Quality criteria

A quality reflection should be oriented to strengthen learning by being intentional and planned. In this section we mention some criteria that you should consider if you want to make a quality reflection.

Key elements for quality reflection

A reflective activity must be a planned and protected space where students can share with their peers, “teacher(s) and/or representatives of the community partner (or those with whom they have worked during the implementation of the project), the experience lived, receive other points of view regarding the experience or project and through conversation and critical analysis, come up with a new idea and future actions” (Montalva & Ponce, 2015).

The planning of a meaningful reflection activity should consider elements that are individually relevant and even more so if they are articulated around the experiences lived by the students.

The 4Cs (Eyler & Giles, 1996), detail characteristics that cannot be absent in a quality reflective instance.

Continuous

The reflection process should be done before, during and after the service project, and can be done in class, as an internship, via the web and/or in the field.

Connected

The learning objectives (outcomes) of the course should be linked to the service project, allowing a synthesis between action and theory.

Challenging (Changellenging)

Challenge students to rethink what they do from different perspectives, to be critical and deep in their observations.

Contextualized

It should consider the characteristics and motivations of the students, in addition to being close and appropriate to the contexts where the experiences arise. Therefore, the resources of time, space and/or correction and feedback must also be considered.

Eyler, J., Giles D., Schimiede, A. (1996). A Practitioners Guide to Reflection in Service Learning Nashville: Vanderbilt University, p.17

Learning Outcome

The designed reflection activity must have a clear coherence with at least one learning outcome pursued by the course or account for the contents linked to it.

  • Superior skills, attitudes or values to be developed.

    The reflection activity designed should make explicit, as the case may be, the type of skill, attitude or value it hopes to promote or develop in the students. It is advisable to use indicators for the defined elements and thus make your work easier (operationalizable), which will allow for a simpler and more objective evaluation.

  • Moment of the service in which the reflection activity takes place.

    It is important to determine the moment in which the reflection will take place; the great variety of feasible topics to work on makes it necessary to define each space, this definition must be related to the experience that exists up to that precise moment, and be linked to the learning objectives/results and type of product or service. Possible moments may occur before, during and/or after the service to be performed. Developing a plan for these instances makes it easier to identify and design objectives for each activity.

  • Necessary Resources

    It is essential to have all the necessary elements that allow the reflection activity to be carried out correctly, such as audiovisual material, amplification, didactic or plastic materials, it is also important to consider the adequate layout of the classroom, among others. If it is online, you must define which platform is the most appropriate and what types of tools can be used (reviewing the following Toolkit can be very useful).

  • Duration

    As any activity in our courses must have an estimated time to achieve the expected objectives, so there is no consensus regarding the duration of a reflection, this will depend on the decision made by the teaching team.

  • Description

    Just as the activities should be planned and scheduled according to the time of service, it is also necessary to carry out a detailed description of what will happen during this session, this information will facilitate the understanding and proper development of the activity (in the case of students and community partners who participate in it).

We invite you to systematize both the strategies and the reflection activities, these can serve as input for subsequent courses, to compare reflections in different generations and even as an example, show the students how they have reflected their peers in other years.