Unlock Your Students’ Potential: Learn to Teach Reflection Skills

Reflection is an essential skill for all university students and plays a crucial role in their academic development. But how do you get students to reflect and what is your role as a teacher in this process? Learning your students to reflect is not something done ‘just like that’. It requires specific knowledge, skills and teaching methods, which will be addressed in this training. This course is designed for lecturers who want to delve deeper into the art of teaching reflection. It complements the University Teaching Qualification (UTQ/BKO) and is ideal for educators looking to enhance their ability to encourage and teach reflective skills.

What you will gain

• Knowledge: learn about educational theories and models about reflection to provide you a solid basis.
• Practical tools for reflective teaching: Learn how to design learning activities within your own course that invite students to reflect.
• Skills for encouraging reflection: Gain expertise to encourage meaningful reflection during your teaching, such as through the use of non-verbal communication or guiding reflective discussions.
• Professional development: This course not only equips you to teach reflection but also contributes to your own growth as a ‘reflective practitioner’,  with the goal of improving effectiveness in the classroom.

Registration & more information

If you would like to register, please contact Salome Scholtens (s.scholtens rug.nl).

Learning Outcomes

During this training you will gain knowledge of the main theories of reflection and how to structure your teaching to support reflection. You will also gain skills to encourage students to reflect. Finally, attention is given to developing an attitude and perspective that is important for you in teaching reflection. Throughout the programme there is therefore an explicit focus on your development as a teacher.

Knowledge

After the training you will be able to: 

• Explain what reflection is, its benefits and why it is important for students;
• Describe some important theories related to reflection;
• Explain how reflection contributes to the development of other academic and professional skills;
• Explain what the concepts of transformative learning and professional (identity) development mean and how reflection is a central skill for these;
• Explain how the teacher's reflective skills influence the student's learning process;
• Construct a lesson which encourages reflection.

Skills

On completion of the training you will have the skills to encourage students to reflect in your own teaching context. You will be able to: 

• Ask questions to stimulate reflection;
• Lead a plenary debrief;
• Use non-verbal communication to encourage reflection;
• Make students' reflective processes and skills explicit.

Attitude

By the end of the training you will be (even more) aware of your own reflective skills as a teacher and how this affects the learning process of students.