CETL
Creating High Quality Reflection Practices
by Michelle Head, CETL Scholarly Teaching Fellow for Reflective Practices
This article is part of the larger, Reflective Practices for Teaching.
The following are characteristics of high-quality reflective learning practices:
- Continuous
- Scaffolded / guided
- Directly connected to a learning experience, when possible, aligned to learning objectives of the course.
- Provide feedback to the learner to allow for continuous improvement and growth
- Results in the learner comes to know something about themselves in a different wat (clarifies one’s values or generates a change in their life)
Below are a few examples of how reflection may be scaffolded across the semester so that reflection is continuous, integrated with the experience, and may provide for dialogue between the student and the instructor.
| No Value | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| What is my research question or my creative project, and why do I care? | What have others done, and what did they find? |
What could I do to answer this question in a novel way? AND How do I make sure the work I do maintains the integrity needed to draw conclusions? |
What did I find, and does it provide me with answers to my question? |
How do these answers broaden or deepen our understanding? AND How do they apply to the real world? |
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| No Value | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| What is my project, and why do I care? | How does it address specific community needs related to learning objectives? | How does this project build upon prior classroom knowledge?ANDProjects a realworld challenge? | What did I find, and does it provide me knowledge that can add to my preparation for the future?ANDWhat did I learn related to the goals? | How do these answers broaden or deepen our understanding?ANDHow do they apply to the real world' | |||||
| No Value | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| In what organization will I work, what will my position be, and why do I care? | Do they tasks required align with prior classroom learning? |
How well do the expectations of daily tasks align with the reality? AND Are transferable skills emphasized and in what way(s)? |
How is performance evaluated? Are there direct and indirect assessments of learning? What type( s) of learning? |
How did the experience broaden or deepen our understanding? AND How does it apply to the real world? |
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