Functional Area

Meta-Reflection 1 : Functional Area

A good example of work shows that you can synthesize your learning and describe how you have gained the needed knowledge and skills for success in the world. The suggested sections below help readers understand what you’ve gained from your learning and work experiences, and how those experiences connect to other areas of your life.

Overview or Description

The purpose of this section is to provide the reader with a brief and compelling snapshot of the nature of the work/assignment and the value of what you learned from doing it. Ideally, it should quickly summarize your learning and inspire readers to keep reading.

Guiding Questions for “Description” Section

• What functional area or topic did you choose to learn about and why?
• Describe something you learned while doing this assignment or an ‘a-ha’ moment you had while writing about it or talking about it with others.
• What do you think is the most important ‘take-away’ from this assignment? Try to summarize it in a sentence or two.
• What did you find as the most engaging aspect of this assignment?

Importance

The purpose of this section is to demonstrate how the insights you gained from doing this assignment connect to larger “big-picture” goals, concerns, issues, and/or ideas related to Student Affairs and/or Higher Education as a whole.

Guiding Questions for “Importance” Section

• According to the literature (and your own insights), what is the importance of the topic/functional area you studied to higher education / student affairs and/or students’ learning and development?
• Why does your functional area/topic exist to begin with?
• What types of challenges, needs or gaps does your functional area or topic address?
• If you discovered a set of best or ideal practices, how would higher education / student affairs and/or students’ learning and development improve if these practices were applied everywhere?

Skills Gained or Demonstrated

This section demonstrates what you learned from doing the assignment, both personally and professionally. Many students find it helpful to begin writing this section by listing the specific steps associated with the assignment and what decisions you made (and why) along the way. They key here is to use action verbs to describe your choices, perceptions, thinking and decisions as you progressed through the assignment.

Guiding Questions for “Skills Gained” Section

• How did you identify and respond to the different expectations, criteria, and or goals associated with this assignment?
• What types of questions, challenges and/or decision points arose during the assignment?
• What decisions did you make and why?

Lessons Learned

The purpose of this section is to convey to readers how you will translate or apply the knowledge, skills and/or insights you gained from this assignment to other areas of life – particularly your work in Student Affairs.

Guiding Questions for “Lessons Learned” Section

• Have you applied or used what you learned in other areas? If so, then describe how is this work addressing your overall learning or professional goals?
• How will this experience shape how you may approach things in the future?
• Are there any particular experiences or moments you feel proud of?

Impact of the Project/Work

This section, which is sometimes combined with the “importance” section, describes the influence or impact your work has had on you (in terms of your own professional development, or life goals) or others; this could include examples of how groups, organizations or communities were affected by a project, program, research effort, or volunteer commitment.

Visual Element

The visual element (image, diagram or picture) usually captures some theme, context, or poignant moment. These elements can be abstract or concrete, personally created or taken from the public domain.

All images need meaningful alt-tags. Remember to include any photo credits. For instance: Ranger Talk (Diana Perpich, July 2017)

For more info, download the full guidelines for meta-reflection-1