Critical Reflection in Professional Practices

THE 4C'S OF CRITICAL REFLECTION

(Eiler, Giles and Schmiedes-1996)

It has guided many service-learning practitioners in planning and implementing reflection activities.
Continuous Reflection: It occurs before the service-learning experience, during it, and afterwards  It is not something to be tacked on at the end of the service. It is not an afterthought. For the deepest learning to occur, reflection must be ongoing.

Connected Reflection: This type of critical reflection builds bridges between learning content, personal reflections, and first-hand experiences. It makes theories real, turns statistics into people and situations and raises questions that, were it not for the service experience, might not be raised. But it must be intentionally connected to the content.

Challenging Reflection: Challenging reflection means reflecting so old questions are seen in new ways, new perspectives are revealed, and new questions are raised. It avoids simplistic, one-dimensional conclusions. It examines causality. And as the service-learning course goes on, it raises deeper and deeper questions.

Balance is the key with this "C." What's optimal is a balance of challenge and, at the same time, support of the student. Too much challenge with no support means students may go inside themselves and avoid the risks necessary to experiment with new ideas and points of view. If there is a lot of support but a lack of challenge, students may not leave their "comfort zones" and little or no learning or growth is likely to occur.

Contextualized Reflection: This means that topics and activities for reflection are meaningful with regard to the experiences the students are having at the community site. There is meaningful interaction occurring between the student, the activity, and the setting. It may or may not involve community members. The form, process, and setting of the reflection should be guided by context.

Context can relate to critical incidents or what's going on in students' lives. When the Haiti earthquakes occurred, a number of colleges and universities had courses across the academic spectrum in which they stopped what they were doing and used critical reflection to relate issues about the earthquake to their course content. If it is mid-term exam time, students may be stressed and may find it difficult to concentrate. 

(Excerpt from Faculty Focus)