Reflecting

Using ICTs to promote reflection in learning

David Locke, Memorial University of Newfoundland

Problem

In typical face-to-face classrooms, students are rarely given adequate opportunities to reflect on their learning (Lin, Hong, & Lawrenz, 2012). In-class journal writing can be an effective means of student reflection, but it tends to take away from instructional time that is needed to teach the curriculum (King & LaRocco, 2006). It can also be unfair to those students who are less able to express themselves through writing and whose reflections will therefore be less clear as a result (Granberg, 2010).

Asking students to write reflections at home instead of in class can be problematic as well; for example, if the intention is to share the reflections with others, “the logistics of passing them among professors and students […] can be a formidable task” (King & LaRocco, 2006, Some Drawbacks to Traditional Journaling section, para. 1). There will also be only one copy of each reflection available for reading at any given time (Lin et al., 2012). Another problem is that some students may choose not to write on a regular basis and may instead write all of their reflections shortly before they are collected, a practice which certainly limits the amount of reflection taking place (King & LaRocco, 2006).

Promoting reflection in the form of whole-class or small group discussions can also be quite challenging, particularly when class sizes are large (Cooner, 2010). Getting students to ask one another reflective questions can be effective; however, many students – particularly those in secondary school – will require a significant amount of support before they are able to successfully do this (Wu & Looi, 2012). Another problem with reflective discussions is that students sometimes find it difficult to reflect on problem-solving sessions; they may forget exactly how the problem was solved, as well as the different strategies that they attempted throughout the process (Pon-Barry et al., 2005).