Build opportunities for students to reflect on their performance 3. Building opportunities for students to reflect on their performance throughout class, lab, and clinical experience is a third strategy for effective teaching. Not only is reflection helpful after a failure, but reflection also has benefits in all sorts of learning situations. For example, reflection encourages students to take charge of their own learning by reviewing a particular situation several times, exploring it from different points of view. This helps students to examine their own performance with more clarity than they might be about to do “in the heat of the moment” (Webb, 2018). Reflection can also help students build stronger connections among learning experiences. For example, when reflecting on the care they gave to an older adult, they may be able to see similarities and differences between this client and a younger adult. Reflection also encourages social interaction among instructor and students. Discussion of various individual reflections by a group of students can provide a breadth of understanding for all students that might not be achieved without such discussion (Webb, 2018). Numerous approaches to the reflection process have been developed to help students reflect on their own performance. A simple and easy to use template, Look, Think, Learn, Plan comes from Case Western Reserve Medical School (2020). Table 2 outlines those components in more detail and suggests some questions that will help students get started in each step of the reflection process.
TABLE 2: CaseWestern Reserve Medical School Reflection Template
Step
Questions to ponder
Look back at a situation or experience.
“How can I describe this situation?”
Think in depth about your experience or thoughts.
“My previous behavior might be because…” “Important ideas were…”
“I have learned that…” “I now realize…” “I wonder if…”
Learn about yourself or your role.
“I might do________ next time.” “I might change my thinking by…” “I may need to puzzle further…”
Plan what you will do next.
Faculty have the responsibility for preparing health professions students for an increasingly complex health care system. These three strategies can help you in your journey to becoming an expert teacher. Good luck on your journey.
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