Reflecting on Theory: How Personal Reflections Aid Application of Communication Theories

Heather Gahler

Department of Communication, University of Arizona

Introduction

In courses that are primarily based on teaching theory, the content learned within the course may appear quite abstract and unapproachable, even to students with previous background knowledge. One of the most interesting aspects to the field of Communication, however, is its relatability to the real world. How do we bridge this gap between theory and real life experience for students?

Reflection is a great way for students to gain a deeper understanding of course content (Ash et al., 2005; Chang, 2019). Reflection is useful on a personal, interpersonal, and socio-structural level, which is perfect for something like Communication theory which may be applied to these levels (Van Beveren et al., 2018). Because reflection is thinking about one’s own life and connecting it to the content (Van Beveren et al., 2018), I think that reflection is an ideal way to aid in student application of theories, while increasing the amount of time students spend learning about the theories. Therefore, I think that reflection is a simple but effective way to aid student learning and possibly increase grades.

The Course

The course examined is Comm 300, a required course for the major, which discusses various Communication Theories and has students apply it. This is an online asynchronous 7 week course. The number of students is 37. The teaching approach is to have students watch videos and engage with discussions, and through 3 papers and 2 finals.

The course is a 300 level course and does require some previous knowledge from at least the two other required courses. The students are usually sophomore or junior undergraduates in the major. Typically they are in their late teens or early twenties but there may be a variety.

The current iteration of this course occurred in Spring 2024, while a previous iteration of the course occurred in Spring 2021. Access to both the current and previous course allows me to examine in detail what the role of the reflections are, and how they may benefit students.

TAR Question

During a 7-Week COMM 300 course, do students demonstrate mastery of content through an increase in whole-course-grade averages when they complete weekly personal low stakes reflection assignments on various communication theories compared to a previous semester of the course?

Timeline

Approach / Methods

I wanted to see if reflections would improve grades, and how they affected students.

I compared two groups. Group 1 was the control group, a set of 42 students from a 2021 iteration of the course. Group 2 was the experiment group of 36 students from the 2024 iteration of the course.

I compared the grades from the two groups on the Midterm, Final Exam, and the Final grades overall. Data was analyzed using paired t-tests on SPSS. I also asked students for feedback on the reflections specifically.

Results

T-Test Results

A Paired samples t-test was conducted to determine the effect of reflections on midterm grades. The results indicate a not significant difference between the midterm grades with reflections (M=83.76; SD=19.14) and without (M=81.19; SD=19.78); [t(35) = .58, p = .56].

For the effect of reflections on final exam grades, the results indicate a significant difference between the final grades with reflections (M=84.39; SD=19.68) and without (M=68.00; SD=25.86); [t(35) = 2.71, p = .01]. However, these results indicate that reflections actually negatively impacted final exam grades.

A Paired samples t-test was conducted to determine the effect of reflections on final grades. The results indicate a not significant difference between the final grades with reflections (M=84.97; SD=16.52) and without (M=80.81; SD=10.92); [t(35) = 1.24, p = .22].

Poll Results

The poll was created to better understand the impact of the reflections on students. The poll was optional for students, and 30 out of 36 students participated. Below are the results from these polls.

Qualitative Results

Finally, students were asked their opinion on the reflections. This was an open-ended response from students. 30 students responded. Here are some exemplars:

"The reflections helped me actually understand the theories because I would have to apply it to something in my life. That made it so much easier to wrap my brain around certain topics."

"I really liked the reflections; they made me take a deeper look into my life to see how some of these course concepts applied to me. They also helped me see how I can improve my professional life by implementing some of these theories and strategies."

"I would enjoy getting other classmates feedback on the reflections. Also getting to see their answers would be enjoyable as well."

"The reflections unlocked a part of me that I did not really know I had. Classes like these make me grateful to be a human being as you learn so many intricate things about the way we operate. I am not really sure how to describe it, but it makes living seem beautiful when it feels so scary and upsetting all the time.'

"I thoroughly enjoyed the reflections! They served as an appropriate contrast of templates from the papers, which were more aligned to defining the theories. In the reflections, I was able to connect the theories to my personal life, which I greatly appreciated. I definitely believe they are essential to the course material."

Discussion / Lessons Learned

Although the reflections did not significantly help in grades overall, the feedback from the students suggest that the reflections were highly beneficial in other ways. All of the open-ended responses were positive and giving constructive feedback to make the reflections better for the students. This shows that although the reflections may not be helping grades, they are helping on a personal level. This is one of the things I love about the field of Communication in general, so it is nice to see that the students are connecting to that as well.

By doing TAR, I learned that the students respond positively to the low-stakes assignments that allow them to apply course concepts to their lives. Even if they did not significantly affect their grades, students overall felt as though they grew personally from these reflections, which may be longer lasting than the short-term effect on grades. I have also learned that, as an educator, this is a great way to get online asynchronous students engaged in the course content and allows me to connect with them a bit more.

The feedback from the students particularly excites me. I am excited to think of ways to integrate reflections into more courses, and how I can do it to benefit students even more, such as getting feedback from their fellow students. I want to continue learning about the benefits of reflections, and other aspects of personal connections to the content that can be best incorporated into a variety of courses.

About the Author

Heather Gahler is a PhD candidate and media effects scholar, working on the effects of social media on body image among diverse populations. Ms. Gahler has focused on cultivating critical thinking, active learning, and diverse viewpoints within the classroom. She has taught classes on children and media, the history of media effects, research methods, and public speaking, among others.

Page updated

Report abuse