Symposium 2019

John Dewey (1910) defines critical reflection as “the active, persistent and careful consideration of any belief or supposed form of knowledge in light of the grounds that support it and the further conclusions to which it tends” (p. 6).  It can result in a transformational experience for students where they start to think beyond the content to connections with themselves, with each other, the real world and beyond but learning only if the reflection leads to personal change (Mezirow, 2000).  Hinett (2002) notes that “reflection is a way of thinking about learning and helping individual learners to understand what, how, and why they learn. It is about developing the capacity to make judgments and evaluating where learning might take you.”  Studies show that reflection increases knowledge retention, builds stronger connections across curricular areas and promotes critical thinking (Jacoby, 2010; D'Erizans, R., & Bibbo, T., 2015).  Reflection is a “powerful process of making meaning” (Jacoby, 2010).  It is individual, experiential and transformative.

While the literature acknowledges the importance of reflection in deep and transformative learning, facilitating reflective practice can be a challenge for even the most experienced instructor. Through an interactive workshop session, tools for facilitating reflective practice will be explored.

At the end of this session, participants will be able to:
•    Explain the importance of reflective practice for transformative learning;
•    Develop strategies for using reflective practice in your classroom;
•    Facilitative a reflective activity.