Considering Reflection From the Student Perspective in Higher Education

This article reports the findings of a project to reexaminereflection from the student perspective that took place after a major curriculumrevision. The project used a hermeneutically inspired action research method thatinvolved interviewing 17 undergraduate theology students after a two-semester practicumto ascertain the ways in which students understand and use reflection in practice and asa means of establishing identity. The data revealed key themes that surround students’understanding of reflection: (a) Students think and write about reflection in detachedways, (b) there is a connection between reflection and self-understanding andself-definition, and (c) crisis plays a role in reflection. The article concludes withfurther discussions of these themes and with recommendations for pedagogicalpractice