reflection example design

As you can see in this example, the student expressed how hard it was for them to make design decisions. The student reflected on what they believe to be the appropriate design moves, how to begin, and what the design should be focused on. Toward the end of the reflection, the student expressed a set of values and ideals—core design judgments.

Design Judgments and Reflection: Recommendations for Instructional Design Students

The reflection journal.

Some designers keep a journal. Some designers turn parts of their journal into a blog or a website where they reflect on their design work publicly. Commit to a journal in the format you prefer–a simple notebook, a Google document, a blog, a video, a podcast. Start your first entry about the last design project you completed in class and address the following prompt (adapted from Tracey et al, 2014):

Describe a time when you felt totally uncertain while working on this design project. Try to remember how you felt and what was the greatest challenge(s) you faced because of the uncertainty you felt. What actions did you take to overcome such uncertainty? How did it go? Why did you take certain actions and not other actions? What did you believe to be happening vs. what actually happened? Knowing that you will feel uncertain in future design projects, how do you feel about becoming a designer?

Start writing the reflection post using descriptive language. You should not worry about grammar and typos at this stage. Let the words and thoughts flow and make their way from your head to the journal. Pay attention to how you felt and what thoughts you had at the moment. Think about if someone reads this reflection, will they understand what was going on in the design project? Will they get to feel how you felt? Don’t limit yourself to formal writing. Write as you think and speak. Once you complete this first entry, share it with your ID faculty or another designer if you feel comfortable.

The following are some ways to document design reflections:

• Pick what you want to focus on for each reflection—a challenge with a designer, a moment of design failure, a harsh critique from a client, or an SME; you pick.
• Describe your design actions by addressing the Five Ws (What, When, Where, Why, Who).
• Elaborate on the “Why” part so you can reveal the design judgments you made that led to these design actions.
• Speculate on the “Why” when speaking about other’s actions, unless you are certain.
• Conclude with what you have learned from this design project—what you will not forget to do next time? To what extent this design project will be similar to future projects you anticipate?

Exploring Your Core Design Judgments

People are surrounded by designs they use every day, and some they cannot live without. Commit to a week of noticing and collecting—through photographs—designs that you appreciate and designs that you do not like at all. These could be the items you use every day, such as your phone, the showerhead in your bathroom, a specific app, or a favorite frying pan in your kitchen, or anything else. Challenge yourself to notice as many designs as possible. Such design could include instruction or performance support materials around you (e.g., a flyer that teaches people how to wash their hands or the instructional book that comes with IKEA furniture). Take about an hour or more to write down notes about each design—why you appreciate it and why you do not. Keep asking yourself “why do I like/dislike this?” and record your answers. Repeat this activity until you cannot think of any more answers to. For example, the authors appreciate public libraries. We like them because we find the books we like to borrow and not buy, they are accessible to us, they are free, they are diverse, and they provide quiet places for us to concentrate. We can say more why we like public libraries, but essentially we like public libraries because we believe in the noble cause of public goods, and public libraries represent such a cause .

Now examine your answers to the “why” questions and try to think about how such answers represent values you hold. These could be transparency, ease of use, elegance, democratic, accessible, inclusive/exclusive, soft, strong, and so on. These values constitute your core judgments and influence all kinds of design judgments you make. You may not be able to access all of them completely, but you are aiming to heighten your awareness of what your design values really are. Once you have spent some time on this exercise, consider revisiting it in the future to see any change you might notice in terms of the values you have—write a reflection post on such change. You can focus the noticing experience on specific types of designs (e.g., phone apps), or you can mix designs together that you see belong to each other (e.g., instructional posters and cooking books). Essentially, noticing designs and why you appreciate them will become a somewhat automatic habit for you. By these means you can question and refine your judgement across a whole career.

Additional Information

Ways to document design judgments and decisions:

• Document your design through documents and project management tools—you will have an audit trail at the end of the project that helps you or anyone else to trace back what design decisions you have made.
• Use the margins of such documents to add comments/thoughts and explanations on design decisions you have made.
• Archive written conversations (emails, chats, etc.…) between you and other design stakeholders that include design decisions (and most likely your “defense” or such decisions).
• Leverage your design reflections, notes, and design documents to write a design a case which you can publish in the International Journal of Designs for Learning (IJDL) .

You may have heard the common wisdom that to become a better professional, you should engage in at least 10,000 hours of practice in your profession. While there is truth in the advice that many, many hours of practice are required to develop expertise, the authors are also confident in an additional claim that there is more to expertise than just putting in a certain number of hours. Without deliberately reflecting on your design actions and the design judgments that lead to those actions, not even 10,000 hours of instructional design practice will be enough to make you an expert designer. Explicitly reflecting on your design judgments, in addition to reflecting on your practice, is what will help you become a more engaged and expert designer. Make reflection on your design judgments an intentional aspect of your efforts to develop your growing competence as a member of the instructional design profession.

References and Suggested Readings

Boling, E., Alangari, H., Hajdu, I. M., Guo, M., Gyabak, K., Khlaif, Z., Kizilboga, R., Tomita, K., Alsaif, M., Lachheb, A., Bae, H., Ergulec, F., Zhu, M., Basdogan, M., Buggs, C., Sari., R., & Techawitthayachinda, R. I. (2017). Core judgments of instructional designers in practice. Performance Improvement Quarterly , 30 (3), 199–219. https://doi.org/10.1002/piq.21250

Boling, E., & Gray, C. M. (2015). Designerly tools, sketching, and instructional designers and the guarantors of design. In B. Hokanson, G. Clinton, & M. Tracey (Eds.), The design of learning experience: Creating the future of educational technology (pp. 109–126). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16504-2

Cross, N. (2001). Designerly ways of knowing: Design discipline versus design science. Design Issues , 17 (3), 49–55. https://doi.org/10.1162/074793601750357196

Dabbagh, N. & Blijd, C. W. (2010). Students’ perceptions of their learning experiences in an authentic instructional design context. Interdisciplinary Journal of Problem-Based Learning , 4 (1), 6–29. https://doi.org/10.7771/1541-5015.1092

Demiral-Uzan, M. (2017). The Development of Design Judgment in Instructional Design Students During a Semester in Their Graduate Program (Doctoral dissertation, Indiana University).

Demiral‐Uzan, M. (2015). Instructional design students’ design judgment in action. Performance Improvement Quarterly , 28 (3), 7–23. https://doi.org/10.1002/piq.21195

Ericsson, K. A. (2006). Protocol analysis and expert thought: Concurrent verbalizations of thinking during experts’ performance on representative tasks. The Cambridge handbook of expertise and expert performance, 223–241.

Gray, C. M., Dagli, C., Demiral‐Uzan, M., Ergulec, F., Tan, V., Altuwaijri, A. A., Gyabak, K., Hilligoss, M., Kizilboga, R., Tomita, K. & Boling, E. (2015). Judgment and instructional design: How ID practitioners work in practice. Performance Improvement Quarterly , 28 (3), 25–49. https://doi.org/10.1002/piq.21198

Kaminski, K., Johnson, P., Otis, S., Perry, D., Schmidt, T., Whetsel, M., & Williams, H. (2018). Personal Tales of Instructional Design from the Facilitator’s Perspective. In B. Hokanson, G. Clinton & K. Kaminski (Eds.), Educational Technology and Narrative (pp. 87–101). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69914-1

Korkmaz, N., & Boling, E. (2014). Development of design judgment in instructional design: Perspectives from instructors, students, and instructional designers. Design in Educational Technology (pp. 161–184). Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-00927-8_10

Lachheb, A., & Boling, E. (2018). Design tools in practice: instructional designers report which tools they use and why. Journal of Computing in Higher Education , 30 (1), 34–54. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12528-017-9165-x

Nelson, H. G., & Stolterman, E. (2012). The design way: Intentional change in an unpredictable world (2nd ed.). The MIT Press.

Schön, D. (1983). The Reflective practitioner: How professionals think in action. Temple-Smith.

Schön, D. A. (1987). Educating the reflective practitioner: Toward a new design for teaching and learning in the professions. John Wiley & Sons.

Smith, K. M., & Boling, E. (2009). What do we make of design? Design as a concept in educational technology. Educational Technology , 49 (4), 3–17.

