Quality Criteria

A quality reflection must focus in strengthening learning by being planned and intentional. In this section, we outline some criteria to keep in mind if you want to produce a quality reflection.

Key Elements for Quality Reflection

A reflective activity requires a planned and protected environment where students can share their experience with their peers “teacher(s) and/or representatives of the community partner (or those with whom they have collaborated during the project)”. This setting allows the exchange of perspectives regarding the project or experience, enabling participants to engage in conversation and critical analysis, ultimately leading to new ideas and future actions. (Montalva & Ponce, 2015). 

The planning of a meaningful reflective activity should consider certain elements that are individually significant, particularly when articulated in relation to the experiences lived by students.

The 4C’s (Eyler & Giles, 1996), outline fundamental characteristics of a quality reflective instance.

Continuous

The reflective process should occur before, during, and after the service project. It take place in classrooms, assistantships, online, and/or in the field.

Connected

The learning objectives (outcomes) of the course should be connected to the service project, facilitating a synthesis between theory and practice.

Challenging

The activity should challenge students to reconsider their actions from different perspectives, fostering critical and in-depth observations.

Contextualised

It should take into account the motivations an characteristics of students, while also being relevant and closely aligned to the contexts in which experiences arise. Therefore, time resources, space, and/or correction and feedback should be considered.

Eyler, J., Giles D., Schimiede, A. (1996). A Practitioner’s Guide to Reflection in Service-Learning. Nashville, Vanderbilt University, 17. 

Learning Outcome

The designed reflective activity must demonstrate clear coherence with at least one learning outcome that the course aims to achieve, or account for the content related to it. 

  • Higher-order skills, attitudes or values to be developed. 

    The designed reflective activity should explicitly state the type of skill, attitude or value it aims to promote in students. It is recommended to use indicators for the defined elements, making them more operationalisable, which will facilitate a more straightforward and objective assessment. 

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

    Determining when the reflection will occur is fundamental; the wide variety of feasible topics necessitates defining each moment. This definition must be connected to the experience that exists up to that point, and aligned with the learning objectives, outcomes, type of service, and product. Possible moments for reflection can take place before, during, and/or after the service. Developing a plan for these instances facilitates the identification and design of objectives for each activity. 

  • Necessary Resources.

    It is essential to gather all the necessary elements for the effective execution of the reflective activity, such as audiovisual material, amplification equipment, and didactic or artistic resources. It is also important to consider the adequate classroom arrangements. If the activity is conducted online, it is crucial to determine which platforms are most suitable and what types of tools can be utilised (the following toolkit may prove very useful).

  • Duration

    As with any activity conducted in our courses, a reflective activity must have an estimated duration that allows for the achievement of its objectives. Since there is no consensus regarding the length of a reflective activity, this will depend on the decision of the teaching staff.

  • Description

    As activities should be scheduled and planned in relation to the moment of service, it is also necessary to provide a detail description of what will occur during the session. This information will facilitate understanding and ensure the correct development of the activity for students and community partners who will participate.

We invite you to systematise both strategies and reflective activities, as these can serve as input for later courses. This will allow for comparison between different generations and their reflections, and can even provide example to show the students and how their peers have reflected in previous years.