Enhancing Learning through Reflection
An important aspect of the Collaborative Research Model is that it includes student reflection.
Reflection allows students to take a metacognitive stance to their involvement in the project to explore their own individual and collaborative learning and to determine how the experience has increased their abilities for future academic and professional experiences, as well as informed them as to what skills they need to strengthen.
When Should Students Engage in Reflection?
Reflective activities are ideally preformed throughout the project, but may also take a formal place at the end. In some instances, the reflection is a formal deliverable that is graded even more heavily than the collaborative product itself. Some reflection can be done collaboratively, but students benefit from being able to reflect individually at the end of the project.
Sample Reflective Activities
| Type | Positioning | Individual, Learning Team, or Whole Class Collaborative |
| Freewrite journal | Throughout project | Individual |
| Structured journal | Throughout project | Individual |
| Team journal | Throughout project | Learning Team |
| Portfolio cover sheet | End of project | Individual or Learning Team |
| Decision stance paper | End of project | Individual |
| Discussions | At milestones | Whole Group Collaborative |
| Brief “check-in” presentation or discussion | At milestones or end of project | Learning Teams or Whole Group Collaborative |
| Interview with instructor | End of project | Individual or Learning Team |
