Matching reflections
Dr Jessica Clare Hancock
What is the idea?
Many students struggle with reflection, and paying attention to each of its components (James et al., 2014). This activity uses text matching to explore a reflective model – Hancock’s (2021) DUCKS model (Describe, Understand, Change, Keep, Share). Students are given the headings for each of the components of the DUCKS model, along with an example reflection which has been divided into five parts but in a jumbled order.
Students work in groups to match each of the five excerpts of the reflection with the correct part of the DUCKS model. In doing so, they gain understanding of the model; the activity enables them to identify, through use of the drag and drop examples, what is involved in each element of reflection, so they can then use these stages in their own reflections. This activity could be done with headings and excerpts printed onto card, or online using Google Drawings (or an alternative such as Miro) and drag and drop text boxes.
Why this idea?
Reflection has been recognised as a key element of all kinds of learning for many years (Kolb, 1984) and is directly mentioned in Universal Design for Learning as a key way of ensuring that Higher Education is inclusive of a diverse range of students (CAST, 2018). However, many students struggle with reflection (Lucas & Tan, 2013), particularly in terms of applying a reflective model to a particular situation. The matching activity enables exploration of the different stages of reflection.
I initially used examples which I thought would be fairly obvious in terms of identifying the stages of reflection, but have been surprised at the richness of the discussion and debates around the ‘correct’ stage for the excerpts. This demonstrates that the stages of reflection often overlap and are not straightforward, so valuable peer learning takes place during this activity undertaken as a group. The application of a reflective model in a particular situation makes the different aspects of reflection more concrete, and the different interpretations of which stage of reflection might connect to the given excerpt enables a deep appreciation of the aspects of the different stages of the DUCKS model.
The DUCKS model (Hancock, 2021) is particularly effective for this as it has distinct stages, which cover all aspects of the reflective process. This includes ones such as describing the event, understanding the event, and thinking about what might be changed in the future, which are common across many models (Gibb, 1988; Manouchehri, 2001). It also adds elements that are more unique – the ‘keep’ stage which reinforces the idea that reflection is not all about the negative aspects of an event, or of doing something entirely different next time, but about what has gone well and should be retained, and also the ‘share’ stage which emphasises the usefulness of reflections which are communicated to others for a collective benefit.
How could others implement