This reflective essay describes my encounter with reflective learning as a student enrolled in the University of Queensland Graduate Certificate in Education (Higher Education) program and the application and integration of reflective learning in a clinical course within the Bachelor of Oral Health program as an educator. Insights gained and lessons learnt in practising the scholarship of teaching and learning in a formal degree program are discussed

Tsang, Annetta

University of Queensland eSpace

International Journal for the Scholarship of
Teaching and Learning
Volume 3 | Number 2 Article 29
7-2009
Personal Reflection: Reflective Learning as a
Student and an Educator: Connecting the
Scholarship of Teaching and Learning
Annetta Tsang
University of queensland, ak.tsang@uq.edu.au
Recommended Citation
Tsang, Annetta (2009) "Personal Reflection: Reflective Learning as a Student and an Educator: Connecting the Scholarship of
Teaching and Learning," International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning: Vol. 3: No. 2, Article 29.
Available at: http://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/ij-sotl/vol3/iss2/29
Personal Reflection: Reflective Learning as a Student and an Educator:
Connecting the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning
Abstract
This reflective essay describes my encounter with reflective learning as a student enrolled in the University of
Queensland Graduate Certificate in Education (Higher Education) program and the application and
integration of reflective learning in a clinical course within the Bachelor of Oral Health program as an
educator. Insights gained and lessons learnt in practising the scholarship of teaching and learning in a formal
degree program are discussed.
Keywords
Reflective learning, Scholarship of teaching and learning, Higher education
 
 
 
 
 
Reflective Learning as a Student and an Educator: 
Connecting the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning 
 
 
Annetta Tsang University of 
Queensland Brisbane, 
Queensland, Australia 
ak.tsang@uq.edu.au 
 
 
Abstract 
This reflective essay describes my encounter with reflective learning as a student 
enrolled in the University of Queensland Graduate Certificate in Education (Higher 
Education) program and the application and integration of reflective learning in a clinical 
course within the Bachelor of Oral Health program as an educator. Insights gained and 
lessons learnt in practising the scholarship of teaching and learning in a formal degree 
program are discussed. 
 
Keywords: reflective learning, scholarship of teaching and learning, higher education 
 
 
I have always wanted to teach, to share my experiences with students and to make a 
difference to their learning experiences. So, when I was appointed as lecturer at the 
University of Queensland, School of Dentistry, from which I graduated, I was ecstatic. 
I vowed to become an effective educator to my students, but knew that I did not know 
exactly how to do that. I felt I had much to share in terms of professional knowledge and 
skills in Dentistry (afterall, I did complete three degree programs in the field) but I did 
not feel the same in the area of teaching. I knew more about what could put students 
off, based upon my own experience as a student, than what I could do to engage them. 
It concerned me that I was not really qualified to teach. I felt the need to improve 
myself. So when I heard about the Graduate Certificate in Education (Higher Education) 
(GCEd(HE)) program from my Head of the School, I grasped the opportunity. 
 
When I first started, I had not heard of pedagogy, constructive alignment, Bloom’s 
taxonomy, reflective learning or action research. I felt like a new migrant arriving into a 
new country, trying to speak a new language and attempting to understand and fit into a 
new culture. When I was asked to keep a reflective journal, I was sceptical. I did not 
really embrace the idea because it sounded “unscientific” and time consuming. Not being 
familiar with the practice of critical reflection or the concept of reflective learning made 
me all the more dubious. However, the mountainous amounts of literature supporting 
reflective learning and reflective practices convinced me to at least give reflective 
learning a try. Surprisingly, the more I reflected, the more I found myself enjoying the 
process. My moments of reflection became an indulgence: a time of recollection, self- 
evaluation, reassurance, clarification, innovation and transformation. 
 
Contrary to my original belief, keeping a reflective journal was beneficial, highly 
productive and well worth the time. Reflection added structure to my thinking and united 
sporadic thoughts, which led to more in-depth consideration that translated to more 
organized and purposeful actions, which benefited my students. It created “ways of 
knowing” (Drago-Severson, 2004) and helped me to put different tasks and different 
roles I had into perspective, to simplify seemingly complicated matters and bring to light 
the central issues, to unpack problems and generate solutions, to analyse strategies and 
ideas, to form linkages between issues that would otherwise be embedded and 
unapparent, as well as illuminated meaning to what I do and who I am as a university 
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educator. What I initially suspected as a time wasting exercise, was in fact helping me to 
make better use of my time. 
 
One particular way in which I used my reflective journal was to keep a record of 
“interpersonal reflection” (Day, 2000) i.e. suggestions and feedback from students and 
colleagues regarding teaching and learning, what I did or will do in response to these 
suggestions and ideas for the future. My students were intrigued that I was keeping a 
reflective journal. Their interest in what I was doing motivated me to further explore 
reflective learning for them, in the context of dental education and clinical / professional 
practice. 
 
My search through the literature revealed that there was very little available on reflective 
learning in Oral Health (an emerging profession in Australia that focuses on prevention of 
oral diseases, dental hygiene and dental therapy) and none on Oral Health students’ 
perceptions of reflective learning. At around the same time, I was planning an action 
research project as part of my GCEd(HE) program, so naturally I chose to explore 
reflective learning. This was further driven by students’ feedback that “clinics were 
mudane” and that “clinics were attended then forgotten”. I was determined to optimize 
and transform their clinical learning from routine and mechanistic to “enlightenment, 
empowerment and emancipation” (Kember et al., 2000) through critical reflections and 
reflective journaling: 
 
“Enlightenment is to understand the self in the context of practice. Empowerment 
is to have the courage and commitment to take necessary action. Emancipation is 
to liberate oneself from previous ways of being so as to achieve a more desirable 
way of practice” (Kember et al., 2000, pp.24-25). 
 
