A four‐category scheme for coding and assessing the level of reflection in written work

Where courses have as an aim the promotion of reflective practice, it will enhance the achievement of the goal if the level of reflective thinking is assessed. To do this in a satisfactory way requires a reliable protocol for assessing the level of reflection in written work. This article presents a protocol that can be used to guide the allocation of work to four categories, namely: habitual action/non‐reflection, understanding, reflection, and critical reflection. Intermediate categories can also be used. Detailed descriptors of each category to guide the process are provided. The protocol was tested by four assessors independently using it to grade a set of written work, and very good agreement was obtained.

[1]  David Boud,et al.  Experience and Learning: Reflection at Work. EAE600 Adults Learning in the Workplace: Part A. , 1991 .

[2]  Transformation Theory: Critique and Confusion , 1992 .

[3]  S. Atkins,et al.  Reflection: a review of the literature. , 1993, Journal of advanced nursing.

[4]  D. Schoen,et al.  The Reflective Practitioner: How Professionals Think in Action , 1985 .

[5]  P. Jarvis.  Adult and Continuing Education: Theory and Practice , 1990 .

[6]  J. Mezirow.  A Critical Theory of Self-Directed Learning. , 1985 .

[7]  R. Osborne,et al.  Learning science: A generative process , 1983 .

[8]  David Kember,et al.  Development of a Questionnaire to Measure the Level of Reflective Thinking , 2000 .

[9]  J. Habermas,et al.  Knowledge and Human Interests , 1972 .

[10]  J. Biggs,et al.  The revised two-factor Study Process Questionnaire: R-SPQ-2F. , 2001, The British journal of educational psychology.

[11]  J. M. Simmons,et al.  Reflective Pedagogical Thinking: How Can We Promote It and Measure It? , 1990 .

[12]  D. Kember,et al.  Assessing the level of student reflection from reflective journals. , 1995, Journal of advanced nursing.

[13]  Jack Mezirow,et al.  Fostering Critical Reflection in Adulthood: A Guide to Transformative and Emancipatory Learning , 1990 .

[14]  F. Marton,et al.  Conceptions of learning , 1993 .

[15]  Jürgen Habermas,et al.  Towards a theory of communicative competence , 1970 .

[16]  D. Boud,et al.  Reflection, turning experience into learning , 1985 .

[17]  Thomas H. Hammond,et al.  Learning in Hierarchies , 2007 .

[18]  David Kember,et al.  Determining the level of reflective thinking from students' written journals using a coding scheme based on the work of Mezirow , 1999 .

[19]  K. Kitchener,et al.  Developing Reflective Judgment: Understanding and Promoting Intellectual Growth and Critical Thinking in Adolescents and Adults. Jossey-Bass Higher and Adult Education Series and Jossey-Bass Social and Behavioral Science Series. , 2009 .

[20]  J H Powell,et al.  The reflective practitioner in nursing. , 1989, Journal of advanced nursing.

[21]  J. Mezirow.  A Critical Theory of Adult Learning and Education , 1981 .

[22]  S. Compton.  Reflective Teaching and Learning in the Health Professions , 2006 .

[23]  Peter Jarvis,et al.  Adult learning in the social context , 1987 .

[24]  Kevin F. Collis,et al.  Evaluating the Quality of Learning: The SOLO Taxonomy , 1977 .

[25]  M. H. Marx.  Reflection and research in psychology. A phenomenological study of learning. , 1974 .

[26]  J. Dewey.  How we think : a restatement of the relation of reflective thinking to the educative process , 1934 .

[27]  J. Mezirow.  On Critical Reflection , 1998 .

[28]  John B. Biggs,et al.  Teaching for Quality Learning at University: What the Student Does , 1999 .

[29]  R. J. Bogumil,et al.  The reflective practitioner: How professionals think in action , 1985, Proceedings of the IEEE.

[30]  David Kember,et al.  The Relationship Between Approaches to Learning and Reflection Upon Practice , 2003 .

[31]  D. Schoen.  Educating the reflective practitioner , 1987 .

[32]  J. Habermas.  Communication and the Evolution of Society , 1979 .

[33]  Peter Jarvis,et al.  Paradoxes of Learning: On Becoming An Individual in Society , 1992 .

[34]  J. Mezirow.  Transformative Dimensions of Adult Learning , 1991 .

[35]  J. Nussbaum,et al.  Alternative frameworks, conceptual conflict and accommodation: Toward a principled teaching strategy , 1982 .