Reflection statement
What is a reflection statement
This is a statement in which you reflect (think
carefully and seriously), in writing, about
something of significance to you.
Reflection statements are best when they are
honest, probing, intellectually and emotively
driven, and bring one to points of realisation so
that one can improve a situation or set of tasks
in the future.
Consider this task
• Write a reflective report including the following information:
• A self-evaluation of your learning development and learning
experiences in this unit. Provide examples, taken from your learning
plans, of personal learning goals and an evaluation of outcomes
(e.g. what was learned; how this was achieved; what was not
achieved and why).
• Identify barriers and constraints to learning as well as enablers.
• Identify learning strategies you will adopt in future learning
situations.
• Discuss the qualities of an effective oral presentation and the
strategies you will need to employ to give a successful academic
presentation.
• Your understanding and the relevance of the academic skills
required for your discipline.
• Appendix: Your learning plan presented in a table format.
Challenging aspects
The task is challenging because it is personal,
and each student will answer it differently. You
need to have insight into yourself and your
learning experiences to produce a meaningful
reflection.
However, you also need to relate your insights
about yourself to academic perspectives, where
possible and appropriate. So in-text referencing
is part of the exercise.
Is there an appropriate format?
Not really. It’s best to divide your response into the
identified parts and then you should answer each
question in normal prose, in paragraphs, using a
sincere tone. Diction can, and should be a little
more emotive than in objective, academic analysis,
but it should still be of a semi-formal nature. Some
off-colour words which you might use in normal life
should not be included in your reflection statement.
Reference the text of your reflection in the normal
way.
Examples
• Let’s do the exercise.
1) A self-evaluation of your learning
development and learning experiences in this
unit. Provide examples, taken from your learning
plans, of personal learning goals and an
evaluation of outcomes (e.g. what was learned;
how this was achieved; what was not achieved
and why).
Examples - 1
• 1) In Leadership and Management 101, I became a
much more mature learner. This is because, for the first
time in my life, I undertook in-depth research from a
wide variety of resources. I found this empowering and
a great confidence-booster.
Firstly, I learnt how to access books via the inter-library
scheme, and I took detailed notes from good sources
before each of my assignments. I learnt how to capture
the notes I needed without over-writing – I became good
at summary and paraphrasing. I developed confidence in
identifying scholars’ points of view and the language in
which points of view are developed and defended.
Examples - 2
Being a private person, I have long resisted working
in groups, but I had to this session. I went into the
group determined to overcome my shyness and
share my thoughts with other group members. It
turned out to be a really positive experience
because the group members were insightful and
supportive. I learnt to trust the research capabilities
of my team members and we achieved a strong
sense of co-operation when dividing up the tasks
for our group essay, a strategy suggested by Pike
(2009).
Examples - 3
• It seemed ironic that while studying a leadership
course, we students began to develop our own
leadership skills within a group. Our text book
posits that great followers make great leaders (
). I started off as a great follower after team
leader, Mohit, gave us our tasks. However, as the
task went on, I took increasing ‘ownership’ of the
section given to me and I was able to
communicate the academic knowledge from my
section clearly to my team-mates. It hit me! I had
become an intellectual leader and a team-mate
to be trusted!
Examples - 4
The outcome of the task specified that we
should create a presentation which would be
suitable for presentation to a group of third-year
university students. This meant that the
presentation not only required good content,
but had to be delivered in a confident, engaging
fashion (Thespo 2011). And all of us had to make
a contribution in this regard.
Delivery outcomes
There was no way in which a quiet person like
me was going to become an accomplished
speaker and presenter who kept eye contact
with the audience, and who didn’t need to
speak with notes. Thanks, however, to our group
coach, Blake, we were able to practise over and
over again, going really slowly at the beginning
and then speeding up our presentation as we
became more accomplished.
Remarkable success
As I started memorising my main points on Nelson
Mandela, and delivering my material, I had a flash
of insight. If this great leader could stand up and
express his own willingness to die for what he
believed in, I certainly could get up and make a
speech about him. After about my seventh practice,
my voice became more confident, my arms and
hands started pointing – quite naturally – to key
points on my PP slides, and I could hear myself
sounding inspired as I spoke. It was an exhilarating
experience and a real breakthrough for me.
Personal goal achieved
My personal learning goal of becoming a capable
presenter was realised, both in terms of my own
confidence and sense of success in my delivery, and also
via audience reaction (see Wong [2015] for elements of a
good presentation).One student told me afterwards that
she had been ‘transported’ during my presentation and
had for the first time understood who Nelson Mandela
really was and what he achieved. She added that the
power of my delivery went hand in hand with the power
of my subject matter. This seemed to me to be a very
happy coincidence of factors. The fact that I can’t wait
until my next presentation indicates to me that I have
crossed a barrier and learnt a new life skill.
Tick that goal off too!
Another goal I had set was to become an expert
on the lives of the four leaders we did our
presentation on: Mandela, Queen Elizabeth,
Martin Luther King jnr., and Steve Jobs. Because
each group member embraced intellectual
leadership and developed detailed, readable
notes on each leader, I felt extremely wellinformed on each one. This goal was met but I
hadn’t expected it to be met through the hard
work and insights of peers.
A goal I hadn’t even identified!
• I also achieved a goal I didn’t even know I’d had – if
you’ll excuse the paradox!
• I realised, in hindsight, that I needed to discover the
power of peer support and peer review! This
unforeseen aim was accomplished at a short barbecue
our team organised where we presented our papers to
each other. The feedback we gave each other was
amazing! Nobody was harsh in their criticism, but we
gave each other pointers as to how we could improve
our presentations and where we needed to add or
subtract material. I remembered the research of Sally
Kerchuka (2014) on this theme; she is right about the
importance of collective affirmation.
In a nutshell
• If I had to synthesise my reflection statement
and come up with a defining comment for my
learning experience, I would say that I have
discovered the power of interactive academic
synergy – the combining of forces for the
mutual enrichment of a group of students
who – during a task on leadership – somehow
became successful leaders themselves.
One unrealised goal
One goal I set, which I did not realise, was that I didn’t learn
how to combine sound effects with my visual effects in my
PowerPoint presentation. The reasons for this are:
- Time pressure > I never got to it
- Difficulty avoidance: using excuses to avoid a challenge
which I feared I might not find easy
- nature of the task > because we presented our work
orally, there wasn’t an expectation that there would be
sound effects or technological overkill
This isn’t such a big deal, and I will rectify the situation soon
when I ask my team member, Gabor, to show me how to do
sound
Summary
This example of a Reflection Statement reveals that
one’s statement has to be:
- Personal
- Honest and revealing
- Geared towards goals and real achievements
- Directed towards the task set
- Expressed in language that has colloquial
dimensions but is still semi-formal and suitable
for an academic context
Blog writing practice
Reflect on your academic performance this session by writing a short blog entry
entitled, ‘Key elements to successful study’. In the blog you will highlight three factors
that have helped you most when it comes to academic performance, and you will
recommend that others use these too.
Your blog should not go beyond one screen of writing. You are welcome to create any
background details or context for the blog.
The blog might contain reflections on past successes and failures. It should be
presented as an honest and sincere attempt to share the wisdom and insights you
have accumulated and to help others benefit from your advice.
Your blog entry should be in semi-formal prose and not be too colloquial.