Reflecting on Reflection in Learning

Reflection is the subject of my next couple of presentations, so here are my recent jottings. Hopefully a reader can make some sense of them;however, the whole point of this post is that reflection can follow a structure but will not necessarily create a structured record. The reflection record will need to be reshaped to be palatable for a "judge" or "critic" or "instructor."

Reflection tends to be framed negatively. If we dig too deep we will only find bad stuff; if we reflect on teaching practice, we will focus on what failed rather than succeeded. Why? Assessment focuses on finding the nonlearners and changing to get more learners, but it ignores that most of the students did learn, so why were there successes? Leads to burnout.

Boud & Walker’s idea of validation not well developed but relevant. It is most close to critical thinking—testing it against other knowledge, theories, internal consistency, other data (other learner’s data)

Reflection as positive psychology

Reflection in the sciences. This can all seem pretty touchy feeling and emphasizing affective aspects rather than cognitive. But all learning is restructuring of pathways and reflection, through the connections made and use of language, does that. Using the right words matters, and students using the right words in understanding ways.

A facilitator in debriefing must not put in his/her prefab learning, only ask questions. The students will “give” the instructor what they perceive the instructor as wanting, due to power structures, both referent and reward. Even discussing reflections with peers can be affected due to power structures in the classroom. Unconditional positive regard from Rogers, but that can be “too positive.”

Reflection is difficult, demanding, not always possible without help

Reflection must come to the level of language. Written can be private; group has benefits but trust must be there. Faculty openness. Relevance , though, matters. The faculty member can provide a check for the student not to get off topic

Do teachers take reflection for granted? Do they just give a few prompts and figure the students can reflect on their own? They can’t.

Goes back to Socrates, the unexamined life is not worth living; Aristotle in the Nicomachean Ethics hinges it all on deliberation, rational thought, and voluntariness; it is a key of Judeo-Christian thinking (consider, meditate, beholding face in a mirror, 

Reflection is a psychological (demands examination of motives, assumptions, pre-judgments), emotional (because positive and negative emotions can affect cognitive processes), cognitive processes (largely bringing experience to consciousness through language) of extracting and building meaning from experience, which is all we have. A lecture is experience.

Reflection must exist in a geography of freedom.

My goal: to equip students to do their own reflection by understanding a taxonomy of reflection/model that would apply independent of teacher questions, independent of teacher requirements, and independent of disciplinary constraints. Since ultimately we want self-directed and self-regulated lifelong learners, a student internalizing a taxonomy of reflection

I do not propose one taxonomy of reflection. There are several possible iteration models that an instructor should/could choose from, but they have certain elements in common (Boud, Walker, etc.)

 Additionally, each learner will reflect somewhat differently and express it differently depending on the depth of vocabulary and past experience but they still should go through a process and address

Must be prepared for. Pre-briefing and debriefing. Teachers job.

Reflection is not something after ward, like Wordsworth’s idea of poetry. Poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: it takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquility.

THE EXPERIENCE may or may not involve powerful feelings, but it should be a significant experience in or out of the classroom that supports learning outcomes.

Experience upon which the reflection is based must be significant. We want to value reflection but not make it a burden.

Reflection must be conscious.

But how is it different than rhetoric?

Rhetoric assumes an audience outside of oneself. Reflection does not.

Rhetoric assumes knowledge of, prioritizing of, and “adaptation to” that audience outside of oneself.

Rhetoric traditionally involves invention (which means choice of material), organization for maximum

Rhetoric means word choice that is emotionally and intellectually effective to an audience.

Rhetoric inherently means “persuasion” (finding all the available means of persuasion) whereas reflection is an inner process.

Therefore, what do we want when we assign a reflective paper? We want an organized piece of rhetoric that is teacher-centric, not student- or learning-centric.

So how do we make the bridge?

Teach a taxonomy of reflection where appropriate; this seems to be a High Impact practices imperative.

Shorter reflection papers with clear standards of completion but no rhetorical evaluation. That proves it was done but the instructor is not the judge

A longer end-of-semester paper with clear standards of quality and where the student explains his/her process or reflection and learning outcomes. The audience is a professor or other who needs rhetorical proof.

Notice my commonality: clear standards.

Here I wish to segue into a different topic: TILT. Transparency in Learning and Teaching.

We have to make a case to students why reflection matters.

Subconscious world can be freed through reflection.