Transcript Creativity Session - Creighton University

Tutorial 4
Creating Reflection
Assignments
“A mind that is stretched
by a new experience can never
go back to its old dimensions.”
–Oliver Wendell Holmes
Office of Academic Excellence and Assessment
Creighton University
© 2007 Donna R. Pawlowski, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Department of Communication Studies
Tutorial Goals
• At the end of this tutorial, you will
have an understanding of:
• Understand the importance of
reflection
• Learn about critical elements of
reflection
• Be comfortable with the different
types of reflections used in servicelearning courses
Office of Academic Excellence and Assessment
Creighton University
© 2007 Donna R. Pawlowski, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Department of Communication Studies
Workshop Objectives
• At the end of this tutorial you will be able to:
• Identify reasons why reflection is
important for your particular course
• Create potential reflection assignments
for your course
**Some materials within these slides are adapted from
various references found at the end of this presentation
Office of Academic Excellence and Assessment
Creighton University
© 2007 Donna R. Pawlowski, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Department of Communication Studies
What is reflection?
• Reflection is the intentional, structured,
systematic process created by the faculty to
facilitate student learning
• Helps to achieve learning outcomes
• It is the mechanism of organizing the messiness of
service-learning
• Reflection has been called the “hyphen” that
links service with learning in service-learning or
community based-learning
http://www.servicelearning.org
Office of Academic Excellence and Assessment
Creighton University
© 2007 Donna R. Pawlowski, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Department of Communication Studies
Levels of Reflection
Social Systems
Personal
Technical
(Discipline
Specific)
Values
Values
Zlotkowski
(personal communication, 2000)
Office of Academic Excellence and Assessment
Creighton University
And Issues
© 2007 Donna R. Pawlowski, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Department of Communication Studies
What is the role of faculty in reflection?
Faculty are responsible for:
• Designing reflection
• Guiding students during reflection
• Monitoring reflection and providing
feedback
Office of Academic Excellence and Assessment
Creighton University
© 2007 Donna R. Pawlowski, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Department of Communication Studies
When should reflection occur?
• Once the outcomes are established and
service activities are appropriately
structured, faculty should design
reflection
• BEFORE
• DURING
• AFTER the service experience
• Faculty should ask the question: How can
reflection be used to enhance a
particular outcome?
Office of Academic Excellence and Assessment
Creighton University
© 2007 Donna R. Pawlowski, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Department of Communication Studies
Why is structured reflection important?
• Helps students connect service with course
content
• Assists students in finding personal
relevance in their work
• Provides an opportunity for students to
share progress and concerns of project
• Project effectiveness and student
learning can both be enhanced by
reviewing student reflection and
providing guidance
Office of Academic Excellence and Assessment
Creighton University
© 2007 Donna R. Pawlowski, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Department of Communication Studies
Why is structured reflection important?
• Students need a safe space to work out
emotions in service experiences
• Enhances critical thinking skills
• Identifying issues
• Being receptive to new ideas
• Learning about the consequences of
one's actions
• Strengthens student competencies
• Teamwork, communication, leadership,
problem-solving, time management
Office of Academic Excellence and Assessment
Creighton University
© 2007 Donna R. Pawlowski, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Department of Communication Studies
Why is structured reflection important?
• Provides a channel for professional
development
• Students engage with larger community
and connect with their current and
future professional peers
• Students break free from an “ivory
tower” orientation and view their
profession as a means to positively
impact society
Office of Academic Excellence and Assessment
Creighton University
© 2007 Donna R. Pawlowski, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Department of Communication Studies
Why is structured reflection important?
• Prevents the reinforcement of existing
prejudices and learning inaccurate
concepts
• Talking through/writing about and getting
feedback can help lessen one’s
stereotypes
• Arrives at a new understanding of
community needs and assets
• Creates a sense of closure, especially
important after a long service period,
project, or emotional experience
Partially adapted from Seifer & Connors, 2007
Office of Academic Excellence and Assessment
Creighton University
© 2007 Donna R. Pawlowski, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Department of Communication Studies
Core Elements - The 4 C’s:
• Continuous
• The reflective process is implemented and
maintained continuously before, during
and after the service-learning experience
• Connected
• Service experience is directly linked, or
connected, to the learning objectives of
the course or activity
• Allows for “synthesizing action and
thought”
(Eyler & Giles, 1999)
Office of Academic Excellence and Assessment
Creighton University
© 2007 Donna R. Pawlowski, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Department of Communication Studies
Core Elements - The 4 C’s:
• Challenging
• Learners are challenged to move from
surface learning to deeper, critical
thinking
• Important that the students feel they are
in a safe and mutually respectful
atmosphere to freely express their
opinions, ideas and thoughts
• Contextualized
• Reflection is contextualized when it
“corresponds” to the course content,
topics and experience in a meaningful
way
(Eyler & Giles, 1999)
Office of Academic Excellence and Assessment
Creighton University
© 2007 Donna R. Pawlowski, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Department of Communication Studies
How should reflection be integrated in the
course? What needs to be considered?
• Reflections should Include both private and public
reflection
• Involve multiple forms of learning styles (Kolb,
Dewey)
• Appropriate weight for the project; grades from
learning not just service – thus just telling stories does
not give the reflection a grade
• Are reflections done alone or in teams or a
combination?
