Reflections on teaching and learning reflection

by Dr. Sue Pieper, Coordinator of Assessment

I recently read A Life in Bits and Bytes: A Portrait of a College Student and Her Life With Digital Media. The article portrayed a college student who, like many of her generation, is immersed in digital media. Katie Davis interviewed Anna, the student, asking her about the use of digital media in her life, her goals for using various digital media, and what opportunities and drawbacks she experienced from her daily media use.

Anna’s most striking observation came near the end of the interviews. She told Davis that while she appreciated being constantly connected to information and friends through her computer and her phone, at the end of the day she felt like she’d been “everywhere and nowhere.” Davis concluded that Anna’s portrait “highlights the need for and value of nurturing youth’s reflective practices and providing them with spaces for sustained reflection and authentic connection.” Others agree, including David M. Levy in No time to think: Reflections on information technology and contemplative scholarship (.pdf). In our current world of more-faster-better, he asks, “Where does one get the time to look and to think?” More specifically, how can you, as a college instructor, give your students time and space to think?

We might be able to solve this dilemma by using the same technology that created the dilemma in the first place. For college instructors, this can mean using technology to encourage reflection. Tools such as blogs (.pdf), wikis (.pdf), digital storytelling (.pdf), podcasting (.pdf), and even microblogs (.pdf), such as Twitter (.pdf), allow students to reflect as individuals and as part of a larger learning community.

The blog, a personal online journal that is shared on the Web, has become an increasingly popular tool for promoting student reflection. Blogs provide a venue where students (and instructors) can reflect on and write about course concepts, post their thoughts and any related links and media, and receive feedback and commentary from each other. Most course management systems have a blog tool that can be used by instructors and students. Alternatively, a number of free blogging services are available, including Blogger (part of Google), Movable Type, and WordPress, among many others.

How can blogs be used to promote reflection? A recent study (.pdf) by Shih-Hsien Yang described the use of blogs among student teachers training to teach English as a Foreign Language in Taiwan. Students in two classes were required to post their thoughts on a blog following each class meeting as well as to voluntarily respond to their peers’ messages. The instructors teaching the classes commented on their students’ postings and asked questions to challenge their thinking. The authors found that all students were reflective in their comments and some went beyond description to demonstrate critical thinking about their teaching and learning experiences. They also found that all students considered the blog a useful tool for reflecting and communicating with each other.

No matter which technology tools and strategies you use to promote and support reflection in your class, it’s important to remember that reflection is most effective when it is thoughtfully designed and integrated into course activities and assignments. Jan Harrington and Ron Oliver illustrated effective design for reflection in their article Designing for Reflection in Online Courses (.pdf). In one example, the authors incorporated a reflective journal in a Graduate Certificate in Online Learning course. Students in the course were asked to play the role of a college instructor and redesign a unit that they were currently teaching face-to-face for online delivery. They were also asked refer to the pertinent literature and to keep a journal of their thoughts about the differences between face-to-face and online delivery, including the strengths and weaknesses of each delivery mode. Finally, students were asked to submit a plan for an online unit, their edited journal, and a short article from an instructor’s perspective on the process of redesigning a face-to-face course for online delivery. The reflective journal became an integral part of the students’ course redesign task—not just an add-on to the assignment.

Can college instructors provide students with time to think? Levy concluded his article by calling for those of us in higher education to lead the way. By carefully designing for reflection and choosing tools and strategies that support reflective practices in your classes, you can do just that.

What are you doing to promote reflection in your own classes? Which tools and strategies have been most successful? Please share your ideas in the comments.

A Tweet a Day Keeps the Swine Flu Away

by Lorraine B. Elder

Okay, Twitter is not really the new Tamiflu, but educational technology and social media are useful tools in combating the effects of sweeping illness. The World Health Organization has declared a flu pandemic, meaning widespread human H1N1 infection is occurring. Many colleges are bracing for large numbers of flu-related absences among staff and students. Wise faculty members are planning ahead to ensure continuity of classes in the event that either they or their students are felled by flu. Here are some steps you can take.

Use Officially Supported Tools

First, try using officially supported tools at your campus. At Northern Arizona University, we recommend using Blackboard Vista for posting class materials, iTunes U for distributing podcasts, Elluminate for live web conferences, and classlists.nau.edu for sending bulk emails to all students enrolled in a class.

Use Social Media

Then in addition to those tools, consider using social media—your blog, a class wiki, Twitter—to communicate frequently with your students if you or a large number of them are ill and can’t come to class. Just be sure to tell students which social media you’re using. Blogs are good for pushing information out to students while also giving them a mechanism for offering comments and feedback. Wikis are especially good for allowing students to complete group projects even if one or more group members get sick, and by collaborating online, sick students reduce the risk of infecting their classmates. If you designate a hashtag for your class, Twitter can serve as a chat tool and discussion board.

Use File Formats Accessible to All Students

Students don’t all have access to the same versions of software that you do, so avoid posting your class materials in formats that require proprietary software. For example, you might have the latest version of Microsoft Word, but your students might have an older version or no version at all, which means they won’t be able to open your .docx files. Instead, convert your class materials to web pages that students can view in a browser. In a pinch, you can convert documents to PDFs, which students can view using Adobe Reader or other free PDF viewers. But keep accessibility in mind for students who use screen readers or other assistive technology.

Record Short, Targeted Podcasts or Webcasts

While we don’t advocate recording entire class-length lectures, we do suggest scripting and recording short (no more than 5–10 minutes each) talks or demonstrations focused on a single key point or topic in your course. Audio recordings are fine for some subjects. Others, particularly demonstrations, lend themselves to video recordings. Be sure to include transcripts, and tell students where to find the recordings. If you have access to iTunes U, post them there. If not, post them in your learning management system or on your blog.

Communicate

At the outset of your class, tell students how you will communicate with them if you become ill, and tell them which communication channels they should use to let you know when they’re sick. Take a look at the Communication Toolkit for Institutions of Higher Education. Above all, be flexible and understanding with your students. Remember that the H1N1 virus seems to affect younger people more strongly than older people, so instead of giving students grief for missing class, send them some virtual chicken soup.

Ask for Help

Most campuses have support organizations that can help you figure out which kinds of educational technology are appropriate for you and your students. Don’t hesitate to ask for guidance.

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