Stolterman, E., McAtee, J., Royer, D., & Thandapani, S. (2009). Designerly tools. http://shura.shu.ac.uk/id/eprint/491

Tracey, M. W., Hutchinson, A., & Grzebyk, T. Q. (2014). Instructional designers as reflective practitioners: Developing professional identity through reflection. Educational Technology Research and Development , 62 (3), 315–334. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11423-014-9334-9

Yanchar, S. C., South, J. B., Williams, D. D., Allen, S., & Wilson, B. G. (2010). Struggling with theory? A qualitative investigation of conceptual tool use in instructional design. Educational Technology Research and Development , 58 (1), 39–60. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11423-009-9129-6

This content is provided to you freely by BYU Open Learning Network.

Access it online or download it at https://open.byu.edu/id/design_judgment .

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Student Guide to Reflection

 introduction.

Reflection is a means of extracting more learning from our experiences, leading to deep understanding of knowledge, connections to other contexts, and an improved sense of self-efficacy.

This module provides students with essential knowledge of written reflection, including the topics of fundamental reflection and strategies in writing reflection.  

 Modes of Learning

In this module, students will use the following modes of learning:

• A short assessment
• A writing activity

This module will take approximately 60 minutes to complete.

 Intended Learning Outcomes

By the end of this module, participants will be able to…

• Identify the fundamental components of written reflections
• Write a simple, written reflection using the ‘What? So what? Now what?’ framework

 Key Terms & Concepts

Topic 1: basics of reflection.

It is important to understand th e essential  principles behind written reflection.  The following video will walk you through the fundamental process of reflection , examples of what reflection looks like, and why we should reflect as lifelong learners.  

Watch Basics of Reflection in full screen.

Complete the short quiz below by matching the statements on the right with the corresponding section of the ‘What? So What? Now What?’ model on the left.

Topic 2: Writing a Reflection

Now that you’ve gained a better understanding of what reflection is and why we do it, it’s your turn to practice . The following video will provide you will an example of a student’s written reflection  to prepare you for writing your own.  

Watch Writing a Reflection in full screen.

Reflection Example

Below is a text copy of the reflection example provided in the video:

In the fourth year of my undergraduate program, I participated in a laboratory activity in which we  were to compare the theoretical levels of xenon in the McMaster Nuclear Reactor (MNR) with the actual data logs recorded by the reactor operators. This lab report was done individually. One aspect  that made me nervous was that I was not comparing theoretical xenon level directly to recorded x enon level, but rather I had to calculate the measured xenon levels based on the activities recorded by the operators. I was nervous that I would not be able to interpret the operators’ notes correctly, which would then make it very hard to compare to a theoretical model.

Initially after converting the operator records, I found that the data was not fitting the theoretical  levels whatsoever. I was really discouraged by this, so I referred to the course readings to see where I  might have missed vital information. After looking back, I had realized that I missed two important,  yet subtle, steps in converting the data. I had not accounted for the fact that the polarity of the two  measurements were reversed, and so I needed to flip one of the graphs. I also missed an offset,  meaning I had to shift one of the graphs down. After making these corrections, the data was a  perfect fit! Seeing the two graphs line up was very fulfilling, and it was the result of applying  knowledge that I had learned, while also identifying knowledge that I had misunderstood or missed entirely the first time.

This lab was important to nuclear engineering because xenon levels are what dictates whether a reactor can be powered on or not. By going through this lab, I am now aware how, as a reactor  operator, I would be able to judge the status of reactor based on these readings. Having recognized  the calculations that I did not do properly the first time, I feel much more confident about never  forgetting those steps again. 

Reflection Writing Activity

Think of an important educational experience that you’ve had and, on a separate piece of paper or in a Word document, write a reflection about it. Be sure to address each point of the ‘What? So what? Now what?’ model.

Use the questions below to guide your thinking and writing about each section of the model.

Here is an example of a student working through the reflective process.

 References

Ambrose, S. A. (2013). Undergraduate engineering curriculum: The ultimate design challenge. The Bridge, 43 (2), 16-23

Ash, S. L., & Clayton, P. H. (2009). Generating, deepening, and documenting learning: The power of critical reflection in applied learning. Journal of Applied Learning in Higher Education, 1 (1), 25-48.

Borton, T. (1970). Reach, touch, and teach (pp. 75-91). New York. McGraw-Hill.

CPREE. (n.d.) What is Reflection? Consortium to Promote Reflection in Engineering Education (CPREE).  http://cpree.uw.edu/what-is-reflection/

Dewey, J. (1966). Democracy and education: An introduction to the philosophy of education . The Free Press.

Driscoll, J. (1994). Reflective practice for practice. Senior Nurse, 14 (1), 47-50.

Rolfe, G., Freshwater, D., & Jasper, M. (2001). Critical Reflection for Nursing and the Helping Professions: A User’s Guide . Palgrave.

Ryan, M. (2013). The pedagogical balancing act: Teaching reflection in higher education. Teaching in Higher Education, 18 (2), 144-155.

Turns, J. A., Sattler, B., Yasuhara, K., Borgford-Parnell, J. L., & Atman, C. J. (2014). Integrating reflection into engineering education. [Paper Presentation]. 121st ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Indianapolis. https://depts.washington.edu/cpreeuw/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Integrating-Reflection-ASEE-2014.pdf

Engineering Reflection Guidebook Copyright © 2022 by Kyle Ansilio, Shelir Ebrahimi, and Alanna Carter is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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Reflection in design education

• Open access
• Published: 25 June 2019
• Volume 30 , pages 885–897, ( 2020 )

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• Louis Lousberg 1 ,
• Remon Rooij 1 ,
• Sylvia Jansen 2 ,
• Elise van Dooren 1 ,
• John Heintz 1 &
• Engbert van der Zaag 1  

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In this article we evaluate the manner in which we at the Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment at the Delft University of Technology encourage the development of the capacity of reflection among our undergraduate students. First we explore the concept of reflection in relation to respectively experiential/reflective learning, reflection in/on action, reflection in higher education and reflection in design education. Next we describe our research object, our Bachelor course in Academic Design Reflection. Two research questions are at hand: (1) does the level of reflection increase during our course and (2) Can the operationalisation in our questionnaire of the definitions of reflection derived from theory statistically be confirmed? We measured and processed statistically the level of reflection of 100 students in 3 of their papers on their design. Results show there is a significant slight increase of this level among the three papers. Results also show that our model of classification is not statistically confirmed in the data. We conclude with a discussion on the implications for further research and for design education.

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Introduction

‘The first challenge for engineering education is to anticipate the capabilities our graduates will need in their future jobs’ (Kamp 2016a , b : p. 12). Professionals with the combined skill of analysis and synthesis are becoming more and more pivotal in a complex and uncertain world, which asks for answers and solutions for today’s and tomorrow’s questions of sustainable and equitable (urban) development. To prepare engineers for their future jobs we need to emphasize not only the academic skills of analysis and research, but also, and more and more, the academic skills of synthesis (Kamp 2016a , b ). In designing, reflection can be added to that as a third skill (cf. van Doorn 2004 : p. 32; Boekholt 1984 ) Our proposition is that rigorous and thorough attention for reflection in design education plays a key role in developing these skills.

Contrary to reflection-in-learning in health professions (e.g. Mann et al. 2009 ) or higher education in general (e.g. Mittendorff 2014 ), little is known of reflection in design education, especially on the effectiveness of learning to reflect. Even though the importance of the development of a reflective practitioner is supported in the literature on (construction) projects (e.g. Ojiako et al. 2008 ; Sage et al. 2010 ). This article contributes to filling this knowledge gap.

Our research object is our third (and final) year Bachelor course in Academic Design Reflection at our Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment at the Delft University of Technology. The objective of the research is to check if our course contributes to the development of the capacity of reflection among our undergraduate students. Two research questions are at hand: (1) does the level of reflection increase during our course and (2) Can the operationalisation in our questionnaire statistically confirm the definition of reflection derived from theory?

In the article we first explore the concept of reflection in learning (Kolb 1984 ; Moon 2004 ), in practice (Schön 1982 ; Moon 2004 ) and in higher education (Brockbank 1989 ; Fry et al. 2003 ; Cowan 2006 ). After presenting the case we next, based on the four levels of reflection developed by Moon ( 2004 )—descriptive writing, descriptive reflection, dialogic reflection, critical reflection—evaluate the development of the level of reflection on design in papers of over a hundred of final year B.Sc. students in Architecture, Urbanism and Building Sciences (AUBS). Over a 10 week period, these students (about 150 two times per academic year) develop both an integral design for a museum and a series of four academic papers underpinning and evaluating (1) the design situation, (2) the design theme, (3) the design process and (4) the relation between design and academic research. From this evaluation we draw conclusions on the effectiveness of the reflection and derive implications for design education.

