Faculty

Development and
Academic Quality
Manual
Faculty Development Academic Quality Manual

REFLECTIVE LEARNING

An important aspect of the learning process is for students to step away and reflect on their
experience. Reflective learning focuses on the development of critical-thinking skills through the
internal process of examining strengths and exploring areas for improvement. The learner constructs
and clarifies meaning in terms of their own understanding and cognition, supporting changes in
conceptual perspective. The positive impact of reflective learning has been well documented,
stemming from the works of Dewey (1938) and Schon (1983) where the process of reflection
challenges misconceptions and provides clarity.

Dewey's process of reflection can be characterised through the following four criteria (Rodgers,
2002):

o Reflection is a meaning-making process that moves a learner from one experience into the next with
deeper understanding; it is the thread that makes continuity of learning possible and ensures the
progress of the individual.
o Reflection is a systematic, rigorous, disciplined way of thinking, rooted in scientific inquiry.
o Reflection needs to happen in community, in interaction with others.
o Reflection requires attitudes that value the personal and intellectual growth of oneself and of others.
REFLECTIVE LEARNING DESIGN

Reflective learning is commonly applied through the use of reflective journals, portfolios or
more formal processes such as action research projects. These activities should be designed
with a curriculum-supported structure to keep reflections relevant and focus the learner's
attention.

When designing a reflective activity, consider the learning outcomes: How will reflection
impact the student’s learning? Focusing on journals, many studies have found reflections in
this medium to have enhanced the learning process (O’Rourke, 1998; Woodward, 1998; Costa &
Kallick, 2000). However, it's important to note that some students require support in creating
effective reflections.

Hatton & Smith (1995) identified four different categorisations of reflections:

o descriptive writing
o descriptive reflection
o dialogic reflection
o critical reflection

A description of the experience is integral to conceptualisation. However, to be truly reflective,

students need to move beyond this and relate their experience in a wider context.

The learner shows awareness of a wider context and

4
Critical
that events may be ‘located in and influenced by
Reflection multiple historical and socio-political contexts’.

3 Dialogic
Reflection
The learner begins to stand back from
event and analyse their role

2 Descriptive
Reflection
An account with reasons, justifications
and explanation

1 Descriptive
Writing
A description of the events

PROMOTING REFLECTION
Implementing a reflective framework enables students to interpret and articulate their
experiences. The Reflective Cycle (Gibbs, 1988) below is one such framework.

The six stages provide a logical structure for reflections and prompt learners to explore
different aspects of their experience to devise appropriate outcomes. The clear definitions are
useful to students who are new to reflective learning.

The first three stages help learners express their experiences. The last three stages help them
make sense of the experience and identify improvements to enact in future practice.

Description
What happened?

Action Plan Feelings

If it arose again what What were you
would you do? thinking and
feeling?

Evaluation
Conclusion
What was good and
What else could you
bad about the
have done?
experience?

Analysis
What sense can you
make of the
situation?
 REFLECTIVE LEARNING
SELF - DIRECTION PRIOR KNOWLEDGE
Reflection is a critical part of a Reflection activities used at
students path to becoming the start of a topic or course
self directed learners. But, can be a useful way of
don’t assume that they have understanding and activating
the metacognitive skills to do student’s prior knowledge.
this by themselves.

ORGANISATION
Reflection on an experience is
SOCIAL & EMOTIONAL an important stage in building
Reflection activities can be deep and meaningful
useful in helping students connections, it can also
analyse their assumptions and expose problems in
biases as they develop their knowledge organisation.
social identity.

MOTIVATION
You can help students
GOAL - DIRECTED increase future motivation by
As part of the asking them to reflect on an
practice/feedback cycle, it’s activity and think about how
important that students have they would adapt a future
the opportunity to reflect on attempt.
feedback and plan how they
will use it in the future.

MASTERY
Reflective activities can be useful in helping students develop deeper
understanding by reflecting on their experience to identify patterns or
anomalies and generalize to larger principles.

References
Bruner, J. (2002). Making Stories: Law, Literature, Life. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

Costa, A., & Kallick-, B. (2000). Getting into the habit of reflection. Educational Leadership, 60-62.

Dewey, J. (1938). Experience in Education . New York: Macmillan.

Fung, D. (2017). A Connected Curriculum for Higher Education. London: UCL Press.

Gibbs, G. (1988). Learning by Doing: A Guide to Teaching and Learning Methods. Oxford: Oxford
Further Education Unit.

O'Rourke, R. (1998). The Learning Journal: From Chaos to Coherence. Assessment and Evaluation in
Higher Education, 403-413.

Rodgers, C. (2002). Defining Reflection: Another Look at John Dewey and Reflective Thinking .
Teachers College Record, 842-866.
Schön, D. A. (1983). The Reflective Practitioner: How Professionals Think in Action. New York: Basic
Books.

Woodward, H. (1998). Reflective Journals and Portfolios: Learning through assessment. Assessment
and Evaluation in Higher Education, 415-426.

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