As part of a learning academy at my workplace, we provide 30 hours of mandatory training to a group of 100 nominated learners over 6 months. That’s a lot of training on a complex commercial topic! While learners are generally happy with the training, they also identify the cognitive overload.
To address this, we decided to implement a reflective break in the training program at the 4-month mark. The use of reflection is not new in learning; John Dewey, the educational reformer, laid the grounds of reflective learning in 1910 when he wrote, “We do not learn from experience…we learn from reflecting on experience.” Since then, there have been several theories of reflection that we now use in training design: David Kolb’s ‘reflective cycle’ (1975), Donald Schon’s ‘reflection on action’ and ‘reflection in action’ (1983), David Boud’s ‘reflection of learning’ (1985), Graham Gibbs’ ‘reflective cycle’ (1988), Mike Pedler’s ‘reflective model’ (1991), and Debra McGregor’s & Lesley Cartwright’s ‘Reflexivity’ (2010).
The first benefit of reflection is to institute a pause in learning. Instead of continually intaking new information, the pause is an invitation to the Learner to think back on what they have learned (learning retrieval) analyze and synthesize it applying techniques like the Frayer Model, etc. These exercises are effective in turning short term memory into long term knowledge.
Second, reflection helps the learner make stronger connections between new and previous learning (ie, scaffolding). In reflecting, a learner makes connections between what they are learning and what they already know, and how they (the learner) plans to use their newly expanded field of knowledge.
Third, reflection helps the Learner make value judgements about their learning. How does the learning make them ‘feel’? If the feeling is negative (e.g. a lack of motivation or confidence), what are the causes behind the same? How, and to whom, can the Learner provide feedback about such gaps in their learning?
Fourth, reflection helps the Learner plan their next course of action. It helps them identify topics they are interested in; topics they want to apply and experiment with, and topics they don’t find useful. Reflection helps the Learner identify scenarios where they would like to apply their new learning. It also helps Learners define questions to ask, further training programs to investigate, additional SMEs to reach out to, etc.
Taken together, these techniques help the Learner structure their learning, integrate it into their daily work, and grow in competence and confidence.
In Part 2 of this post, I will describe the simple reflective resource we developed as part of our learning academy.
