How to Use this Reflective Practice Guide
This book is created in two parts. There is the Reflective Practice Guide itself, and the accompanying Activities Workbook.
The Activities Workbook includes all of the reflective activities and data collection tools. It was created as a separate document to allow you the opportunity to download, complete, save, print and share any of your reflections. The bright blue boxes will direct you to the Activities Workbook throughout this Guide. After each activity you will find a “Your Reflections” section with guided questions to encourage you to pause, reflect and connect your learning to the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning. If you use a tool or revisit an activity, consider answering these reflective questions again so you can compare your responses and build upon past learning.
There is no right or wrong way to use the tools in this manual. Our intention is to offer you a wide range of resources for your own individual reflective practice. By seeking structured feedback from those around you, you will be able to broaden your understanding of how your intentions and actions are perceived by others. By reflecting on your strengths and your areas for continued development, you will start to construct a personalized ‘roadmap’ for growth. This is an ongoing and never-ending journey: no matter how many months, years or decades of experience that you bring to your faculty role, there is always more to learn!
You may be interested in gathering data from your students, your colleagues, or your Chairperson. Alternatively, you may want to focus on a single aspect of your role. Remember, the choice is yours. Revisit this selection of tools throughout your career and try something new. In time, you will find that it is valuable to re-use tools that you have tried out in the past as students change and as you grow and develop. Kantaji Brown Jackson once noted that we should, “Be open to new ideas and experiences because you’ll never know when someone else will have an interesting thought or when a new door will open to take you on the journey of your dreams.” In other words, no matter how much we know and do, there is always a new level to which we can aspire to reach.
This Activities Manual will provide you with an opportunity to see how each of the tools and activities fit within the domains of Centennial’s Framework for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL). This will help you in planning for your scholarly activities and enhance your understanding of the theory that underpins the work you are engaged with. As a reminder, we have provided the following icons beside each of the tools and activities so you can see where they are situated within the framework.
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Knowledge of Scholarly Teaching (Foundation Knowledge): foundational knowledge in teaching skills, demonstration of digital, research, and cross-disciplinary literacy, and have an awareness of the global context in which your teaching is situated.
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Learning about One’s Teaching (Humanistic Knowledge): demonstrate a strong values-based approach to teaching practice including ethical/emotional awareness, teaching and learning across difference, and reflective practice.
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Growth in SoTL (Meta-Knowledge): personal growth in SoTL as it relates to creativity and innovation, problem-solving and critical thinking, and communication and collaboration.
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Throughout the Reflective Practice Guide and the Activities Workbook, we will share personal stories and key learnings from faculty. We hope that these reflections provide you with a snapshot of some of the ways we have implemented the suggested activities and tools into our own teaching practice.
As you embark on becoming a reflective practitioner, remember that you have the power within yourself to guide your reflective practice journey. This workbook is your map, but only you can be the compass. Time to take the first step!