Why is Reflective Learning important?
Introduction
At some point in your study journey, you will definitely hear about the importance of reflective learning. Why is reflective learning important though? This article will inform you of its importance in many ways. Not reflecting on the learning experiences at university is like buying a cake and eating the icing only. What is reflective learning to start with? Reflective learning is the conscious process of thinking analytically about your learning experiences. The purpose is to gain a deeper understanding so that you can improve in the future. This involves taking time to think about what you learnt and how you learnt it. It includes thinking about why you learnt it the way you did. In addition to study-related learning, reflective learning helps to develop continuously in professional and personal contexts.
Reflective Learning vs Reflective Writing
Although reflective learning helps in reflective writing and vice versa, they are different from each other. Unlike reflective learning which involves thinking about experiences to improve, reflective writing is writing down the thoughts. This is best done for each specific experience using a structure. Reflective writing is one of the different ways to intentionally engage in reflective learning.
Types of Reflective Learning
Reflective learning can occur in many ways. The following are some popular ways you can learn reflectively as a student: Experiential Reflection This is when you learn from hands-on experiences. Some experiences can be delivering presentations or organising events as a student. Other experiences include doing internships, volunteering, and work experiences. There are at least three core areas to identify from hands-on experiences. These are what was learnt, how they were learnt and how they can be used in the future. Peer Reflection Here, you reflect with others who may have had similar experiences. They don’t have to have had similar experiences though. Others can be course-mates, colleagues, friends, and family members. The aim is to gain new insights from different points of view, learn from others' experiences and get feedback. Critical Reflection For critical reflection, you are intentionally critical and analytical when thinking about experiences. This way, you can be clear on biases and non-factual assumptions. Also, you can evaluate your learning and look at different perspectives.  Self Reflection The emphasis here is learning from your own individual experience of something. This includes your views and feelings about something, which can be different from that of others. Examples are workshops, lectures, or assessments. The three core things to identify here are your strengths, weaknesses and plans to improve.
Group Reflection This involves reflecting on shared experiences with the group members involved. Examples of shared experiences are group presentations and team projects. This helps to learn from different perspectives and to share understanding.
Benefits of Reflective Learning
In addition to personal development, these are some other benefits of reflective learning: Avoid Mistakes Reflecting on what went wrong, how, and why after an experience would help you avoid future mistakes. This is because you will remember the actions or behaviours that led to the previous mistake and avoid them. Also, you can become more resilient by bouncing back after mistakes. More Self-awareness Reflecting on your experiences, thoughts and feelings helps you understand yourself deeper. It gives you clarity on why you do the things you do, as well as how you do them. You become more aware of your strengths and the areas to improve on. With better self-awareness, you can make well-informed decisions on your studies and other areas of life.
Better Relationships Without reflecting, some behaviours that may not go well with others can be overlooked. Worse still, you can be genuinely unaware of them when they happen. However, reflecting on your interactions with others can make these behaviours obvious. This will help work on them to develop better relationships. Better Goal-setting Reflection gives you clarity on what your aspirations and interests are as a student. Being clear about these would enable you to set goals that align with them. Your goals will determine your overall behaviour. Critical Thinking Frequent reflections train your mind to become more analytical and critical. Besides experiences, you can evaluate concepts and theories better. This is by identifying different perspectives and possible biases, as well as considering alternatives like you do when reflecting. You can also become more creative by generating new insights.
Practical Ways to Reflect on Learning
Many different techniques and approaches can be used to reflect on learning. These are some practical ways to reflect on learning: Note Taking Let’s face it we are human, and we can’t always remember everything. Writing down your thoughts, feelings and experiences will ensure you have the necessary information to reflect on. For students, notes can be on the core elements of a lesson or a concept. Follow the lecturer's lead to identify core elements. Notes can also be on key information during discussions or from verbal feedback. Reflecting on incorrect information can be misleading. This is why it’s also important to take notes. You can use the same structure for your notes and reflective writing. Reflective Models There are many reflective models that you can use to structure your reflection. The goal is to choose the one that works well for you and stick with it. Some of the models have similar structures. This means that you can use more than one in the same way. Some examples from the University of Edinburgh and University of Hull are Kolb's Cycle of Reflective Practice, Gibb’s Reflective Cycle, CARL's Framework of Reflection, Driscoll’s Model of Reflection, The Four F's of Active Reviewing, The 5R Framework for Reflection, and The Integrated Reflective Cycle. Reflective Prompts and Visuals Reflective prompts are questions that will provide reflective answers on specific experiences or topics. The University of Edinburgh provides many reflective prompts for each part of the reflective models above. These questions would help guide your reflective writing in the right direction. This way, you can take the best learning out of the experience reflected. With visualisation, vivid images are used to replace different parts of an experience. Images can represent what you intended to avoid in the future. Alternatively, they can represent what you want to achieve from a similar experience.
Conclusion
The ease and subtlety of reflection make it seem ineffective. However, it is significantly effective and can be a powerful ability when done consistently. The power of reflection is in the extent of consistency. Also, effective reflection can’t be unintentional or unsystematic. To be very effective, you have to intentionally reflect consistently using a structure. Let’s look at it this way. Imagine reflecting on the core parts of every lecture, workshop, tutorial, and study session in a term. Then, do the same for every activity, test, assignment, and exam. Multiply it by nine. By the time you graduate, you would have learnt so much your brain will be a moving box of knowledge in your field. Learn how to use the learning acquired during exams here. Drop your questions (and thoughts) in the comment box below. Read the full article
