Reflective practice

Dr John Mahoney
Learning Design
15
 m
UKPSF Dimensions

Teach and/or support learning

How students learn, both generally and within their subject/disciplinary area(s)

What can I do?

Impact
4
Quality
5
  • Use reflections sparingly. Even one occasion can be impactful.
  • Have students provide feedback to each other when reflecting
  • Use online forums, case conferences, concept maps, and structured questions to get students to reflect

What is this about?

Reflective practices in education involve thinking deeply about your own learning experiences to understand them better. It's like taking a step back to look at what you've learned, how you learned it, and what you can do to improve. This practice helps students and teachers figure out what works best for them. For students, it means thinking about how they study and learn. For teachers, it means considering how they teach and how they can improve their methods.

What's the evidence say?

Reflective practices have been shown to have a moderate effect on learning (➕➕➕➕). Further, research with healthcare professionals (including students) shows that reflective practice improves diagnostic decision making (➕➕➕➕). The effect of reflective practices on learning is greater when students engage in reflective practices for 8 or more weeks (➕➕➕), they reflect using discussion forums, present at case conferences, and create concept maps (➕➕➕), and they discussed their experiences with their peers  (➕➕➕➕). Regarding diagnostic decision making, reflective practices are more effective when students reflect using structured questions and prompts (➕➕➕).

What's the underlying theory?

One of the main theories behind reflective practices is Kolb's Experiential Learning Theory. This theory suggests that learning is a process where knowledge is created through the transformation of experience. It involves four stages: having a concrete experience, reflecting on that experience, forming abstract concepts, and then testing those concepts in new situations. Reflective practice is crucial in this cycle because it helps learners understand and make sense of their experiences.

Another key theory is Schön's Reflective Practitioner Theory. This theory focuses on the importance of professionals, like teachers, reflecting on their actions to continuously improve their skills. It distinguishes between "reflection-in-action" (thinking about what you're doing while you're doing it) and "reflection-on-action" (thinking about what you did after the fact). Both types of reflection help professionals learn from their experiences and become better at what they do.

Where does the evidence come from?

This evidence summary is based on two meta-analyses. The first, by Guo (2022) explored reflective practices in higher education. This meta-analysis included 23 primary studies and 2010 participants and met all the quality rating criteria (➕➕➕➕➕). The second study, by Prakash et al. (2019), explore diagnostic decision making in healthcare professionals and included 44 studies and 4380 participants. The quality of the study was marked down for not meeting at least 4 of the 7 AMSTAR-2 criteria, the small sample sizes of primary studies, and the inclusion of only one discipline, namely medicine (➕➕).

References

Guo, L. (2022). How should reflection be supported in higher education? A meta-analysis of reflection interventions. Reflective Practice, 23(1), 118-146. https://doi.org/10.1080/14623943.2021.1995856‍

Prakash, S., Sladek, R. M., & Schuwirth, L. (2019). Interventions to improve diagnostic decision making: A systematic review and meta-analysis on reflective strategies. Medical Teacher, 41(5), 517-524. https://doi.org/10.1080/0142159X.2018.1497786

Additional Resources

Fragkos, K. C. (2016). Reflective Practice in Healthcare Education: An Umbrella Review. Education Sciences, 6(3), 27. https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7102/6/3/27

Dr John Mahoney

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