Exploring reflection

Since the early eighties of the last century reflection has become an issue in literature on professional education (e.g. Schön 1982 ). Depending on their underlying view reflection can be defined in different ways. Reflection can be seen as Dewey’s ( 1933 ) ‘thinking to encompass feelings and emotions in practice settings’ (in: Boud and Garrick 1999 : p. 4), as ‘thinking about doing something while doing it’ (Schön 1982 : p. 54), as ‘reflective learning’ (Moon 2004 : p. 80) or as ‘a means to engage in making sense of experience in situations that are rich and complex and which do not lend themselves to being simplified by the use of concepts and frameworks that can be taught’ (Boud and Garrick 1999 : p. 4). Trying to be applicable to different context’s these definitions are necessarily general. Within the context of reflection in design education in our course we define it for our students, close to the definition of Reflection (in Action) of Schön but broader, as ‘thinking about your own work’.

Experiential learning or reflective learning

Departing from this ‘thinking about your own work’, for our students in AUBS it is thinking about your own design. Design is an object here (to think about), similar to experience as an object (to think about). This brings us to the theory of experiential learning as coined by Kolb ( 1984 ). Kolb defines experiential learning as ‘the process whereby knowledge is created through the transformation of experience’ (Kolb 1984 : p. 38).

Moon ( 2004 ) distinguishes experiential learning from reflective learning. Reflection is ‘a form of mental processing—like a form of thinking- that we may use to fulfil a purpose or to achieve some anticipated outcome or we may simply ‘be reflective’ and then an outcome can be unexpected.‘(ibid: 82) and in an academic context ‘reflection/reflective learning or reflective writing (-), is also likely to involve a conscious and stated purpose for the reflection, with an outcome specified in terms of learning, action or clarification. It may be preceded by a description of the purpose and/or subject matter of the reflection. The process and outcome of reflective work are most likely to be in a represented (e.g., written) form, to be seen by others and to be assessed (-).‘(ibid: 83).

In literature several definitions of experiential learning are suggested for educational contexts; unanimity from this range of views is not possible. The root cause of this seems to be lying in the variety of views of experience (ibid: 109). Here, in our cause, the experience was the experience of design(ing). Hence we define experiential learning as ‘a process in which an experience is reflected upon and then translated into concepts (-)’ (ibid: 109), supported by the proposition that experiential learning in academic contexts seems to occur in situations wherein ‘the material of learning is ill-structured and challenging to a learner’ (ibid: 129), designing is exactly such a situation (Simon 1969 ).

The difference between experiential learning and reflective learning seems to be lying in an immediate reflection in experiential learning and a reflection afterwards in reflective learning in an academic context as Moon defined it. Because students in our course were not asked to record their findings immediately while designing, but to reflect afterwards, the concept of reflective learning is more appropriate in this case.

Reflection in action or on action

Similar to this distinction between experiential and reflective learning is the distinction between reflection-in-action (Schön 1982 ) and reflection-on-action (Schon 1987 ). Schön’s in the architectural world well received work from 1982 ‘The reflective practitioner’ describes based on only a few cases how professionals in general and architects in particular think while they do. Schön coins this as Reflection in Action (ibid: 54). He clearly distinguishes this from reflection-on-action that relates to the evaluation of the effects of the act according to predetermined goals (Schön 1987). Because we didn’t ask students to record their thoughts while designing but immediately afterwards and taking Schön’s distinction strictly, reflection-in-action is not applicable in our case but reflection-on-action is.

Regarding this reflection-on-action as we applied in our case a distinction can be made between analytical reflection and evaluative reflection (Cowan 2006 : p. 66, 81). Analytical reflection reflects on how e.g. things are done and evaluative reflection is ‘a process which leads to the making of a judgement in relation to a set of values or criteria, and one in which the judgement often leads to a consequent decision’ (ibid: 81). In this research paper 3 on the design process is an example of analytical and paper 4 an example of evaluative reflection. Although both types occur, they are not evaluated separately in this research.

Reflection in higher education

In literature on more or less similar courses as ours often no distinction is made between reflection-in-action and reflection-on-action. e.g. ‘becoming a reflective practitioner’ (Fry et al. 2003 : p. 215 etc.) assumes that learning how to reflect on action or reflective learning as defined by Moon, will develop reflection-in-action. In literature courses are described that assume to develop reflective practice by letting the student use direct reflective dialogue (Schön 1982 ) as a start to develop reflection on a higher level. Reflective dialogue is characteristic for e.g. the design process wherein ill-structured problems are contextualised and framed in an ‘inner dialogue’ between the design as designed by the designer and the designers thoughts about this design. e.g. Brockbank et al. ( 1989 ) describe the process by which student learners engage in critically reflective learning through reflective dialogue. They lean heavily on the theory of single- and double loop learning as proposed by Argyris ( 1977 ), where single loop learning as ‘instrumental learning which leaves underlying values and theories unchanged’ can provoke double loop learning as ‘learning where assumptions are challenged and underlying values are changed’ by questioning these assumptions (Brockbank et al. 1989 : p. 43, 45). In our course we asked the students first to register their design decisions in a log called ‘Design and Research-scheme’ and base their afterwards written reflections on that scheme.

Design can be described as reflection in action (Schön 1983). This is confirmed by Roozenburg and Dorst ( 1998 : p. 35) as they write ‘modelling design as reflection in action works particularly well for conceptual stages in a design process’. As indicated above, according to Schön (1983) distinctions can be made between reflection-in- and reflection-on-action; but also between reflection on the design and reflection on the design process. Congruent with it in our course the students were asked in their paper 2 for the benefit of reflecting on the design to generate knowledge over a particular design theme based on scientific literature and in their paper 3 to reflect on their own design process on the basis of five generic elements of Van Dooren et al. ( 2014 ). Both kinds of reflection, reflection-in-action and reflection-on-action are believed to contribute to the level of doing while designing (Van Dooren et al. 2017 ), exactly the reason why we organize the course Academic Design Reflection for our undergraduate students. Also the reason why we would like to know if the level of reflection of the students is rising while following this course. Hence our first research question: Does the level of reflection increases during the course?

Our course is the third 5EC course of a learning line called Academic Skills (AC; 3 × 5EC), consisting of a first year starting course in academic writing AC1, a second year Empirical Research Project AC2 and a third year course AC3 Academic Design Reflection. During the second and third year students are expected to use and deepen their acquired academic skills, such as academic writing, presenting, augmenting and underpinning, and evaluating and positioning in all kinds of design and research work in the other five learning lines: (1) Technology (5 × 5EC), (2) Fundamentals (4 × 5EC), (3) Society, Process and Practice (3 × 5EC), (4) Design (6 × 10EC), and (5) Visualisation, Representation and Form (3 × 5EC).

AC1 offers the student the overarching framework of how AUBS could be understood as a scientific discipline. In addition, the module provides very concrete academic skills, such as setting up and write a report of a literature review, the conventions of academic writing, searching in literature, presentation and debating skills. AC2 offers the student the knowledge and skills to an empirical research for the improvement of an existing design proposal to set up, perform, and report in a research report. The learning goal of AC3 is to relate research directly to design, and to take an argued position in this. AC3 Academic Design Reflection is a course that goes parallel to a 10EC design course, the sixth and final one before students can obtain their Bachelor degree. We explicitly work close together with the architectural supervisors and as a matter of fact we have the same groups of students that follow the design course in our group to teach them how to reflect in an academic way—that is using scientific knowledge and applying scientific ways of working- on their design. To reach the learning goal the student has to write 4 papers, one about the assignment, one about a self-chosen design theme, one on the design process and finally one on the relationship between design and research.

For instance and as indicated in “ Reflection in design education ” section, in the paper on the design process students use a framework particularly developed for making explicit in design education by Van Dooren et al. ( 2014 ). Van Dooren et al. provide an intermediate to make the communication between student and architectural supervisor about the students design effective. Key to this effectiveness is making things explicit. Based on research of the design process, on differences between novices and experts designers and on personal experience in design education practice, Van Dooren et al. have developed a conceptual framework consisting of five generic elements in the design process: (1) exploring and deciding, (2) guiding theme, (3) domains, (4) library of references, and (5) the design language. For the third paper in our research students were asked to reflect on their own design (process) based on these five elements.

