Using directional reflection to stimulate students’ evaluative thinking
Many students struggle to understand and engage with the concepts and practices associated with reflection. This is where directional reflection comes in
Created in partnership with
Created in partnership with
While there is no generally accepted definition of the term “reflection”, Malcolm Tight, in his paper Reflection: an assessment and critique of a pervasive trend in higher education, asserts that it “has become widely accepted […] as a useful, even essential, tool”. It is a prominent feature in programmes related to careers in teaching, social work, business and nursing, among others.
The importance of reflection, according to the writings of Sanna Hilden and Kati Tikkamäki in Reflective practice as a fuel for organizational learning, rests on “a broad consensus among learning theorists that reflection is at the core of adult learning and professional growth, transformation and empowerment”. In recognition of its significance, a wealth of support is available to help students practically engage in reflection in the form of published guides, online videos, training programmes and toolkits.
Of concern is the research by Cecilia Chan and Katherine Lee in Reflection literacy: a multilevel perspective on the challenges of using reflections in higher education through a comprehensive literature review, which has identified a suite of interrelated barriers across several levels: “teacher-pedagogical, institutional and sociocultural”, that can hinder efforts when prompting the use of reflection at the tertiary level.
Of interest to this resource is the “core” level of student learning where a number of factors contribute to learners becoming what Anne de la Croix and Mario Veen call “reflective zombies” who are unable to engage in truly reflective behaviour. These include:
- Poor learner motivation, this being fuelled by time constraints and negative attitudes, and
- A lack of understanding/ability to engage in reflection, this being fuelled by language proficiency issues, and poor knowledge and skills.
To counter the above, I advocate the use of directional reflection by lecturers to stimulate students’ evaluative thinking.
What is directional reflection?
Jessica Robinson’s excellent blog post Exploring Different Types of Reflection Models with Examples aptly acknowledges various models of reflection that have been proposed to help individuals “reflect on their past experiences and […] work on their self-improvement”. A good number of these are cyclical in their design, with each one using a number of stages, phases, lenses or questions to prompt a continuous cycle of improvement for a repeated or stand-alone experience. The visual presentation of these various reflective cycles is the inspiration for directional reflection given that they typically use a series of arrows to signal the direction (sequence) in which reflectors (those undertaking reflection) are to engage with the selected cycle.
With it being generally assumed that arrows are a universally understood symbol, I believe that these can be used as a type of graphical shorthand to engage students by way of an illustrative example in a small verbal or written group evaluation of a taught unit or module. The direction of selected arrows signals stages from Graham Gibbs’ well-known reflective cycle in Learning by doing: a guide to teaching and learning methods.
| Reflective stage / prompt (adapted) |
Arrow | Written description | Verbal reflective prompt |
| Evaluation: What was good and bad about the unit/module? | ↑ | Arrow pointing in an upward direction (to symbolise something that was successful or was perceived as being positive) | “What was good about the taught unit?” |
| ↓ | Arrow pointing in a downward direction (to symbolise something that was disapproved of or was perceived as being negative) | “What was not so good about the taught unit?” | |
| Action plan: What should be done differently? | ↗ | Arrow pointing diagonally in an upward right direction (to symbolise a progressional “flight path” for future development) | “What could be done better next time the taught unit is delivered?” |
Put simply, directional reflection can be facilitated by offering students three visual prompts (arrows) on a piece of folded (zig-zag) A4 paper or generated by a cardboard spinning top that encourages them to target key aspects of the unit/module to aid the evaluation process. By reflecting in response to the direction of the arrow (up for good, down for not so good (bad), diagonally upward right for improvement), students can focus their evaluative thinking on what worked well (strengths), what could be improved (weaknesses), and possible actions to take.
- Spotlight: Teaching critical thinking
- Want to increase student satisfaction? Activate higher-order thinking skills
- Metacognition in education: get students thinking about their thinking
Other possibilities for directional reflection
Having personally used directional reflection as a successful pilot strategy in the tertiary classroom (the perceived level of success being based on personal observations of students in the learning space and the reading of their written evaluations), I have been spurred on to consider the potential that other arrows could have to engage students in different types of reflection. See below:
| Arrow | Written description | Type of reflection | Details |
| ↓ | Arrow pointing in a downward direction (indicating the here and now) | Reflection in action (see the work of Donald Schön) | Reflection which takes place during the event, eg, during a lecture |
| ← | Arrow pointing in a backward direction (indicating the past) | Reflection on action (see the work of Donald Schön) | Reflection takes place after the event, eg, after a taught seminar |
| → | Arrow pointing in a forward direction (indicating the future) | Reflection for action (see the work of Michael Eraut) | Reflection takes place before the event, eg, before a 1-2-1 tutorial |
Lecturers may wish to be creative in the choice of arrow design they present to students, considering alternatives such as pointing finger emojis like these 👈 👉👆👇 to cater to young adults’ preferred forms of digital expression. Ultimately, it is important to keep in mind that reflection is not something that students engage in automatically, and they need help and support from their lecturers. This can be “simply stimulated” (my words) through directional reflection.
Simon Brownhill is a senior lecturer in teaching and learning at the University of Bristol’s School of Education.
If you would like advice and insight from academics and university staff delivered direct to your inbox each week, sign up for the Campus newsletter.
