Mapping Reflection to Learning Outcomes

How can reflection about coursework and high-impact experiences (HIEs), a goal of the TAMU Quality Enhancement Plan, be used to facilitate and assess lifelong and integrative learning? Beginning with the end in mind, practitioners (instructors, advisors, program coordinators) traditionally identify what students should know or be able to do at the end of the course or high-impact learning experience, determining both summative and formative assessments to reach the learning outcomes. Thus, assessments have included projects, papers, exams, or other assignments to determine learning at midpoint as well at the end of the semester or end of the HIE. “Traditional” assessments may have also included a showcase of work that the student created through a portfolio of HIE artifacts. However, without reflection, this traditional approach does not assess if or how well the student is able to fully articulate the value of what he or she has learned. Thus, without reflection, the student oftentimes does not understand what he has learned or accomplished to meet the outcomes, nor is he able to articulate how the assessments he has successfully completed transfer to future learning opportunities. When implemented strategically throughout the HIE, reflection can be used to instruct, reinforce, and transfer knowledge more effectively than relying on traditional assessments (exams, etc.) of learning outcomes—allowing students to understand and articulate what they know, how they learned it, and how this learning will transfer to their future experiences. Reflection practitioners, still keeping the end in mind, can use a scaffolding approach of reflection prompts that address different cognitive levels while also reaching learning outcomes.

Scaffolding: Instructor and Student Responsibilities

An instructor can use reflection mapping to facilitate and assess different levels of reflection throughout the semester. Reflective formative assessments can be recorded in the students’ integrative learning portfolios (ILPs) where students receive feedback at different points in their learning. The integrative learning portfolio can also serve as a summative assessment over course and program outcomes. Thus the reflection map helps the instructor track how and when different levels of reflection are addressed throughout the course, all of which are recorded in the ILP. Both provide a scaffold of reflection activities and assessment.

Rationale: Connecting Institutional Learning Goals to Pedagogy

Texas A&M University through its Aggies Commit to Learning for a Lifetime, the recent Quality Enhancement Plan, recognizes the importance of researched findings regarding the value of high-impact practices on student learning and ability of reflection to facilitate these practices. HIPs correlate to essential student learning outcomes; thus, students' participating in one or more of these high-impact experiences (1) increases the likelihood of retention, graduation, and transfer of skills and (2) "induces[s] student behaviors that lead to meaningful learning gains" [1]. While high-impact experiences provide opportunities for student learning and retention, reflection fosters the skills and habits integral to students' understanding the value of their experiences. Therefore, integrating reflection within high-impact practices increases the likelihood of thoughtful student engagement, i.e., "struggling, processing, sense-making," essential steps of deep learning [1].

More than a showcase of work, an integrative learning portfolio relies on reflection to help the student evaluate what he/she has learned, how or where she learned it, why it matters and to whom, and how this learning will transfer to new situations. The integrative learning portfolio documents reflection, allowing for feedback and continued growth, while also serving as a summative assessment of course and program-level outcomes: It is an “electronic record that can be constantly sorted and culled and curated over time. It is an active repository with many management tools that can generate Web presentations for particular purposes. It is a resume maker with linked evidence" [2].

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[1] R. Bass. (2012). "Disrupting Ourselves: The Problem of Learning in Higher Education." [Online]. Educause. Available: http://www.educause.edu/ero/article/disrupting-ourselves-problem-learning-higher-education.

[2] T. Batson. (2012). "12 Important Trends in the ePortfolio Industry for Education and Learning," [Online]. Campus Technology. Available: http://campustechnology.com/articles/2012/09/19/12-important-trends-in-the-eportfolio-industry.aspx.