In the sequence of paper 1, 2, 3 and 4 we assume there is an increasing level of abstraction, hence in the level of reflection. To measure this level we adapted the four levels of reflection developed by Kember et al. ( 2000 ) and Moon ( 2004 : p. 96, 97)—descriptive writing, descriptive reflection, dialogic reflection, critical reflection. See Fig.  1 . To avoid misinterpretations we used a rather simple definition of academic reflection for the questionnaire: ‘Academic reflection is to think about your own work with the use of scientific knowledge’.

The design of the questionnaire

As in the questionnaire of Kember et al. ( 2000 ) we mixed Moon’s four levels of reflection by altering the sequence of questions. Italic questions are from the questionnaire of Kember et al. ( 2000 ) (1 per level). The other operationalisations are by definitions of level of reflection by Moon 2004 , except question 6, 15 and 16, which are based on the evaluation criteria of the learning objective of AC3: the students can reflect in an academic way on their own design project and design process.

We deliberately skipped the possibility of an answer between B and C in order to force a choice by the assessors. Finally we didn’t assume the four levels of reflection to correspond with our division in four papers and regarded the first paper as a kind of a finger exercise. Therefore, we decided to skip the first paper from the research and test the next three on their level of reflection.

The evaluation of the level of reflection of the papers was done by the own AC3-supervisor of the students group and a second AC3 supervisor of another group. So each paper was evaluated by two different evaluators.

Eventually we were interested into what extent it was correct to operationalize the four categories into the questions arranged under these categories. Hence our second research question is: can the operationalisation in our questionnaire of the definitions of reflection derived from theory statistically be confirmed?

Results for research question 1: Does the level of reflection increases during the course Academic Design Reflection?

As explained above, the responses to 16 questions were collected. The analyses for the first research question are performed on the composite sum scores, i.e., the general level of reflection. For this purpose, the homogeneity of the composite sum scores is tested, using Cronbach’s Alpha. The 16 questions show good homogeneity, as shown in Table  1 . Usually, a value for Cronbach’s α of 0.70 or higher is considered to reflect a reliable scale. Because of this result, the scores are summed over the responses to the 16 questions.

The mean sumscores for all three measurement points are provided in Table  2 . The dataset of paper 2 includes 293 cases, of which 155 concern the first evaluator and 138 the second evaluator. After deleting cases with only one evaluator, 129 students remain in the dataset, each of which is evaluated by two evaluators (258 cases). The sumscores range from 16 to 64 and the mean score is 41.9 (std = 10.5).

The dataset of paper 3 includes 297 cases, of which 157 concern the first evaluator and 139 the second evaluator (one is unknown). After deleting cases with only one evaluator, 131 students remain in the dataset (262 cases). The scores range from 20 to 64 and the mean score is 45.4 (std = 10.1).

The dataset of paper 4 includes 296 cases, of which 153 concern the first evaluator and 142 the second evaluator (one is unknown). After deleting cases with only one evaluator, 129 students remain in the dataset (258 cases). The scores range from 16 to 64 and the mean score is 46.9 (std = 11.0).

Table  2 shows that the mean sumscores increase between paper 2 and paper 3 and also between paper 3 and paper 4. This points to an increase in the students’ level of reflection. What is also shown is a difference in the mean evaluation of the first and the second evaluator. This difference is observed at all three measurement points.

The increase in the mean level of reflection over time can be statistically tested using a repeated measures analysis of variance. This is a statistical test that compares several means when these means have come from the same participants (Field 2013 : p 565). In our analysis, the mean sumscores for the students at the three measurement points are compared. This is called the “within-subjects” factor. We also included a variable in the analysis that indicated whether the sumscore was calcaluted for the first or for the second evaluator. This is called the “between-subjects” factor. For the examination of the scores over time it is important that only students are selected that have observations for both evaluators at each one of the three measurement points. This applies to 100 students.

The results for the 100 students are provided in Table  3 and in Fig.  2 . The results resemble the results described above for the total data set. The table shows that the mean sumscore increases over time. This result is supported by the repeated measures anova that shows that the mean sumscore differs statistically significantly over time ( p  < 0.01). Furthermore, the table shows that the mean sumscore is higher for the first evaluator than for the second evaluator on each of the three measurement points. This effect is also statistically significant ( p  < 0.01). Finally, there is no interaction effect between time and evaluator ( p  = 0.48). This means that both first and second evaluator show a similar increase in mean scores over time. This can be clearly seen from Fig.  2 .

The increase of level of reflection in subsequently paper 2, 3 and 4 for both evaluators for students without missing observations (n = 100)

Based on Table  3 the total average of the level of reflection of the papers on a scale from 16 minimum to 64 maximum is 44.9.

Answering the first research question ‘Does the level of reflection increases during the course Academic Design Reflection?’ we conclude there is a statistically significant but slight increase of the level of reflection. Further we conclude that the scores of the first evaluator, who was also the supervisor of the student, are slightly higher than the more ‘neutral’ second evaluator. A statistical analysis of the differences in the average level of reflection between all groups of students was unjustified because all the groups were too small.

Finally we wanted to show the results of the analysis on the frequency of the scores (1, 2, 3 and 4) related to the classification that we made in four groups of questions: Descriptive Writing, Reflective Writing, Dialogic Reflection and Critical Reflection (see Fig.  1 ). The frequency of the scores related to the separate questions is statistical normal, meaning that the distribution shows a high frequency of the middle scores 2 and 3 and a low frequency of the extreme scores 1 and 4.

Results for research question 2: Can the operationalisation in our questionnaire of the definitions of reflection derived from theory statistically be confirmed?

For the second research question we explored whether the four levels of reflection that we adapted from the models by Kember et al. ( 2000 ) and Moon ( 2004 : p. 96, 97) could be confirmed in our dataset. This concerns the levels: Descriptive Writing, Reflective Writing, Dialogic Reflection and Critical Reflection (see Fig.  1 ). We used Cronbach’s Alpha to determine the reliability of the various levels, followed by a Principal Component Analyis (PCA) to check the assumed pattern of four different levels of reflection.

The results of the Cronbach’s Alpha test are presented in Table  4 . Taking into account that a scale is judged to be reliable when the coefficient for Cronbach’s Alpha is at least 0.70, all levels of reflection can be considered to have sufficient internal consistency.

To further falsify the validity of the division into four levels we executed an explorative factor analysis, i.e., Principal Components Analysis (PCA). A PCA is a statistical method that can be used to understand the structure of a set of variables (Field 2013 , p. 666). It means that we examined which pattern is prevalent in the sixteen responses to the questions. Responses to questions that highly correlate with each other form a “factor”. Multiple factors can be established. We performed the PCA for each of the three papers, including only cases for which two observations were present. The Varimax rotation method was used. This means that we obtained factors that are independent of each other and that are relatively easy to interpret (Field 2013 , p. 681).

The results showed that for all three measurement points, two factors could be discerned. Together these factors explain 61 (paper 2), 62 (paper 3) and 66 (paper 4) percent of the variance, which is a good result. The items that primarily and consistently load on one of the two factors are question: 1, 2, 3, 11, 14 and 16. This means that these items correlate relatively high with each other. The items relate to “evidence of reflection”, “understanding of the concepts of lectures, module manual and literature”, “the paper shows a backtrack”, “reflected to see if there can be learned”, “integration of lectures, module manual and literature” and “establishment of an argued individual position”. We read the descriptions of the six items carefully to search for a common underlying theme. However, we did not find such a theme. Furthermore, an inspection of these six items shows that they theoretically belong to all four different levels of reflection.

The items that primarily and consistently load on the other factor are question: 4, 6, 9 and 10. Two of these items (“no discussing reflection” and “most reflection is from one perspective”) theoretically belong to the same level of reflection, i.e., the Understanding/Descriptive reflection level. The other two items (“consciousness that acts and events are localized in and influenced by multiple historical and socio-political contexts” and “follows what is required”) belong to different levels. Again, we do not believe that these four items reflect an underlying common theme.

The other questions did not show consistent results; they sometimes showed the highest loading on the one factor and sometimes on the other factor.

