinking. There are courses in logic, courses in reasoning, courses on analysis, science, criticism, memory, persuasion, manipulation, the media, research, biases, fallacies, statistics, and even decision-making. But all of those courses – every single one – miss the mark in some way. Most go into far more detail on a small piece of the puzzle than people need, taking too long to teach too much about things of too little importance at too high a cost. Others are completely academic and without real-world value, and emphasize terminology and definitions at the expense of comprehension and practical application. Few take a truly practical approach. And none are broad enough; all offer at best some tiny part of the solution, a fraction of the knowledge and training needed.

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The Solution: Accesible Critical Thinking Training

Hands On Technology Transfer has created a comprehensive 28 hour on-demand logic and critical thinking training course that teaches all these topics and provides a foundation that will improve the thinking and job performance of even the most highly educated and self-assured individuals, while remaining accessible to all by avoiding the jargon, unnecessary detail and gratuitous complexity. Whether for on-boarding or career development, the Critical Thinking for the 21st Century course offers a spectacular opportunity for human resources personnel to provide a unique tool and increase the effectiveness and performance of all employees. While a single user can take the course for a mere $1,495, bulk purchases can go for as little as $200 per student. Call for details on bulk pricing (978-250-4299) or click below to view the full course description:

Thinking is skilled work. It is not true that we are naturally endowed with the ability to think clearly and logically — without learning how, or without practicing. It is ridiculous to suppose that any less skill is required for thinking than for carpentering, or for playing tennis, golf, or bridge, or for playing some musical instrument. People with untrained minds should no more expect to think clearly and logically than those people who have never learned and never practiced can expect to find themselves good carpenters, golfers, bridge-players, or pianists. Yet our world is full of people who apparently do suppose that thinking is entirely unskilled work.

– Alfred Ernest Mander. (1947.) Logic for the Millions. p. vii. New York, Philosophical Library.

In addition to providing Critical Thinking training, HOTT offers numerous competency-based IT and programming courses in more than 100 cities across North America. Our training emphasizes a hands on, task-oriented curriculum. When students train with HOTT they are guaranteed small class sizes, expert instructors, and comprehensive hands on exercises. HOTT offers a wide selection of discount programs to accommodate individuals as well as groups both small and large. Choose from face-to-face in the classroom, remote-live, on-demand or group training options.

If you need additional assistance in choosing a course, contact our helpful Customer Service staff at 800-413-0939, or fill out a Contact Form here. For a comprehensive list of all our course offerings, visit our full Course Index here.