Active reflection can supercharge student learning. Reflection in courses can help students draw connections between ideas in the course and other aspects of their lives, better process complexity, make meaning of what they have learned and the learning process, and develop habits of mind that can carry over to other academic and professional endeavors. But the success of active reflection depends on how it is structured and how students are guided through the process.

This page aims to provide faculty with two main types of resources to promote reflection:

1. Frameworks for structuring reflection assignments
2. Example reflection prompts

Structuring Reflection Assignments

Simply asking students to “reflect” on a course or assignment is unlikely to have the benefits associated with active reflection. Instead, students must be guided through effective means of structuring reflection. Moreover, by providing students with a framework for reflection, you reduce the cognitive load dedicated to how to reflect, providing more mental resources to focus on the reflection itself.

D.E.A.L. Model

A framework particularly useful when reflecting on specific experiences is the DEAL Model: Describe the experience, Explain the experience from multiple perspectives, and Articulate Learning.

• Describe the Experience. Emphasizes a short (3 sentence or less) objective description of the experience. The “What? Where? Who? When? Why?” of the experience
• Explain from multiple perspectives. In this step, students explore the experience using relevant perspectives, typically provided by instructor prompts. Perspectives can mean a lot of things, depending on context. Some general possibilities include:
  • Core Competencies. Explaining the experience from the perspective of (e.g.) collaboration and written communication. This helps students draw connections between the course/learning experience and the key skills emphasized in the core curriculum.
  • Personal Growth. Strengths and weaknesses that emerged in the experience. This helps students draw connections between the course/learning experience and their personal lives and abilities.
  • Academic Enhancement. Here the perspectives are drawn from the course and students are asked to apply one or more concepts/perspectives to the experience. This emphasizes connections between course content and the wider world.
• Articulate Learning. This step synthesizes the experience with the explanations to draw conclusions. Typically, the questions/prompts at this step will be consistent. Examples include:
  • What did you learn?
  • How did you learn it?
  • Why is what you learned important?
  • What will do as a result of the learning?

An example DEAL reflection assignment connected to the CSU Core Competencies may look like this:

1. Describe your experience working through the signature assignment.
2. Examine your experience through the following perspectives:
   • Digital Literacy: How did your use of digital tools or forms enhance, diminish, or otherwise influence your experience?
   • Collaboration: How did your work with others on this assignment enhance, diminish, or otherwise influence your experience?
3. Articulate your learning: What are the two most important things you learned through this assignment process?

What? So What? Now What?

This model of reflection may be familiar to some students, as it is sometimes used in high school education. It is more flexible and quicker than other models, and so is typically more appropriate for shorter, written reflections.

Fundamentally, you can organize any reflection around these three broad prompts:

• What happened?
• Why does it matter?/What is important about it?
• What will you do next time?

3-2-1

This approach to reflection focuses on student takeaways and lessons learned. Whereas the previous two models most shine when the focus is on a learning experience, the 3-2-1 is especially good for cementing conceptual and content learning.

3-2-1 reflections can be short, even done at the end of each class period, or longer depending on the context provided. In either case, the process of providing a 3-2-1 reflection includes:

• Setting context. Here you will specify the domain for reflection. It may be the class period, the most recently completed module or unit, the recently completed signature assignment, a specific activity or class experience, or even the entire course.
• 3 things you learned, noticed, and/or experienced. Here students are asked to reflect back within the provided context.
• 2 things connected to something outside of the context (i.e., broader studies or personal life) and/or 2 things you want to learn more about.
• 1 thing you intend to try next time around or would do differently going forward.

Example Reflection Prompts^[1]

Faculty are encouraged to design reflection prompts and assignments that best fit with their course and instructional style. But the following taxonomy and examples may be used as a basis for design.

Summative Reflection

• In what ways have you improved as a writer/artist/scientist, etc.? What brought about those improvements? Point to specific experiences, readings, assignments, or discussions in the course.
• What was your biggest accomplishment in the course? How did the signature assignments and other course elements help you reach it? Be specific.
• What skills did you master in this course? How are they reflected in your signature assignments and other course work? Be specific.

Process Reflection

• What problems did you encounter in completing the signature assignments? How did you troubleshoot them?
• Talk about the aims and strategies that led to the completion of your signature assignments. How did your thinking about the assignments evolve over time? Illustrate this using specific experiences you had while working on the assignments. How did the assignment evolve (or not) with your thinking? What went according to plan and what surprises did you encounter? What still needs work?
• Outline the steps you took to complete the signature assignments, and tell me about your thinking at each step.

Evaluative Reflection

• What are the strengths and weaknesses of your signature assignments? Explain while making specific references to your work.
• Discuss your best work in this course and explain using specific references to the work why it is your best.

Learning Reflection

• Make connections between what you learned in this course and what you’ve learned in other courses at CSU or before. Make specific references to your work in this class and in the other courses. How did what you learned in the other courses enhance what you learned in here, and vice versa?
• As part of the CSU Core Curriculum, this course is designed to help you develop the following core competency/competencies: [insert for course]. Making specific references to your work in this course, tell me how you have progressed toward achieving this competency/these competencies.
• Reflect on how you thought about [course topic] before you took this course and how you think about it now that the course is over. Have any of your assumptions or understandings changed? Why? What assignments/activities/readings were influential in this process? How will you approach [course topic] differently in the future?