Our results differ from the four factor-structure as hypothesized based on the theory of Moon ( 2004 ). First, our results pointed consistently to only two factors instead of four. Besides from that, the questions that made up the two factors differed from what was expected on the basis of the theory by Moon ( 2004 ) and the previous study by Kember et al. ( 2000 ). Moreover, we were unable to explain the results of the PCA, meaning that we could not find a theoretical or logical explanation for the supposed relationships between the items belonging to each one of the factors. Apparently, in this case, the operationalisations of Moon’s definitions and the operationalisations of the learning objectives of the course, do not match statistically with the classification of Moons and Kember et al.

So answering our second research question ‘Can the operationalisation in the questionnaire of the definitions of reflection derived from theory statistically be confirmed?’ we conclude that our model of classification is not statistically confirmed in the data.

The results from the Cronbach’s Alpha test and the PCA seem contradictory as quite reliable results were found with the first method, but the underlying structure could not be confirmed using PCA. We believe that this finding might be explained by the fact that all items show relatively high intercorrelations. This can also been seen from the high value of Cronbach’s Alpha of 0.94/0.95 that we presented for all sixteen items examined at once. Seen from a qualitative point of view, the setup of the questionnaire seems sensible, however not supported by statistical analysis. We assume that the multi interpretability of the questions plays an important role in this. Further research e.g. a test on the difference in interpretation of the questions by asking the evaluators to group the several questions into each of the four levels of reflection instead of giving it in advance, could provide insight.

Conclusions and implications

Conclusions.

Our research object was our Bachelor course in Academic Design Reflection. Two research questions were at hand: (1) does the level of reflection increase during our course and (2) Can the operationalisation in our questionnaire of the definitions of reflection derived from theory statistically be confirmed? The research shows that the average level of reflection of the students papers increases per successively paper and that the total average level of reflection of the papers is sufficient,. Further, we conclude that de scores of the first evaluator, who was also the supervisor of the student, are slightly higher than the more ‘neutral’ second evaluator. Finally the research shows that the classification of the questionnaire into four groups of questions with an ascending reflection level is not supported by statistical analysis, the model doesn’t fit the data, contrary to expectations based on literature. Further research is therefore required, but we already can say a number of things about the implications for our design education.

Implications for design education

Many of the TU Delft fields of engineering and design, such as architecture and the built environment, are positioned in the heart of the so called ‘practical sciences’ (Klaasen 2004 ; Rooij and Frank 2016 ) or ‘engineering sciences’ (Kamp 2016a , b ). Today’s and tomorrow’s complex socio-technical challenges in the built environment, such as sustainable, resilient, fair and healthy spatial development need well considered and integrated (design) solutions. These challenges are the backbone, the rationale and the motivation behind our Architecture &Built Environment academic sub disciplines and our curriculum specialisation tracks, such as architecture, urbanism, landscape architecture, building technology, and management in the built environment. The main knowledge question in our field therefore focuses to a large extent on ‘does it work?’ (e.g. a design, a plan, a solution proposal, a strategy) in contrast to empirical sciences which—via the construction of theories and the formulation of hypotheses—focus on the knowledge question ‘is it true?’.

This specific nature of built environment engineering education requires a specific set of academic design skills in order to (be able to) assess whether or not designs ‘work’. Important umbrella-skills are related to:

the critical assessment of design situations,

the creative development of meaningful design alternatives,

the thorough ex-ante evaluation of the design products,

the andante evaluation of dynamic design processes,

positioning yourself as designer and your design work in the academic and professional debate, and

relating design to (methods of) scientific research.

There is a call and a need from both inside and outside the faculty to significantly improve the academic skills of design students. At the Delft faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment this is for example apparent from quality assurance programmes (e.g. student questionnaires), dialogues with student bodies (e.g. student council and study association, Stylos) and the Board of Studies. Footnote 1 While students learn a lot from the current curricula, they also see room to raise the academic bar substantially. Teaching staff expresses similar views in education evaluation reports. The 2012 QANU visitation committee and the 2017 (self-organised) external audit committee advised the faculty to make better use of the academic design environment (defining it as a missed potential).

Students learn design best by doing —like most skills are learned best by doing them over and over again. But design might be understood better by academic reflection .

We showed that there is significant room for improvement for our bachelor design students. But this also holds for our master students. The faculty is convinced that such an academic reflection skills programme will only be successful, when it is closely related to, or even better, fully integrated into the design projects.

The A&BE faculty already works with a line of actions to evaluate, discuss and improve the academic skills programmes of our design curricula. Two key actions are relevant to present here. First. We are developing a (bilingual) book on Academic skills for architects (‘Academische vaardigheden voor bouwkundigen’) which will explicitly set the exit level of our undergraduate programme and at the same time the entrance level of our master (design) curricula. The idea is that the book will support the undergraduate students during their full 3 year bachelor programme. And it will not only be relevant for our students, but also a help for our design mentors as many of them—we work with a large body of design teachers from practice—explicitly ask for guidance in teaching academic skills and in particular design reflection. Second. We are redeveloping the academic skills programme of our 2 year master curriculum Architecture: both the first year research methods and/or methodology courses and the second year graduation project. For example: all final thesis students developing designs are asked to write a number of small papers reflecting on their graduation project during the year. They are assessed by the full mentor team, including the so called external examiner representing the faculty board of examiners. The structure is in place but still quite some work needs to be done for a fruitful delivery.

Implications for further research

We believe the total average score of reflection can be improved. We assume a higher level of reflection skills is both possible and desirable for our student body. We dedicate an important role to the teachers. The supervisors who take care of the reflection-education now in our course, are design supervisors who have had to learn reflection themselves as in their graduation training only minor attention was paid to their reflection skills. They would, however, be better trained in reflective thinking itself, but also as part of reflection in action. That should give the concept of reflection more depth and make it more clear for them. Instead of the out of educational considerations fairly simple definition of ‘ thinking about your own work ‘ that we have used here, in particular, more attention should be given to ‘(re)considering’ because ‘ reflection on action ‘ after all is about looking back.

Even though the division into groups of level of reflection is not statistically supported, yet, we will still use this division, based on Moon ( 2004 ) for educational reasons. It makes clear to students there are different levels of reflection, in a way that seems to appeal to our students. The idea of getting more distance in a metaphorical sense or an ascending abstraction in the contemplation of one’s own work, in this case the own design, seems at least to trigger students to ‘ loosen up ‘ of their work, making them better able to oversee their work, in our opinion a necessity for reflection.

Finally, in the foregoing we ignored the question of the extent to which the skill to reflect leads to better designs. However, at this moment in our faculty a survey is conducted with the question of what is the view of students about the contribution of reflection to their design skills. It goes without saying that this is a very limited question, but it is a start for future research.

In the 2017 national student questionnaire (NSE) A&BE bachelor and master students value ‘academic skills’ with a score of 3.4 (B.Sc.) and 3.5 (M.Sc.) out of 5, which illustrates the potential for improvement.

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Lousberg, L., Rooij, R., Jansen, S. et al. Reflection in design education. Int J Technol Des Educ 30 , 885–897 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10798-019-09532-6

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Structure of academic reflections

Guidance on the structure of academic reflections.

Academic reflections or reflective writing completed for assessment often require a clear structure. Contrary to some people’s belief, reflection is not just a personal diary talking about your day and your feelings.

Both the language and the structure are important for academic reflective writing. For the structure you want to mirror an academic essay closely. You want an introduction, a main body, and a conclusion.

Academic reflection will require you to both describe the context, analyse it, and make conclusions. However, there is not one set of rules for the proportion of your reflection that should be spent describing the context, and what proportion should be spent on analysing and concluding. That being said, as learning tends to happen when analysing and synthesising rather than describing, a good rule of thumb is to describe just enough such that the reader understands your context.

Example structure for academic reflections

Below is an example of how you might structure an academic reflection if you were given no other guidance and what each section might contain.  Remember this is only a suggestion and you must consider what is appropriate for the task at hand and for you yourself.

Introduction

Identifies and introduces your experience or learning

• This can be a critical incident
• This can be the reflective prompt you were given
• A particular learning you have gained

When structuring your academic reflections it might make sense to start with what you have learned and then use the main body to evidence that learning, using specific experiences and events. Alternatively, start with the event and build up your argument. This is a question of personal preference – if you aren’t given explicit guidance you can ask the assessor if they have a preference, however both can work.

