How adults use reflection to learn

brianleeeee

Reflection is an interpretive process. Learners use reflection to

visualize using what they learned by solving a problem or improving something with their new skills
[/li]understand the big picture
[/li]compare their use of the information with how others use the same information
[/li]recall a section in the course.
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Visualize using the new information. Learners often visualize or hypothesize how they will apply their new skills. This is particularly true when learners plan to use their new skills to solve a problem or improve an existing situation. As they read the instruction, they stop and visualize how their new skills will enable them to handle that situation in the future. For example, one learner I spoke with said, “I thought back to a few of the attributes that the lesson went through, such as location of the item, and tried to think how those would relate to a course entered as an item.” Another learner said that after she read the examples in a section of a course, she stopped and tried to create her own examples.

Adult learners often take a self-paced, technology-based course to learn skills that will enable them to move into another position. Thus, when they’re taking the course, and immediately after completion, they have few opportunities to practice their new skills. In lieu of authentic experiences, learners create vicarious experiences and hypothesize how they expect to use their new skills.

Look for the big picture. Most adult learners constantly look for the big picture. They often reflect on how the instructional content fits into a bigger whole, and they may take a course simply because it discusses the big picture. Learners also are concerned when the pieces don’t seem to fit together. One learner I worked with said, “When there’s a piece missing or there’s something that doesn’t fit, I’m confused. I have to go back and say, ‘Okay, I’m going to start at the beginning now. What did I miss?’”

As part of reflecting on the big picture, adult learners often visualize the content in terms of building blocks and how learning is similar to stacking blocks one on top of another. Perhaps this is a type of preferred learning strategy, but the emphasis isn’t on how they learn but rather on the organization of the instructional content and how it consists of related pieces that fit together to create the big picture.

Compare themselves to others. Adult learners compare how they use their new skills, or how they anticipate using their skills, with how their colleagues use those same skills. For example, while examining the examples in an MS Project course, one learner reflected on how her colleagues used MS Project differently than the training examples. She said that reflecting on these comparisons helped her learn alternative ways to use the product.

Recall a section in the course. Adult learners frequently think about the implications and practical applications of what they learned. Generally, they think about these implications and practical applications when they’re performing a task that’s related to the course content. Sometimes, though, adult learners will be in a completely unrelated situation when something triggers their recall of the instruction. For example, one learner related that seeing a telecommunications service truck caused him to think about the telecommunications course he took the previous week.

Sometimes learners feel confused about something they think they learned in the course. Perhaps they’re trying to apply a procedure or concept from the course or they’re discussing the course content with colleagues. When an experience or conversation confuses adult learners, they often return to the course or their job aid to resolve their confusion. They may also ask a colleague to help them.