1. What Is Reflection?

Reflection is a thought process during which you evaluate and give meaning to current and future experiences.  Individuals gain an understanding of themselves, and monitor and adjust their actions in order to improve their achievements at a personal as well as a professional level.  The process of reflection is part and parcel of a person’s self-knowledge and self-regulation.

There are different moments in time to reflect:

• before action: the reflection takes place before a particular experience and focuses on possible future actions, behaviour and feelings, and how learners wish to position themselves;
• in action: the reflection takes place straight away, in the midst of a particular situation, followed by immediate actions;
• on action: the reflection takes places after the experience and focuses on the actions, behaviour and feelings that were manifested.

In an education context, reflection is a meaningful practice, too.  It invites students to think about their own (practical) experiences, thought processes and their effects on themselves as a person, their relation with others and their role in society in a conscious and focused manner.  This Education Tip describes how to give shape to the process of reflection.

2. Why Focus on Reflection?

Reflection is always a means to an end, never an end in itself.  It is an important factor in stimulating and assessing generic competencies.  The process contributes to a fostering of:

• lifelong learning competencies
• self-regulation competencies
• critical thought
• problem-solving competencies
• perspective-taking competencies
• systems thinking
• contextual learning competencies
• …

Focusing on reflection carries multiple advantages for the student as well as for the lecturer.

Advantages for the student:

• deeper learning: thinking about one’s own actions (instead of doing something and never thinking about it again afterwards and thus simply repeating the same actions again) results in deeper and more sustainable learning;
• taking control of one’s own learning process: by thinking about their own learning process consciously and adapt their actions accordingly, students will come to understand their personal growth.  In so doing, students claim ownership of their learning process instead of leaving that entirely up to a lecturer who dictates what is right or wrong, and following that blindly;
• developing a distinct identity: inviting students to reflect, allows them to think about the position they take and feelings they have vis-à-vis things that occur, actions they undertake, etc. It gives them a better understanding of their identity, how they relate to others and to society; 
• honing one’s critical thought and lifelong learning: teaching and encouraging students to reflect, hones their critical competencies. Embedding this process consistently throughout the curriculum will result in an attitude of lifelong learning that students will retain in their future professional environment;
• expressing oneself: when reflection is embedded in the curriculum, students learn to express their feelings and thoughts, which requires a different skill set than e.g. solving discipline-related issues. If you leave the output of the reflection open, you give your students the opportunity to find their own creative ways;
• fostering one’s writing skills: if the reflection takes the form of a reflection report, you stimulate your students’ writing skills.

Advantages for the lecturer:

• understanding the student’s learning process: when you ask students to engage in reflection, you learn to understand what they find difficult, what their strengths and weaknesses are, as well as their preferences, and what their growth path is or has been; 
• anticipating or adjusting to difficulties: once you understand your students’ learning process, you can adjust your teaching practice and anticipate difficulties by making additional support available where necessary;
• understanding underlying convictions or assumptions: a student’s reflection can help you understand what they think, what their convictions are, as well as any possible prejudices they may have. It gives you food for thought to which you can respond in class. 

3. Want to get started?

A Multi-step Process

Do not ask students to start reflecting ‘out of the blue’. There must always be a meaningful occurrence for the student to be able to reflect. This can either be a positive or a negative experience.  Such a meaningful occurrence is called a critical moment.  

There are various models to support the reflection process,  all of them equally valid. You would do well to choose a model that suits your learning objectives.  One of the better-known models is Korthagen’s, which comprises several steps.  It is a cyclical model, which means that the reflection is never ‘done’.

It is key to always go through the different steps in the process and not to rush to a solution. Skipping steps will yield a much more shallow understanding of the situation, and entails the risk of making presumptions about what really caused that particular situation.

For instance, a teacher faces a very unruly class and can no longer get the children to settle down.  She vows to be more strict in the future.  If that teacher were to go through the various steps of the reflection process to look at this situation, she might also come to the conclusion that the children had been quiet and attentive for too long. Their attention span had simply been shrinking for a while.  The next time, she might after a while try a different approach to her class, using an active teaching method to keep her pupils’ attention. 

Ask students to reflect on successes as well as failures. Going through the process and fathoming different aspects of a situation gives the students a better understanding of what went right and why.  This will help to elicit the same behaviour more sustainably in the future.

Vary the reflection forms

There are several possibilities for students to engage in reflection:

These options also allow for differentiation vis-à-vis a diverse student group. Some students might express themselves better than others, be it orally, written or in yet another way. Each option also comes with pros and cons. A written reflection has the advantage of longevity: it can be read and re-read. An oral reflection may heighten spontaneity but at the same time also trigger stronger emotions. Moreover, it is difficult to repeat (unless it has been filmed). In any case, it is key to let the students discover the form that suits them best. At the same time, it is also important to encourage them to discover new things and to grow.

Tips for the lecturer

• lead by example and show your students that you apply yourself to reflective thought as well
•  
• build in sufficient opportunities for reflection throughout the curriculum. It will allow students to internalise the process and come to in-depth reflection(s); 
• use reflection appropriately in accordance with the learning objectives.  If students get the feeling they are ‘reflecting for reflection’s sake’, it will defeat the purpose;  
• encourage your students to go through every step of the process every time. The more they practice, the more the different steps will melt into one another and the more the process will grow on them as something natural.  
• regularly go through the process yourself.  You will be able to experience potential difficulties first-hand and notice which steps you are in danger of skipping; 
• do not judge personal reflections;  
• compile guidelines for the students on how to come to an effective reflection. 

3. Want to Know More?

Ash, S. L., & Clayton, P. H. (2009). Generating, deepening, and documenting learning: The power of critical reflection in applied learning.

Brown, B., Holt-Macey, S., Martin, B., Skau, K., & Vogt, E. M. (2015). Developing the reflective practitioner: What, so what, now what. Currents in Pharmacy Teaching and Learning, 7(5), 705-715.

Chan, C. K. Y. (2023). Assessment for Experiential Learning (p. 379). Taylor & Francis.

Korthagen, F. & Nuijten, E. (2023). De kracht van reflectie (2de druk). Boom.

Moon, J. (2001). PDP working paper 4: Reflection in higher education learning. Higher Education Academy, 1-25.

Website: https://www.reflecting.eu