Highlights why it was important

• This can be suggesting why this event was important for the learning you gained
• This can be why the learning you gained will benefit you or why you appreciate it in your context

You might find that it is not natural to highlight the importance of an event before you have developed your argument for what you gained from it. It can be okay not to explicitly state the importance in the introduction, but leave it to develop throughout your reflection.

Outline key themes that will appear in the reflection (optional – but particularly relevant when answering a reflective prompt or essay)

• This can be an introduction to your argument, introducing the elements that you will explore, or that builds to the learning you have already gained.

This might not make sense if you are reflecting on a particular experience, but is extremely valuable if you are answering a reflective prompt or writing an essay that includes multiple learning points. A type of prompt or question that could particularly benefit from this would be ‘Reflect on how the skills and theory within this course have helped you meet the benchmark statements of your degree’

It can be helpful to explore one theme/learning per paragraph.

Explore experiences

• You should highlight and explore the experience you introduced in the introduction
• If you are building toward answering a reflective prompt, explore each relevant experience.

As reflection is centred around an individual’s personal experience, it is very important to make experiences a main component of reflection. This does not mean that the majority of the reflective piece should be on describing an event – in fact you should only describe enough such that the reader can follow your analysis.

Analyse and synthesise

• You should analyse each of your experiences and from them synthesise new learning

Depending on the requirements of the assessment, you may need to use theoretical literature in your analysis. Theoretical literature is a part of perspective taking which is relevant for reflection, and will happen as a part of your analysis.  

Restate or state your learning

• Make a conclusion based on your analysis and synthesis.
• If you have many themes in your reflection, it can be helpful to restate them here.

Plan for the future

• Highlight and discuss how your new-found learnings will influence your future practice

Answer the question or prompt (if applicable)

• If you are answering an essay question or reflective prompt, make sure that your conclusion provides a succinct response using your main body as evidence.  

Using a reflective model to structure academic reflections

You might recognise that most reflective models mirror this structure; that is why a lot of the reflective models can be really useful to structure reflective assignments. Models are naturally structured to focus on a single experience – if the assignment requires you to focus on multiple experiences, it can be helpful to simply repeat each step of a model for each experience.

One difference between the structure of reflective writing and the structure of models is that sometimes you may choose to present your learning in the introduction of a piece of writing, whereas models (given that they support working through the reflective process) will have learning appearing at later stages.

However, generally structuring a piece of academic writing around a reflective model will ensure that it involves the correct components, reads coherently and logically, as well as having an appropriate structure.

Reflective journals/diaries/blogs and other pieces of assessed reflection

The example structure above works particularly well for formal assignments such as reflective essays and reports.  Reflective journal/blogs and other pieces of assessed reflections tend to be less formal both in language and structure, however you can easily adapt the structure for journals and other reflective assignments if you find that helpful.

That is, if you are asked to produce a reflective journal with multiple entries it will most often (always check with the person who issued the assignment) be a successful journal if each entry mirrors the structure above and the language highlighted in the section on academic language. However, often you can be less concerned with form when producing reflective journals/diaries.

When producing reflective journals, it is often okay to include your original reflection as long as you are comfortable with sharing the content with others, and that the information included is not too personal for an assessor to read.

Developed from:

Ryan, M., 2011. Improving reflective writing in higher education: a social semiotic perspective. Teaching in Higher Education, 16(1), 99-111.

University of Portsmouth, Department for Curriculum and Quality Enhancement (date unavailable). Reflective Writing: a basic introduction [online].  Portsmouth: University of Portsmouth.

Queen Margaret University, Effective Learning Service (date unavailable).  Reflection. [online].  Edinburgh: Queen Margaret University.

Reflective Writing examples

Evaluation of project.

In analysing my work, I feel that this project compelled me to find inspiration from so many various sources, subsequently building on my imaginative capacity as well as my practical knowledge. Therefore I feel I have gained and developed many skills in terms of my own personal creativity and development.

Through creating my styling concepts, I not only became inspired by other practitioners, but felt I gradually began to find my own style in terms of composition and construction of narrative. I thoroughly enjoyed constructing the set for my photo shoot and sourcing possible locations as well as sourcing ideas for stylings from markets and museums and just taking in everything around me. Photographically, I was forced to consider and understand technical concepts of shooting in different locations. Technically I did find some difficulties transferring the image from film negative to computer screen, where I went through processes of scanning negatives etc, so next time I would like to improve on this element.

On reflection I feel the photo shoot was successful, in terms of it being well planned and in terms of realisation of my concept. I found the storyboards to be of great assistance on the day of the shoot. Putting my work into context, I do feel it works well as a CD cover. This is mainly due to my constantly keeping in mind the frame of a CD cover when planning and shooting my compositions, in order to allow for cropping. I feel the images also successfully visually represent and evoke the feel and atmosphere of the artist, the zeitgeist and, most importantly, the track.

As a whole in terms of a finished product I feel I fully transferred my original visualisation into a finished image, and feel it reflects many of my research sources from surrealism to psychedelia. I was really pushed to think conceptually and found this project challenging, enjoyable and, most importantly, a significant step in furthering my creativity, and hope this is reflected visually through my journal.

Adapted from Hannah Robinson, FdA Fashion Styling and Photography (LCF)

In the music image project, my aim was to resolve the problems I had in my last project with my accessories. This time, I customised and modified the gas masks and belts and printed some logos on a flag. I also made a mask from a T-shirt and printed an image onto a jacket. This has all come out quite well, but after I had made them, I continued developing the ideas in my head, and realised I could have done some alternative modifications.

It took a long time to create the images for this project. This is because I was dealing with political and historical content. I thought I could create good ideas if I explored them enough, but it was too time consuming, and I became confused when coming up with my own ideas. It was, however, very stimulating and inspiring to do some research on western history and politics.

In the styling section, my ideas for customising and modifying were not perfect, but I was able to achieve a certain amount. I am pleased with the work, and feel encouraged to push myself in the next project. I liked my styling, but found it difficult to make four outfits, because I had to use each garment separately. What I could have done was have put all the garments in one or two outfits only instead of spreading them through all of them.

In relation to the photography, I feel I should have explored more photographers. This would have given me inspiration for the mood, composition, lighting and location. I need to do more research on a daily basis not only for projects but for my visual diaries as well. On the day of the photo shoot, one of the models didn't turn up, so I had to consider everything again on location. From this I learnt that I need to be more responsive and flexible as this is likely to happen again. Choosing which photographs to use was difficult as well, as I had to consider both composition and layout for the cover.

In terms of IT, I really improved. I started using Photoshop about a month ago, and I can now create a quality of work which I am confident about.

Overall, what I discovered from this project is the importance of a schedule. I have to set a proper timetable and follow it. I also need to fully consider things before I actually do them, as otherwise I get lost and lose inspiration. Finally, reflecting on the positive and negative aspects of my project will, I believe, really help me improve myself for the next one.

Adapted from Ryusuke Kase, FdA Fashion Styling and Photography (LCF)

Reflective statement for dissertation

The dissertation process has been an important journey for me in which I have developed my independent learning. It has, however, been challenging at times.

It has been a time consuming process needing much focus and commitment. At first, I thought everything would be straightforward and that I could manage my time, but it was hard to juggle between my part-time work and family commitments. In order to prioritise the dissertation, I took a short period of time out from work and held back from family events.

To keep myself on track I constructed action plans. At the beginning of each week I would make a daily plan of what I hoped to achieve and how I would do it. I then ticked off each task as achieved. This helped me achieve smaller goals within the research. So throughout this process I have learnt to be self-disciplined, organised and become better at time management. These are clearly needed for future employment.

The primary research part was difficult and at times very frustrating. It was hard to find staff in retail companies that were willing to take part, and I did not have enough information. Through a personal contact I was able to interview someone who gave me a much clearer insight into my field of study. I learnt that it is important to test out your questions before actually doing an interview. Next time I would approach key people earlier and also maybe try to vary the research method: a telephone interview may be more successful for very busy people.

I also had to research a variety of sources such as industry journals and key texts. This at first felt overwhelming. My tutor gave me some targeted references and I also asked the library staff for support in accessing the information I required. I learnt that asking for help can be a good thing.

