The following list of activities are described according to how each could be used to facilitate reflection and how each could be implemented as a low-or high-stakes assessment. Remember that any reflection activity will need to address fundamental design questions:
Who are my learners?
What are the course or activity outcomes?
How will I assess learning?
Usually ungraded, low-stakes assignments provide the opportunity for instructors to engage students in reflection activities and provide feedback. Low-stakes assignments may include a brief written response to a prompt or may involve discussion in pairs, small groups, or the entire class. Low-stakes assignments work well to "get the students thinking" about the topic, preparing them for deeper-level responses to more challenging reflection prompts and higher-stakes assignments that will follow. Feedback may be to the entire class, such as in a directed discussion, or to individual work in the form of a brief comment on a reflective response or a completion grade for the student. Low-stakes assignments allow the instructor to assess how well individuals or the entire group understands the topic and if/how well they are making progress toward the outcomes. They also serve to help students think through the "foundation" or context of a learning experience (the "what") before addressing the more significant issues involved (the "why"). See the University Writing Center's description for more information on low-stakes assignments.
Essential questions
Think-pair-share
Directed discussions: in class, online discussion boards, blogs, and microblogs (e.g., Twitter)
Four corners debate: Students take a position on a topic. Then argue from the opposite side.
They are perpetually arguable: What is justice?
Key inquiries within a discipline: What is healthful eating?
What is needed for learning core content: In what ways does light act wave-like?
Causes genuine inquiry
Promotes deep thought, lively discussion
Requires students to consider alternatives and weigh evidence
Simulates ongoing re-thinking of big ideas
Sparks meaningful connections
For more details on essential questions, visit the Big Ideas e-Journal from Authentic Education
Purposeful reading assignments encourage students to engage with reading material in your course (from Geraldine Van Gyn, Faculty Focus, 2013):
Requirement 1: Students read what is assigned, then choose and describe the three most important aspects (concepts, issues, factual information, etc.) of the reading, justifying their choices.
Requirement 2: Students identify two aspects of the reading they don’t understand, and briefly discuss why these confusing aspects interfered with their general understanding of the reading. Although students may identify more than two confusing elements, they must put them in priority order and limit themselves to the two most important ones. Students seldom understand everything in a reading and, knowing that they must complete this part of the assignment, will reflect on their level of understanding of all the reading’s content.
Requirement 3: Students pose a question to the text’s author, the answer to which should go beyond the reading content and does not reflect the areas of confusion in requirement 2. The question reflects students’ curiosity about the topic and reveals what they think are the implications or applications of the reading content. This last requirement lets you know how well students understood the article’s intention.
Download the example Reading Reflection Assignment if you are interested in using this technique.
Instructors can also help students develop self-awareness regarding their own reading strategies. The Reading Self-Reflection Questionnaire can help students evaluate their habits and make adjustments as necessary (from LibGuides Tulsa Community College).