Dr. Emma Zone, Senior Director of Academic Affairs at D2L, presented at the Quality Matters (QM) Quality in Action conference. The title of the session was “Beyond Self-Assessment: Cultivating an Innovation Mindset Through Reflective Practice.” Zone explained that “reflective practice is a method of critically analyzing experiences to gain insights and enhance future actions” and traces back to John Dewey’s work. Donald Schon introduced “reflection-in-action” and “reflection-on-action” as two essential processes in reflective practice. Zone also explained that Charlotte Danielson created the Framework for Teaching, emphasizing reflection. “Patricia Broadfoot highlighted the relationship between assessment and reflective practice urging educators to use assessment data as a tool for reflection,” said Zone. With new technological advancements, it is important to include reflection to evaluate tools effectively. Zone also said that reflection is important to meet diverse student needs, foster community, and make data-driven decisions. Zone connected reflection to innovation and explained that:
- Reflection sparks innovation
- Reflection can reveal unnoticed patterns in teaching and learning, enhancing instructional strategies
- Reflection helps evaluate successes and failures to allow the discovery of new approaches that enhance student engagement and learning
- Reflective insights drive iterative design, fostering continuous improvement and innovation in educational practices
Zone shared several methods of reflection such as journals and logs, peer review and feedback, student feedback analysis, and learning analytics review. Student feedback and learning analytics can provide evidence that help backup our feelings, explained Zone.
To integrate reflection into a daily workflow, Zone said we can:
- Choose a method such as digital, paper, or a tool
- Schedule dedicated reflection time
- Create a reflection portfolio
- Reflect throughout course design
A workflow for reflective practice requires time and commitment. Zone recommended putting it on the calendar. Even a couple of sentences in a document contribute to a portfolio. Zone provided an example of structured response by describing the Gibbs’ Reflective Cycle.
- Description: What happened?
- Feelings: What was I thinking/feeling?
- Evaluation: What was good/bad about it?
- Analysis: What sense can I make of it?
- Conclusion: What did I learn?
- Action Plan: What will I do?
Using the Gibbs’ Reflective Cycle, Zone said, can “ensure a thorough and systematic reflection process.” Zone also encouraged going beyond self-assessment and moving on to critical analysis. For this, asking probing questions, seeking multiple perspectives, and identifying actionable insights can strengthen the impact of reflective practice.
Zone noted that D2L has a Teaching & Learning Studio with courses that are asynchronous. These free self-paced courses are intriguing! I logged in and there were courses on accessibility and competency based learning. I will sign up for a couple of courses!