The information itself needed to be interpreted which required critical and analytical skills. I kept having to return to my initial question to avoid missing the point. At times I felt that I was not getting anywhere. I now understand that this is all part of doing research and, over time, I discovered some interesting themes.

Writing up the dissertation was also a challenge. I had to disregard a lot of information that was not entirely relevant to my research question. Also at times the content was vague, and the ideas did not always follow logically. I used Study Support to develop my writing skills, but wished I had approached them for help at an earlier stage, as this would have saved me a considerable amount of stress.

To conclude, the dissertation assignment has improved my confidence in my ability, through producing a lengthy piece of work. I feel it has effectively concluded the academic phase, and I am excited and motivated by the prospect of getting a job in the fashion industry.

Extracts from BA (Hons) Fashion Management students' dissertations (LCF)

Reflective journal - work experience

In a small salon environment such as London Beauty, customer service and communication skills are really important as the clients tend to know the therapist very well and have a close trusting relationship with her. The manager Shelly knows all the clients and talks very easily to them. This is a skill that I find comes very naturally to me and I have a few clients for whom special communication skills were required. They were nervous about some of the treatments. I could reassure them and put them at their ease. For example, a man came into the salon for a facial. It was his first time and was very uncomfortable. I saw this as a challenge and engaged him in conversation as I would with any other client. By the end of the treatment he was very relaxed and planned to come back again soon! I felt proud I had been able to make him feel comfortable.

Something that did not come easily to me was promotion. It was my job to stand outside the spa giving leaflets to people who went past explaining the treatments that were on offer. This is an awkward task as people do not like to be approached by others to sell them things. I was worried I would not be successful. I threw myself into the task and gave out over 100 leaflets and secured 7 bookings! I learnt that sometimes you just have to be enthusiastic and think positively about trying to sell things.

I felt my personal appearance was good throughout my time in the salon. I wore a light amount of make up and had no jewellery on at all. It is important in maintaining a professional appearance as well as the health and safety implications about following the dress code.

My organisational skills have always been a weakness for me and I did not want this to affect my work in the salon. I made sure I was always punctual and any task was completed in the appropriate time.

Overall I think my communication skills and my ability to work on my own initiative are my biggest strengths. I have learnt how to sell the services and also become more organised with my time. One thing I need to do is spend more time thinking about the more complicated treatments. Making a note in my learning journal on a regular basis would have helped me reduce my stress levels, and reminded me of where I was likely to mix up the order of the routine.

Overall, I learnt a great deal on my placement and I am now more determined than ever to qualify as a Beauty Therapist and have my own salon.

Adapted from Geraldine Topping, FdSc Beauty Therapy and Health Studies student (LCF)

Evaluation of work experience

Over the course of the week I examined work as diverse as From the House of the Dead, Demented and Deformed , to the Cunning Little Vixen . I feel this emphasises the importance of drawing as a tool for any designer, and by honing this skill I will feel more confident in expressing my ideas. I am pleased that I chose the Figure in Context as an elective. I have improved my technique and developed more competence with various media, particularly paint, an expressive means of suggesting texture.

Stan Won't Dance has opened up a new area of costume for performance thus far in my experience. I particularly enjoyed the process of examining designs and breaking down the image into practical components that can be sourced and customised to create viable, wearable costumes that must withstand the demands of movement and dance. Working closely with the assistant supervisor has given me practical exposure to the role of costume supervisor in the creative process. It was also satisfying to share these experiences with a member of my class peer group. I have drawn the conclusion that it is a role I would be interested in pursuing during my professional future.

Regarding the overall visual style of the production, I am now aware that I find an alternative approach to costume more stimulating than the conventional approach. I feel that such projects encourage an assistant to use his or her own creativity to a considerable extent, notwithstanding the development of pre-ordained designs.

The daily work schedules were regular, thus I had more time to attend exhibitions, read and draw. These activities have been inspiring and fruitful, and have helped me achieve an enjoyable balance between work, studies and leisure time. In the past I have not taken enough time to reflect on work and its related experiences, so it is a personal progression for me to do so now.

Perhaps one negative aspect of this industry-linked project has been that I have not been intensely involved in any one project. Yet this only serves to confirm my belief that I must be thoroughly engaged by a project with sufficient responsibility in order to feel satisfied by the process. The fragmented nature of this term's projects was partially down to circumstance - the archive did not require an assistant or trainee for the duration. However, the situation has taught me to be more pro-active in the future.

In conclusion, I believe that as a result of this experience, I have gained new perspectives on the roles I would like to pursue, and also on how teams - designers, supervisors, makers - work together to realise a creative vision. I am also more aware of the areas that inspire me, for example, how movements in art history (often symptomatic of social flux) have provoked design, and how the abstract and esoteric can, paradoxically, become material, and make comment on the world in which we live by way of a performance narrative. This is demonstrated by both the work of artist Antony Gormley, and proposed by Off the Wall.

Finally, I feel that I now can apply my research, drawing and academic skills to produce work that will do justice to this new, lucid perspective.

Adapted from a final year, BA (Hons) Costume for Performance, LCF

Guide on How to Write a Reflection Paper with Free Tips and Example

A reflection paper is a very common type of paper among college students. Almost any subject you enroll in requires you to express your opinion on certain matters. In this article, we will explain how to write a reflection paper and provide examples and useful tips to make the essay writing process easier.

Reflection papers should have an academic tone yet be personal and subjective. In this paper, you should analyze and reflect upon how an experience, academic task, article, or lecture shaped your perception and thoughts on a subject.

Here is what you need to know about writing an effective critical reflection paper. Stick around until the end of our guide to get some useful writing tips from the writing team at EssayPro — a research paper writing service

What Is a Reflection Paper

A reflection paper is a type of paper that requires you to write your opinion on a topic, supporting it with your observations and personal experiences. As opposed to presenting your reader with the views of other academics and writers, in this essay, you get an opportunity to write your point of view—and the best part is that there is no wrong answer. It is YOUR opinion, and it is your job to express your thoughts in a manner that will be understandable and clear for all readers that will read your paper. The topic range is endless. Here are some examples: whether or not you think aliens exist, your favorite TV show, or your opinion on the outcome of WWII. You can write about pretty much anything.

There are three types of reflection paper; depending on which one you end up with, the tone you write with can be slightly different. The first type is the educational reflective paper. Here your job is to write feedback about a book, movie, or seminar you attended—in a manner that teaches the reader about it. The second is the professional paper. Usually, it is written by people who study or work in education or psychology. For example, it can be a reflection of someone’s behavior. And the last is the personal type, which explores your thoughts and feelings about an individual subject.

However, reflection paper writing will stop eventually with one very important final paper to write - your resume. This is where you will need to reflect on your entire life leading up to that moment. To learn how to list education on resume perfectly, follow the link on our dissertation writing services .

Unlock the potential of your thoughts with EssayPro . Order a reflection paper and explore a range of other academic services tailored to your needs. Dive deep into your experiences, analyze them with expert guidance, and turn your insights into an impactful reflection paper.

Free Reflection Paper Example

Now that we went over all of the essentials about a reflection paper and how to approach it, we would like to show you some examples that will definitely help you with getting started on your paper.

Reflection Paper Format

Reflection papers typically do not follow any specific format. Since it is your opinion, professors usually let you handle them in any comfortable way. It is best to write your thoughts freely, without guideline constraints. If a personal reflection paper was assigned to you, the format of your paper might depend on the criteria set by your professor. College reflection papers (also known as reflection essays) can typically range from about 400-800 words in length.

Here’s how we can suggest you format your reflection paper:

How to Start a Reflection Paper

The first thing to do when beginning to work on a reflection essay is to read your article thoroughly while taking notes. Whether you are reflecting on, for example, an activity, book/newspaper, or academic essay, you want to highlight key ideas and concepts.

You can start writing your reflection paper by summarizing the main concept of your notes to see if your essay includes all the information needed for your readers. It is helpful to add charts, diagrams, and lists to deliver your ideas to the audience in a better fashion.

After you have finished reading your article, it’s time to brainstorm. We’ve got a simple brainstorming technique for writing reflection papers. Just answer some of the basic questions below:

• How did the article affect you?
• How does this article catch the reader’s attention (or does it all)?
• Has the article changed your mind about something? If so, explain how.
• Has the article left you with any questions?
• Were there any unaddressed critical issues that didn’t appear in the article?
• Does the article relate to anything from your past reading experiences?
• Does the article agree with any of your past reading experiences?

