Reflecting on Learning

According to the old saying from Confucius, “To know what you know and what you do not know, that is true knowledge.”

reflection

Reflection is the process of examining your own understanding, experiences, and learning in order to gain deeper insight into what you know, what you don’t yet understand, and how you are growing.

Reflection helps you assess your true knowledge and recognize both your strengths and areas that need improvement. Acknowledging what you don’t yet understand is often the first step toward meaningful learning. Without honest reflection, you may give the appearance of learning without truly engaging with the material. Reflection also challenges oversimplified views of learning—such as “It’s just easy for me” or “I’ve always been bad at it”—and encourages a more thoughtful understanding of your abilities.

Though reflection is a mental process, writing can be a powerful tool to clarify your thinking. Writing about your own learning, especially your writing process, is a form of metacognition that supports deeper learning.

Reflection isn’t limited to past events—it can be about something that happened in the past, is happening now, or will/might happen in the future. For example, you might reflect on a past exam, your current struggles with a topic, or how a future course might affect your goals. It is important to see reflection as a continuing process because it is a valuable part of learning and growing in all disciplines and in all aspects of life.

Thinking about your own writing and being aware of your own strengths and weaknesses as a writer can help you improve. See if you can guess at the following types of knowledge you may review while reflecting.

Reflecting Across the Disciplines

If reflection seems like an act unique to your writing class, think about other courses and majors and how we see instances of reflection.

Consider health fields and professions. Early in their educations, future nurses, doctors, and other health professionals are taught the importance of reflection in their work. Healthcare workers such as nurses and doctors regularly reflect on the condition of their patients, the care they provide, potential treatments, and future care. Writing allows health care professionals, for example, to keep a reflective log of patients (think about why nurses and doctors rely on those charts and patient records so much).

This type of thinking requires practice, which is why reflection is part of the courses these students take. For most people, it is not enough to just reflect in your head; you have to write it down.