Deciding that I would explore reflective learning in Oral Health students was the easy 
part. Writing an action research proposal proved exhausting. For 13 weeks, we changed, 
amended, improved, reformulated, reworded and uncluttered our draft proposals 
through constructive criticism, critical reflection, dynamic discussions, integration and 
constant feedback from peers, mentors and course coordinators. I learnt some precious 
lessons about practising scholarship of teaching and learning including: read widely but 
utilize the literature in a refined and synthesized manner to focus the intervention, 
implement changes in a course / an area that you have control over, keep each 
educational intervention simple and specific, design the intervention with an action plan 
in mind taking into account available timeframe, workload and other commitments, 
justify your intervention including the aims and objectives, the methodology, the data 
collection and analyses, consider the need for ethical clearance early and think ahead in 
terms of publication potential, reiteration of the intervention and future research 
possibilities. 
 
The intervention saw students thinking critically about their clinical experiences and 
writing reflectively on a weekly basis. The students embraced the concept of critical 
clinical reflection. Most students used their clinical reflective journals to gain insights 
about their strengths and weaknesses through self-evaluation, think more deeply about 
what they were doing in the clinic, consolidate their understanding in dental hygiene 
practice, unpack difficult concepts through self-directed learning and to develop 
professionally. Students valued reflective writing as a learning tool and did not think 
reflection as a waste of time, although most students identified that critical reflection 
and writing reflectively are both time consuming. At the end of the intervention, all but 
one student were convinced that critical clinical reflection is relevant and should be 
embedded into all dental and oral health curricula. 
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When asked what they thought of the critical clinical reflection in dental hygiene practice, 
students typically commented: 
 
“I find doing reflective learning in a discipline that is so focused on scientific and 
evidence-based reasoning a refreshing experience. It has made me think over 
each session, how it made me feel and what was done well or could have been 
done better / differently, set goals... Reflecting introduces a new aspect to clinic 
that focuses on the individual’s learning experience and allows them to grow from 
it in a positive manner.” 
 
Through the intervention and in particular, through my students’ experiences with 
reflective learning, I learnt more about reflection and its impact on clinical learning, 
gained new insights into critical clinical reflection as a pedagogical tool and discovered 
elements that are important for the effective use of reflective learning within a clinical 
course. It allowed me to “test out” my belief regarding reflective learning in a systematic 
manner and “visualize” the usefulness of critical reflection in enhancing clinical 
experiences, stimulating self-directed learning, developing professional attributes and 
constructing knowledge and understanding. It enabled me to appreciate reflective 
learning from both a learner perspective and that of an educator. 
 
My experiences with reflective learning as a learner and an educator have been positive 
and enriching. Critical reflections about the style and quality of my teaching and my 
“ways of being” a teacher have facilitated my growth and development as a university 
educator without being restrictive or conformative. I was able to develop as an 
autonomous learner. Whilst reflective learning was a highlight of the GCEd(HE), it was 
not the only positive. The program exposed me to wealth of education literature that 
challenged my perspectives, enhanced my awareness of what was being done to 
improve teaching and learning outside my “little world” and encouraged me to be 
reflexive, to modify my own practice, implement and evaluate initiatives and effect 
change. 
 
Larrivee (2000, p.294) explained it as: 
 
“If teachers latch onto techniques without examination of what kind of teaching 
practices would be congruent with their beliefs, aligned with their designated 
teaching structures, and harmonious with their personal styles, they will have just a 
bag of tricks...Unless teachers engage in critical reflection and ongoing discovery 
they stay trapped in unexamined judgements and interpretations...” 
 
Practising the scholarship of teaching and learning through a formal program such as the 
GCEd(HE) was invaluable. It allowed me to immerse in the literature relevant to the 
scholarship of teaching and learning and gave me time in dynamic discussion with peers 
and teachers - a community of practice committed to improving teaching and learning 
which ignited my interest in educational research and in practising the scholarship of 
teaching and learning, independently and collaboratively. In-class discussions helped me 
to think about things differently and see things from different angles. The processes of 
action learning and action research took me out of my comfort zone, challenged my 
thinking, changed my practice, enhanced my confidence in implementing and evaluating 
changes in an informed manner. The metamorphosis was not without obstacles, 
uncertainties and risks but, upon reflection, it was well worth it. 
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References 
 
Day, C. (2000). Effective leadership and reflective practice. Reflective Practice, 1(1), 
113-127. 
 
Drago-Severson, E. (2004). Becoming adult learners: principles and practices for 
effective development. New York: Teachers College Press. 
 
Kember, D., Jones, A., Loke, A. Y., McKay, J., Sinclair, K., Tse, H., et al. (2000). 
Reflective teaching and learning in the health professions. Action Research in 
professional education. Oxford, Blackwell Science. 
 
Larrivee, B. (2000). Transforming teaching practice: becoming the critically reflective 
teacher. Reflective Practice, 1(3), 293-307. 
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