Resources for reflection

Reflection is central to creating your ePortfolio

Reflection is at the heart of creating and curating ePortfolios as evidence of learning and development. The process of active reflection within the ePortfolio is intended to help students to recognise the variety, depth and ongoing development of their knowledge and abilities; increase their confidence in themselves as emerging professionals; and help them identify skill areas in need of improvement. In addition to encouraging reflective thinking and the development of lifelong learning skills, Student ePortfolio enables students to build a comprehensive repository of information that will provide them with a valuable resource for demonstrating their skills, knowledge and achievements to prospective employers. Reflection on academic experiences should lead students towards a better understanding of the connection between their coursework and the graduate capabilities they are expected to develop while at QUT. This will help them to review and refine their educational goals, and encourage them to take a more active role in their learning and development.

Reflection is at the heart of creating and curating ePortfolios as evidence of learning and development. The process of active reflection within the ePortfolio is intended to help students to recognise the variety, depth and ongoing development of their knowledge and abilities; increase their confidence in themselves as emerging professionals; and help them identify skill areas in need of improvement. In addition to encouraging reflective thinking and the development of lifelong learning skills, Student ePortfolio enables students to build a comprehensive repository of information that will provide them with a valuable resource for demonstrating their skills, knowledge and achievements to prospective employers. Reflection on academic experiences should lead students towards a better understanding of the connection between their coursework and the graduate capabilities they are expected to develop while at QUT. This will help them to review and refine their educational goals, and encourage them to take a more active role in their learning and development.

Frameworks for reflection

There are many frameworks that encourage you to focus and develop your reflection. Students find the frameworks below useful when getting started with and further developing their reflective thinking and  writing.  They help you recognise the significance of activities you have undertaken and help you focus your reflection to evidence of your capabilities. There is no one correct framework. It is best to use the ones you feel prompt your thinking. You will find other frameworks available online.

→ 4/5Rs Framework and STARL/P overview

Frameworks can be contextualised as series of questions, specific to a discipline, which prompt students to develop and deepen their thinking about what they are learning and experiencing. For example: This is a first year, first semester framework that effectively stimulates beginning reflective writing. Students can be challenged to design frameworks to prompt and direct their reflction.

→ Question framework

Developing Reflective Approaches to Writing (DRAW) – ALTC-funded Project Mary Ryan and Michael Ryan

The overall aim of this ALTC-funded project was to enhance staff and student capacities and understandings for the teaching and learning of reflective practice in higher education. The level of engagement with the project across disciplines together with wide dissemination of the resources developed resulted in successful development of teaching patterns with the “potential to be adopted across the higher education sector in a wider variety of disciplines and courses to enhance both the capacities for higher education staff to teach and assess reflective practice, and the capacities for higher education students to become reflective and transformative professionals in the field” (see Final Report below).

→ ALTC final report