Support and resources for developing reflective practice

In supporting students through the process of reflection there are a number of resources to use. You may wish to adapt some of the examples or ideas offered in this guide. Many can be used as a template for you to tailor to your own module or course. This page provides more information on the theory and practice of reflection, but there is a surprising lack of references to work in law. The main thing to take on board is that you do not have to change everything at once. You might introduce a self assessment element into one module and trial it for a year, or you might consider negotiating the criteria for the next assignment with students. Reflection can be introduced gradually and progressively over time; it does not require huge course teams or the overthrow of established assessment systems.

Key websites

• entry on reflection from the Encyclopedia of informal education
• Learning through reflection (LTSN Generic Centre guide for busy academics, 2001)
• Reflection in higher education learning (LTSN Generic Centre working paper, 2001)
• Personal development planning in law
• Problem-based learning in law

Key books

• Boud D (1995) Enhancing learning through self assessment (London: Kogan Page)
• Claxton G (1999) Wise up: the challenge of lifelong learning (London: Bloomsbury) – includes a rationale for reflection
• McGill I and Brockbank A (1998) Facilitating reflective learning in higher education (Buckingham: Open University)
• Moon J (1999) Learning journals: a handbook for academics, students and professional development (London: Kogan Page)
• Ramsden P (1992) Learning to teach in higher education (London: Routledge) – the learning style inventory and course experience questionnaire can be used to introduce students to the idea of autonomous learning
  The author’s experience working with staff and students on the Self Assessment in Professional and Higher Education (Saphe) project revealed a number of factors that helped in the introduction of these new practices. Using the lists below you might want to consider how many of these you currently have in place, using the rest as a basis for discussion with other colleagues interested in facilitating reflection.

Factors that helped when working with staff introducing self and peer assessment:

• evaluating current teaching and assessment practices
• identifying and building on strengths in teaching and assessment
• exploring the possibilities and limitations of the staff team and course structures
• giving consideration to the level of commitment to learner autonomy
• offering staff development and training in self and peer assessment activities
• ensuring there is willingness from a core group of staff to suspend scepticism and to approach self, peer and oral assessment with the same intellectual rigour as other assessment and learning practices
• expressing learning objectives and assessment criteria in clear, simple language
• integrating activities at appropriate and relevant points

Factors that helped when working with students using self and peer assessment:

• offering student induction and guidance on self, peer and oral activities and explaining how they relate to the development of skills central to law teaching
• acknowledging students’ previous experiences (negative or positive) of what they perceive to be reflective practice
• ensuring that activities are introduced sensitively and that students are able to feed their opinions of the process of being involved in reflective practice back

Last Modified: 4 June 2010