Let's pause for a moment

The Educationalist. By Alexandra Mihai

Welcome to a new issue of “The Educationalist”. This week I would like to propose a small challenge. Choose a course you are currently teaching. When you next meet your students (virtually, for now), pause for a couple of minutes at a certain point in the session. An intentional pause, following a question, or an idea you would like students to reflect on. Yes, silence can be very uncomfortable, in the lecture hall and especially online, where it seems to be amplified and often equated with technical problems. But silence can be meaningful. Reflection is a crucial prerequisite for learning. I’ve put together some ideas on why we should encourage our students to reflect and how we can do it at various moments in the course. This is complemented, as usual, with a few insightful resources that will inspire you to embed reflection in your teaching. Enjoy reading and I am looking forward to your comments and ideas!

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Why reflect?

The move to online teaching made us focus more on filling up every moment with “meaningful” content, often forgetting that learning is more than being continuously “on”, ready to actively engage. Learning also needs time. Time to absorb, to process, to listen, to think. Now more than ever, having been teaching and learning in a new environment for a year, it’s very important to reflect. For teachers, creating a reflection routine can be a way to make sense of what worked and what didn’t and prioritise accordingly. For students, reflection is an extremely important- though often underestimated- element of the learning process.

Reflection enables students to:

• make connections between what they are learning in different courses, but also between new and prior knowledge and how it relates to their own experiences; this is a prerequisite for deep learning, as it helps learners create meaning from the various sources they are exposed to, instead of merely acquiring knowledge in a passive manner;

• think intentionally about their learning: training healthy learning habits is very important, and even more so in the context of online learning; by understanding what conditions facilitate or limit their learning, students can build an environment that suits their needs and become more aware of the types of support they need;

• get a sense of ownership of their learning: by being able to reflect on their journey and monitor their own progress, students often become more motivated and ready to engage for longer periods.

The importance of pausing

But reflection seldom happens spontaneously. It needs to be planned for, designed into our courses and repeated so that it becomes a habit. In order to reflect, we need to pause. And a pause often means silence. In our social interactions, silence can often be awkward, and it is indeed perceived as uncomfortable in the classroom. Even more so in the virtual classroom.

So, in order to create fertile ground for reflection, we first need to learn how to deal with silence. This undoubtedly takes some training but also a change in mindset: taken at the right moment, a five minute pause can be as powerful (and sometimes more!) than an hour of talking. Silence allows students absorb new knowledge, process it, make connections and deepen their understanding of both the topic and their learning.

Some ideas for becoming more comfortable with silence and using it for reflection:

• Ask the right questions before giving students a few minutes to think: planning for reflection moments already at the design stage and thinking about the reflection prompts in advance can enhance the effects the exercise has for students’ learing;

• Do not offer the answer immediately, or simply continue talking: this is the hardest part, so here is where we need to be very intentional. We can start by timing ourselves- and only speak when the time is up. In asynchronous discussions, try not to make up for students apathy by providing the answers. If this feels too awkward, why not discuss it openly with students?

• Just be spontaneous: regardless of how much we plan, every situation offers many potential entry points for reflection. Observe how students react to new concepts and don’t be afraid to run off-schedule and pause for a few minutes; you’ll often be positively surprised by the results.

Designing moments of reflection: a few tips

Here are some of my tips for meaningfully embedding moments of reflection in your course. For more ideas and inspiration you can browse through the resources below.

• Plan for reflection opportunities at different points in the course. It can be the last 5 minutes of the session, as an “exit ticket”, a short pause after introducing a new concept, or a way to close the circle by providing some questions in the beginning and then coming back to them at the end of the session. It works in both synchronous and asynchronous modes and it helps students develop a reflective mindset;

• Why not try to design a reflective exercise that runs throughout the course? While small pauses can help build a routine, a more structured and extended activity provides students with the chance to create their own narrative and revisit it if they feel the need. This can take the shape of a learning journal- where students focus on their learning journey- or an ePortfolio that enables them to complement their work on the course with reflective moments;

• Try to encourage integrative learning through reflection. All too often students are required to study each individual subject in a vacuum. So why not use these reflection moments to prompt them to make connections- between different courses they are studying but also with their own experience? This can also apply, for instance, to reflecting on the feedback received and on how they can integrate it in future work;

• Make the reflection prompts clear and provide scaffolding if and when necessary. Reflection does not come naturally (or easy) for all students. Sometimes you need to gently guide them through the process. One way to do it is by adding some more specific questions that enable them to focus their thoughts;

• Encourage students to use various formats and media for reflection. There is no right or wrong way to do it, just let students explore different ways and choose what suits them best (written, audio, video, …). Also, while we generally consider reflection an individual endeavour, it’s equally valuable to share reflections with peers or in a small study group.

Resources

Boosting Student Motivation Through Connected Reflection: some ideas to cultivate metacognition and increase students’ motivation;

Three Ideas for Implementing Learner Reflection: some good advice for encouraging reflective practice with your students;

Five Ways to Teach Students to Be Learning Centered, Too: some ideas on how to support students to take ownership of their learning;

Audio Reflection Assignments Help Students Develop Metacognitive Skills: interesting article on the benefits of using audio reflections for students;

Why a Simple Pause at the End of Class Is So Powerful: a good article on the benefits of pausing, including ideas of how to implement a “good pause”;

8 Reflective Questions To Help Any Student Think About Their Learning: some ideas for questions you can use to prompt students to reflect on their learning;

15 Reflection Strategies To Help Students Retain What You Just Taught Them: inspiration for learning activities with a reflective component;

20 Types Of Learning Journals That Help Students Think: some good examples of how to use learning journals in your course.