Encouraging students to reflect as part of the assignment process

Abstract

Reflective activities, in some cases quite extensive teaching material about reflection’s role in adult learning, have been used within distance-taught courses at the Open University, UK for more than a decade. This article summarizes the outcomes of an evaluation of the use of reflection in the assessment of a second level technology course in the Open University undergraduate programme. Two questions are addressed: how effectively do students engage in reflection when required to do so in these circumstances, and what responses to their reflections do their tutors make? The evidence from student scripts is that students find some types of reflection more difficult than others, notably setting and applying criteria to their own work. More guidance on these types of reflection produced improvements, but evidence suggests that students still found the exercise challenging. Tutor comments were also improved in both quantity and quality, following additional guidance and support from the course team. The course experience demonstrates that reflection by students is more effective when supported by the substantive goals of the course and where the course team persist in and improve on their method of implementation of the strategy.