Reflective Practices for Learning

by Michelle Head, CETL Scholarly Teaching Fellow for Reflective Practices

This article is part of the larger, Reflective Practices for Teaching.

 

Reflective writing assignment might first come to mind when considering how learners may engage in the process of reflection. In fact, the act of writing by hand slows us down so that we have more time to think and makes it more difficult to wordsmith making hand-written reflection more authentically express how we are feeling in the moment (Mueller and Oppenheimer, 2014). However, due to student unfamiliarity with reflective writing it may be helpful to consider other reflective practices for learnings.  

Alternatives to reflective writing assignments:

• 1. Reflective Journals 

  This type of journal may serve to allow a student to engage in reflection throughout a course. The topic of the journal entry may be chosen by the students or guided with a reflection prompt provided by the instructor. Journal may be kept private or shared. The culmination of journal entries over the course of a semester may be reviewed by the learner to observe how they have grown or changed as a student.

• 2. Reflection Circles 

  Sometimes it is easier to talk through our thoughts before we write about them. Reflection in small groups may be helpful to allow students identify how their learning experience relates to the reflection prompt or clarify their ideas.

• 3. Meetings with a Critical Friend

  A critical friend is a person a trusted peer who challenges or encourages new perspectives by asking questions, sharing different perspectives, provides resources. Time be allotted in class for critical friend pairs to meet up and discuss a learning experience.

• 4. Discussion boards

  These can be used for reflection and can be particularly valuable because they will include both peer-to-peer interaction and “collective reflection”, along with instructor participation.

• 5. Videoing practice

  This practice is useful for learning in the psychomotor domain where the learner can review their performance and reflect upon it.

• Additional Practices

  Additional practices can be found at the resource links below:  

  • Catalog of Reflection Activities - Clemson University
  • Facilitating Reflection Activities - University of Vermont
  • Activities for Reflection – DePaul University
  • 15 Ways to Spark Student Reflection in Your College Classroom

Reference

Mueller, P.A. and Oppenheimer, D.M. (2014) “The pen it mightier than the keyboard: Advantages of longhand over laptop notetaking,” Psychological Science, 25, 1159-1168.

 

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