Chapter 11- Hindsight is 20/20: The Role of Reflection in Learning

My teaching philosophy hinges on student-directed learning, creating opportunities for student success, and depth of learning versus rote memorization. Over the years, I have experimented with different ways to assess student understanding of new concepts as well as to stay connected to individual students in a timely and effective manner. I simultaneously recognize the difficulty of accomplishing this in a manner that is not terribly time-consuming for the student or for myself. Ultimately, I created an assignment that achieves my goal using several qualities highlighted in Costa et al.’s Habits of Mind framework (2022)

Habits of Mind: Designing Courses for Student Success

Although content knowledge remains at the heart of college teaching and learning, forward-thinking instructors recognize that we must also provide 21st-century college students with transferable skills (sometimes called portable intellectual abilities) to prepare them for their futures (Vazquez, 2020; Ritchhart, 2015; Venezia & Jaeger, 2013; Hazard, 2012). To “grow their capacity as efficacious thinkers to navigate and thrive in the face of unprecedented change” (Costa et al., 2023), students must learn and improve important study skills and academic dispositions throughout their educational careers. If we do not focus on skills-building in college courses, students will not be prepared for the challenges that await them after they leave institutions of higher education. If students are not prepared for these postsecondary education challenges, then it is fair to say that college faculty have failed them