The process of reflecting is a highly effective metacognitive habit proven to help learners examine their practices, learn from them, and set meaningful goals for growth. Philosopher John Dewey, who wrote about the value of reflection to personal and intellectual growth, said that without reflecting on our learning experiences, we are simply accumulating separate pieces of information without appreciating how they connect or how they relate to future learning. Dewey defined education as the process of “reconstruction and reorganization of experience which adds to the meaning of experience, and which increases [one’s] ability to direct the course of subsequent experience” (Democracy and Education 74).
Reflective activities throughout the semester are crucial to encourage students to gain understanding and control of their own communication work. As an instructor who teaches for transfer, you can take advantage of different opportunities to guide students to think more reflectively. For instance, they must understand what course outcomes are and how individual assignments are designed to help them achieve those outcomes. They also need to learn to identify critical moments in their work when they felt “stuck,” identifying what was challenging to them specifically and how they worked through it, and identifying how their work measures against the rubric for that assignment. Being conscious of such junctures as well as of how other readers view their texts allows students to direct their own learning within the context of the ISUComm Foundation Courses curricula and beyond, to other work in college.
Taking advantage of multiple opportunities to guide student reflection can help prevent the unproductive environment that a formal written reflection can be. Kathleen Yancey notes that the term “reflection” means both a process and a product. Our educational ideal is that students will engage in the authentic but vulnerable self-assessment process that promotes growth. The reality, however, is that students who know that teachers will assess a reflection product assigned at the end of a project are often more concerned with what they think the teacher wants to hear than with how the process of reflecting can help them grow. They can reflect dutifully in response to a reflection prompt but not experience the kind of deep learning the assignment was created to inspire. So it is important to offer discussions and activities throughout the semester where students can engage in self-assessment without fear of being judged for their weaknesses. A major boon to helping your students reflect productively is to remind them frequently of the General Reflection Rubric on page 92 of the Student Guide. This shows them the characteristics of a good reflection (e.g., using course terminology, showing how they have taken accountability for their work, making rhetorical decisions, using feedback),
Some instructors assign journals or learning logs; some do interactive sorts of activities that help students process what they learn as they do assignments. It is important to tell students that, for these kinds of reflections, we do not grade for conventions or organization, and that they have permission to say something they think we might disagree with. But as you engage them with reflective activities, make sure they know they are reflecting and what that process should be doing for them! As Wardle and other transfer experts emphasize, without mindfulness, a metacognitive exercise will not accomplish its transfer-rich potential.
Evaluation does play a part in encouraging the process of reflection, however. Processes are sometimes only accessible through written products. While evaluating reflections may seem contradictory to what we have just discussed, your feedback encourages students to take the process seriously. It also allows you to develop a productive dialogue with them about their work and their growth at a moment in time when it can be most helpful to them. Students need to see that you value reflection as an important activity, not one to be simply checked off a to-do list. Early in the semester, offer feedback about how thoughtful and substantive their written reflections are so they know what kinds of thoughts you are looking for. Scholars like William H. Rickards and Jill D. Jenson describe the following elements of a reflection that indicate thoughtfulness, thoroughness, and deep learning. A good reflection:
- Details growth and goals through specific examples and quotes from student work
- Describes strengths, weaknesses, and thoughts about the future
- Makes connections with other assignments in this and other classes
- Shows understanding that composers make conscious choices
- Discusses feedback received from the instructor and/or a peer and how it was considered
- Analyzes work rather than describing it as a simple narrative
- Uses terminology specific to the class and its objectives
- Demonstrates an identity as a learner or as a professional
- Recognizes that learning is a process, not a destination reached by the end of the course
Of the various types of assessment (teacher, peer, self, etc.), the highest amount of growth occurs if students self-assess their work (even though research shows that students assess others more accurately than themselves). Through self-assessment, students become independent thinkers who value their own judgments.
Of course, reflection as a product plays an important role in the ISUComm ePortfolio as a means to introduce and highlight chosen artifacts as well as growth throughout the semester. Sometimes we think of portfolio work in terms of “-ect” words: “collect,” “select,” “reflect,” and “project.” In this culminating assignment for both English 150 and 250, students are asked to reflect upon the growth they experienced about their communication process throughout the semester and as they revised artifacts as examples of their best work. These are formal products, where conventions and organization do matter. In order for these reflections to be a meaningful experience for the students, they must have developed the habit of being reflective and the confidence to reveal their vulnerabilities. If you encourage students to go back to the reflective activities and writings they produced throughout the semester to look for specific examples to include and quote in their ISUComm ePortfolio reflections, they will better see their growth, what goals they have worked on, and where they still need to improve. One way to emphasize the importance of the ISUComm ePortfolio reflections is to ask students to offer each other feedback about their reflections as they prepare their final portfolios, giving them specific prompts. The “E” reflection is a great one for them to consider carefully in this way and to gain from seeing what their peers have written about the affordances and constraints of technology.
Literature related to ePortfolios emphasizes a concept called “folio thinking,” which is a type of thinking that connects artifacts and experiences reflectively in an ongoing process. Students who develop this habit of mind will gain the most from their ISUComm ePortfolio, and thus, their ISUComm Foundation Courses. Each assignment will be approached with an eye to how it best fits into their larger university learning experience. But in order for students to practice folio thinking, the ISUComm ePortfolio and reflection as a process need to be introduced early in the semester. See the following sections, as well as the ISUComm ePortfolio assignment sheet and rubric, for information about the ISUComm ePortfolio assignment in English 150 and 250.
See also pp. 11–12 and 24–25 in the ISUComm Foundation Courses Student Guide.