• What level is the course? What level are the
students?
• Will the students need training?
Office of Academic Excellence and Assessment
Creighton University
© 2007 Donna R. Pawlowski, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Department of Communication Studies
Types of Reflections - Before
Get students prepared for experience
• Case study - related to population or topic
• Bring in community partner director - talk
about site and community members
• Group sharing (in-class or individual) related to apprehensions, concerns,
strengths about site and members
Office of Academic Excellence and Assessment
Creighton University
© 2007 Donna R. Pawlowski, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Department of Communication Studies
Types of Reflections - During
Remember to tap into various learning styles
• Journaling – make it in depth enough for critical
reflection and not just show and tell
• What – So What – Now What model (adapted
from campus compact)
• Added How to model (Pawlowski, 2007)
• Critical incidents – highlighted event of week
• Creating collage, videos – via magazine pictures or
video/digital cameras
• Letter writing – to self, partners, family member
Office of Academic Excellence and Assessment
Creighton University
© 2007 Donna R. Pawlowski, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Department of Communication Studies
Types of Reflections - During
• Group sharing – in-class reflective exercises
• Creating bumper stickers, bulletin boards, posters
• Time line – identifies highs and lows of semester or of
community partner with critical thought; could be
used for other reflective ideas also – students’
change in thoughts of population, community
partner, what the student learned each week…
• ABC Board – put alphabet on board and students
create words related to each letter in alphabet to
relate to their experiences
Office of Academic Excellence and Assessment
Creighton University
© 2007 Donna R. Pawlowski, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Department of Communication Studies
Types of Reflections - After
Should help students to culminate the
experience and perhaps share with a
broader audience
• Presentation – perhaps in class or public
presentation of product or outcome (i.e.,
report, scrapbook, research findings, …)
• Production/portfolio - video production or
tangible portfolio from student’s
experiences
Office of Academic Excellence and Assessment
Creighton University
© 2007 Donna R. Pawlowski, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Department of Communication Studies
Types of Reflections - After
• Written reflection – a form of written paper examining
a critical concept from class and making links to
community experience
• Personal contact/interview/focus groups – with
community partner, community leaders, community
directors…if it fits purpose of project
• Celebration event – with community partners
Other ideas on various web sites – but these are some
suggestions to help generate ways to enhance your
students’ reflective thinking!
Office of Academic Excellence and Assessment
Creighton University
© 2007 Donna R. Pawlowski, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Department of Communication Studies
Keys to Facilitating Open Reflection
• Students should be encouraged to be openminded and non critical of others’ ideas
• Listen to others and paraphrase when needed (to
help curb stereotypes or clarify one’s position)
• Don’t force participation
• Remember that everything is confidential
• Ask for students to explain and provide examples
• Faculty need to be ready to handle student
concerns of uneasiness of topic or emotions; don’t
be surprised if your students create teachable
moments – you too are a life-long learner!
• Be creative and take risks
Office of Academic Excellence and Assessment
Creighton University
© 2007 Donna R. Pawlowski, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Department of Communication Studies
Keys to Guiding and Grading Reflection
• Students should be challenged to do more than just
describe what happened at their service sites; they
need to analyze, think about implications, make
conclusions, as well as push their own personal
boundaries and how they have been changed, or
how they can be change agents for others
• The challenge for instructors is how to grade
reflections so that you are not just grading the
student’s feelings, but examining the critical though
process and the links to learning outcomes and/or
course content
Office of Academic Excellence and Assessment
Creighton University
© 2007 Donna R. Pawlowski, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Department of Communication Studies
Keys to Guiding and Grading Reflection
• Sometimes reflection is used as a way to
also assess service-learning – reflection can
be used to determine whether the learning
outcomes are being achieved; as well as
to assure that students are connecting with
and understanding the practical
academic components of course content
• Regardless of nature of your reflection,
remember to make it planned and
purposeful
Office of Academic Excellence and Assessment
Creighton University
© 2007 Donna R. Pawlowski, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Department of Communication Studies
Final Thoughts
• Hope you have enjoyed learning about reflection
and its importance in achieving student learning
outcomes
• Sparked interest in potential reflection assignments
for your service-learning course
• Generated more excitement to engage your
students as well as yourself in the world of servicelearning
• Website has various reflection samples and a grid
for you to create and track your reflection
assignments
Office of Academic Excellence and Assessment
Creighton University
© 2007 Donna R. Pawlowski, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Department of Communication Studies
• Eyler, J., & Giles, D. E., (1999). A practitioners guide
to reflection in service-learning. Nashville :
Vanderbilt University.
• Seifer S. D., & Connors, K. (Eds.). (2007) Community
campus partnerships for health: Faculty toolkit for
service-learning in higher education. Scotts
Valley, CA: National Service-Learning
Clearinghouse.
http://www.servicelearning.org/filemanager/downl
oad/HE_Toolkit_with_worksheets.pdf
• http://nationalserviceresources.org
• www.compact.org
Office of Academic Excellence and Assessment
Creighton University
© 2007 Donna R. Pawlowski, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Department of Communication Studies