Assessing Reflection:
How do we know that learning is happening?
As I began learning more about reflection and reflective
practices it was clear that the process of reflecting is a very personal one,
and it emerges differently for each individual.
Reflection is meant to help us make sense of new experiences that often
cause us confusion and sometimes discomfort, and it is also emotional process for
some, invoking powerful internalized feelings.
The process of reflecting is what leads us to the discovery new
perspectives and understandings about our world and our communities (Boud & Walker, 1998).
Using reflection in the classroom is an essential tool for
bringing about the learning through experiential activities, especially in service-learning
where the expectation is that students at some point will be taken out of their
comfort zones. Reflection in this sense leads
to a student’s academic learning, skill building and social and emotional
transformation. The question is,
however, how do we as practitioners know that students have learned
or have been transformed from what is a very personal experience? Secondly, what
exactly have they learned?
What are exactly are we
assessing?
The first step in identifying student learning is to first
figure out what it is we want students to learn. From here we can begin to establish
assessment tools to better ensure students have met the established learning outcomes. However, if we have chosen to use reflection
as one process of learning, we have to decide what the outcome of that reflection
will be. For example will reflection:
- Increase a students’ ability to reflect?
- Increase the level at which a student is reflecting?
- Help students develop critical thinking skills?
- Lead to a change in thinking, behavior or attitude?
- Increase the depth of learning in relation to course
concepts?
- Enable students to connect classroom concepts to real life
experience?
We can begin to see how assessing reflection can become a
bit tricky. One challenge of developing
assessment for reflection is that there is not yet an agreed upon set of
criteria (Moon, 2001) (Kember, et
al., 1999)
and the criterion that do exist are early in their development (Molee, Henry, Sessa, & McKinney-Prupis, 2010). However, by keeping the following concepts
and ideas in mind, we can begin the process of developing our own assessment
instruments. The first key to designing
a reflective activity is to make it and the assessment instrument one in the
same.
Best practice for
assessing reflection:
Students must be ready.
For authentic reflection to occur students must be open-minded, be
uninhibited, take responsibility for engaging in reflection (Dewey as cited in
Lyons, 2010) and see their contribution as valid (Ash, Clayton, & Atkinson, 2005).
- Work to build trust between yourself and the students
- Allow room for students to make their own meaning from their
experience
- Provide timely, formative feedback to help student build
their reflective capacity
Reflection is developmental.
Students need to be taught how
to reflect in order to meet the learning objectives (Correia & Bleicher, 2008). They also need to build on their capacity to reflect (Marchel, 2004) and develop the habit of reflection (Moon, 2001)
incrementally over time.
- Design reflection activities that help students build one reflective
skill at a time
- Ensure reflection activities are scheduled and consistent
throughout the course
- Provide timely, formative feedback
Reflection activities should be structured and tied to assessment.
To encourage deep reflection it is essential that reflective activities align
with the academic learning outcomes (Ash, Clayton, & Atkinson,
2005) (Boud &
Walker, 1998). For example, asking students to describe
their service experience, but then grading them on their conceptual knowledge
is misleading.
- Explicitly tie the learning objectives to the reflection
activities
- Build reflection questions or prompts that allow reflection
on course learning objectives
- Set clear boundaries on what students should and shouldn’t
share in a personal reflection
Reflection should be modelled by the instructor. One way to build reflective capacity among
students is to demonstrate reflection throughout the teaching process. This practice also helps to build trust among
students as the instructor sets the tone for critically reviewing institutional
and social practices and processes.
Engaging in reflection also helps practitioners deepen their own
understanding of context and power relationships that are unearthed through the
reflective practice (Marchel, 2004) (Boud & Walker, 1998).
- Admit when you learn something new, make an error or change
your perception
- Role model reflection by engaging in an ongoing “public,
critical scrutiny of your actions” (Brookfield, 1998)
- Be prepared to coach students through the reflective process
Be prepared for challenge*. Reflective practice requires the questioning
and critical analysis of social and academic structures, and instructors must
therefore be prepared to have the power dynamic between themselves and student
challenged. They must also be prepared
to discuss and address students’ emotional responses to their service
experience (Boud & Walker, 1998), and acknowledge and
address issues of oppression, discrimination and stereotyping. Another challenge is addressing barriers to
reflection that can inhibit a student from engaging in deep and critical
reflection leading surface learning (Ash & Clayton, 2004).
- Continue to engage in your on reflective practice to begin
the process of understanding context
- Be prepared to engage in tough class discussion and address
issues of oppression
- Provide timely, formative feedback to ensure students are
meeting learning outcomes
*For more
about the potential pitfalls and challenges of reflection I recommend reading:
Boud, D., & Walker,
D. (1998). Promoting reflection in professional courses: The challenge of
context. Studies in Higher Education, 23(2), 191-206.
References
Ash, S. L., & Clayton, P. H. (2004). The
articulated learning: An approach to guided reflection and assessment. Innovative
Higher Education, 29(2), 137-154.
Ash, S. L., Clayton, P. H., & Atkinson, M. P.
(2005, Spring). Integrating reflection and assessment to capture and improve
student learning. Michigan Jouranl of Community Service Learning,
49-60.
Boud, D., & Walker, D. (1998). Promoting
reflection in professional courses: The challenge of context. Studies in
Higher Education, 23(2), 191-206.
Brookfield, S. (1998). Critically reflective
practice. The Journal of Continuing Education in the Health Professions,
18, 197-205.
Correia, M. G., & Bleicher, R. E. (2008). Making
connections to teach reflection. Michigan Journal of Community Service
Learning, 41-49.
Kember, D., Jones, A., Loke, A., McKay, J.,
Sinclair, K., Tse, H., . . . Yeung, E. (1999). Determining the level of
reflective thinking from students' written journals using a coding scheme
based on the work of Mezirow. International Journal of Lifelong Education,
18(1), 18-30.
Lyons, N. (2010). Approaches to portfolio assessment
of complex evidence of reflection and reflective practice. In N. Lyons, Handbook
of Reflection and Reflective Inquiry: Mapping a Way of Knowing (pp.
473-513). Cork, IR: Springer .
Marchel, C. A. (2004). Evaluating reflection and
sociocultural awareness in service learning classes. Teaching of
Psychology, 31(2), 120-123.
Molee, L. M., Henry, M. E., Sessa, V. I., &
McKinney-Prupis, E. R. (2010). Assessing learning in service-learning courses
through critical reflection. Journal of Experiential Education, 33(3),
239-257.
Moon, J. (2001). PDP Working paper 4: Reflection in
higher education learning. LTSN Generic Centre, 1-27.
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