Meaningful Reflection Guide
Meaningful reflection plays a crucial role in a college student’s personal, professional
and academic growth. Reflection allows students to explore their values, passions
and skills while gaining clarity about their career interests and aspirations.
What is reflection?Reflection is a process in which students describe their learning, how it impacted them and how it might relate to future learning experiences. The “Do. Reflect. Apply.” model of experiential learning outlines the steps a student takes when engaging in the reflection process.
Do
Students participate in a wide variety of meaningful experiences, including internships, undergraduate research, leadership roles, community involvement, group projects, case studies and so much more.Reflect
Students process their experience and recognize the value they gained from it. Upon reflection, they can articulate the skills they developed and the growth that it fostered in them. Through these observations, students recognize how the experience prepares them to successfully navigate future experiences.The Four Cs of ReflectionReflection should be continuous, connected, challenging and contextualized.
- Continuous
Reflection should be an ongoing part of a student’s college experience. This includes reflecting before, during, and after experiences.
- Connected
Reflection is not just a description of an experience. It should include connections between experiences and what has been learned both in and out of the classroom.
- Challenging
Reflection challenges assumptions and encourages critical thinking. It includes questioning original perceptions to develop new understanding.
- Contextualized
Reflection should be applied in an appropriate and meaningful context, meaning it should be appropriate for the setting and context of an experience.
Questions for Reflection
- Did you learn or clarify an interest?
- How was your experience different from what you expected?
- What did you like/dislike about the experience?
- What would you like to learn more about related to this topic?
- If you could do the activity/project again, what would you do differently?
- What were your initial expectations? Have these expectations changed? How? Why?
- What specific skills did you use in this experience?
- Did anything surprise you? If so, what?
- What were the most difficult parts of the project? Why?
- What were the most satisfying parts of the project? Why?
- What was the best relationship you created?
- How can you use the skills you learned in different situations?
- Did you meet your goals?
- What was the most important lesson learned?
- In what ways were you challenged?
- What skills did you use to overcome this challenge?
- What skills did you recognize that would be beneficial for you to develop?
- How does this experience connect to your long term goals?
- In what ways have you improved?
- What resources did you use while working to solve this problem? Would you use that resource again?
- What standards have you set for yourself? Did you meet those standards?
- What is one goal you would like to set for yourself moving forward?
- What things do you want more help on?
- Where could you use this knowledge again?
- How did you make decisions? What steps did you take?