Here are some reflection paper topic examples for you to keep in mind before preparing to write your own:

• How my views on rap music have changed over time
• My reflection and interpretation of Moby Dick by Herman Melville
• Why my theory about the size of the universe has changed over time
• How my observations for clinical psychological studies have developed in the last year

The result of your brainstorming should be a written outline of the contents of your future paper. Do not skip this step, as it will ensure that your essay will have a proper flow and appropriate organization.

Another good way to organize your ideas is to write them down in a 3-column chart or table.

Do you want your task look awesome?

If you would like your reflection paper to look professional, feel free to check out one of our articles on how to format MLA, APA or Chicago style

Writing a Reflection Paper Outline

Reflection paper should contain few key elements:

Introduction

Your introduction should specify what you’re reflecting upon. Make sure that your thesis informs your reader about your general position, or opinion, toward your subject.

• State what you are analyzing: a passage, a lecture, an academic article, an experience, etc...)
• Briefly summarize the work.
• Write a thesis statement stating how your subject has affected you.

One way you can start your thesis is to write:

Example: “After reading/experiencing (your chosen topic), I gained the knowledge of…”

Body Paragraphs

The body paragraphs should examine your ideas and experiences in context to your topic. Make sure each new body paragraph starts with a topic sentence.

Your reflection may include quotes and passages if you are writing about a book or an academic paper. They give your reader a point of reference to fully understand your feedback. Feel free to describe what you saw, what you heard, and how you felt.

Example: “I saw many people participating in our weight experiment. The atmosphere felt nervous yet inspiring. I was amazed by the excitement of the event.”

As with any conclusion, you should summarize what you’ve learned from the experience. Next, tell the reader how your newfound knowledge has affected your understanding of the subject in general. Finally, describe the feeling and overall lesson you had from the reading or experience.

There are a few good ways to conclude a reflection paper:

• Tie all the ideas from your body paragraphs together, and generalize the major insights you’ve experienced.
• Restate your thesis and summarize the content of your paper.

We have a separate blog post dedicated to writing a great conclusion. Be sure to check it out for an in-depth look at how to make a good final impression on your reader.

Need a hand? Get help from our writers. Edit, proofread or buy essay .

How to Write a Reflection Paper: Step-by-Step Guide

Step 1: create a main theme.

After you choose your topic, write a short summary about what you have learned about your experience with that topic. Then, let readers know how you feel about your case — and be honest. Chances are that your readers will likely be able to relate to your opinion or at least the way you form your perspective, which will help them better understand your reflection.

For example: After watching a TEDx episode on Wim Hof, I was able to reevaluate my preconceived notions about the negative effects of cold exposure.

Step 2: Brainstorm Ideas and Experiences You’ve Had Related to Your Topic

You can write down specific quotes, predispositions you have, things that influenced you, or anything memorable. Be personal and explain, in simple words, how you felt.

For example: • A lot of people think that even a small amount of carbohydrates will make people gain weight • A specific moment when I struggled with an excess weight where I avoided carbohydrates entirely • The consequences of my actions that gave rise to my research • The evidence and studies of nutritional science that claim carbohydrates alone are to blame for making people obese • My new experience with having a healthy diet with a well-balanced intake of nutrients • The influence of other people’s perceptions on the harm of carbohydrates, and the role their influence has had on me • New ideas I’ve created as a result of my shift in perspective

Step 3: Analyze How and Why These Ideas and Experiences Have Affected Your Interpretation of Your Theme

Pick an idea or experience you had from the last step, and analyze it further. Then, write your reasoning for agreeing or disagreeing with it.

For example, Idea: I was raised to think that carbohydrates make people gain weight.

Analysis: Most people think that if they eat any carbohydrates, such as bread, cereal, and sugar, they will gain weight. I believe in this misconception to such a great extent that I avoided carbohydrates entirely. As a result, my blood glucose levels were very low. I needed to do a lot of research to overcome my beliefs finally. Afterward, I adopted the philosophy of “everything in moderation” as a key to a healthy lifestyle.

For example: Idea: I was brought up to think that carbohydrates make people gain weight. Analysis: Most people think that if they eat any carbohydrates, such as bread, cereal, and sugar, they will gain weight. I believe in this misconception to such a great extent that I avoided carbohydrates entirely. As a result, my blood glucose levels were very low. I needed to do a lot of my own research to finally overcome my beliefs. After, I adopted the philosophy of “everything in moderation” as a key for having a healthy lifestyle.

Step 4: Make Connections Between Your Observations, Experiences, and Opinions

Try to connect your ideas and insights to form a cohesive picture for your theme. You can also try to recognize and break down your assumptions, which you may challenge in the future.

There are some subjects for reflection papers that are most commonly written about. They include:

• Book – Start by writing some information about the author’s biography and summarize the plot—without revealing the ending to keep your readers interested. Make sure to include the names of the characters, the main themes, and any issues mentioned in the book. Finally, express your thoughts and reflect on the book itself.
• Course – Including the course name and description is a good place to start. Then, you can write about the course flow, explain why you took this course, and tell readers what you learned from it. Since it is a reflection paper, express your opinion, supporting it with examples from the course.
• Project – The structure for a reflection paper about a project has identical guidelines to that of a course. One of the things you might want to add would be the pros and cons of the course. Also, mention some changes you might want to see, and evaluate how relevant the skills you acquired are to real life.
• Interview – First, introduce the person and briefly mention the discussion. Touch on the main points, controversies, and your opinion of that person.

Writing Tips

Everyone has their style of writing a reflective essay – and that's the beauty of it; you have plenty of leeway with this type of paper – but there are still a few tips everyone should incorporate.

Before you start your piece, read some examples of other papers; they will likely help you better understand what they are and how to approach yours. When picking your subject, try to write about something unusual and memorable — it is more likely to capture your readers' attention. Never write the whole essay at once. Space out the time slots when you work on your reflection paper to at least a day apart. This will allow your brain to generate new thoughts and reflections.

• Short and Sweet – Most reflection papers are between 250 and 750 words. Don't go off on tangents. Only include relevant information.
• Clear and Concise – Make your paper as clear and concise as possible. Use a strong thesis statement so your essay can follow it with the same strength.
• Maintain the Right Tone – Use a professional and academic tone—even though the writing is personal.
• Cite Your Sources – Try to cite authoritative sources and experts to back up your personal opinions.
• Proofreading – Not only should you proofread for spelling and grammatical errors, but you should proofread to focus on your organization as well. Answer the question presented in the introduction.

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How To Write A Reflection Paper?

How to start a reflection paper, how long should a reflection paper be, related articles.

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Examples of Reflective Writing

Types of reflective writing assignments.

A journal  requires you to write weekly entries throughout a semester. May require you to base your reflection on course content.

A learning diary is similar to a journal, but may require group participation. The diary then becomes a place for you to communicate in writing with other group members.

A logbook is often used in disciplines based on experimental work, such as science. You note down or 'log' what you have done. A log gives you an accurate record of a process and helps you reflect on past actions and make better decisions for future actions.

A reflective note is often used in law. A reflective note encourages you to think about your personal reaction to a legal issue raised in a course.

An essay diary  can take the form of an annotated bibliography (where you examine sources of evidence you might include in your essay) and a critique (where you reflect on your own writing and research processes).

a peer review  usually involves students showing their work to their peers for feedback.

A self-assessment task  requires you to comment on your own work.

Some examples of reflective writing

Social science fieldwork report (methods section), engineering design report, learning journal (weekly reflection).

Brookfield, S 1987, Developing critical thinkers: challenging adults to explore alternative ways of thinking and acting , Open University Press, Milton Keynes.

Mezirow, J 1990, Fostering critical reflection in adulthood: a guide to transformative and emancipatory learning , Jossey-Bass, San Francisco.

Schön, DA 1987, Educating the reflective practitioner , Jossey-Bass. San Francisco.

We thank the students who permitted us to feature examples of their writing.

Prepared by Academic Skills, UNSW. This guide may be distributed or adapted for educational purposes. Full and proper acknowledgement is required. 

Essay and assignment writing guide

• Essay writing basics
• Essay and assignment planning
• Answering assignment questions
• Editing checklist
• Writing a critical review
• Annotated bibliography
• How do I write reflectively?
• Examples of reflective writing
• ^ More support

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