[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-seo-598709-105":3,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":81,"doc-detail-598709-en":130},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"ok",{"site_id":7,"language":8,"slug":9,"title":10,"keywords":11,"description":12,"schema_data":13,"social_meta":74,"head_meta":76,"extra_data":78,"updated_unix":80},105,"en","teaching-critical-reflection-to-graduate-students","Teaching Critical Reflection to Graduate Students","","Critical reflection is a highly valued and widely applied learning approach in higher education, often embedded in graduate-level university teaching courses as a life-long learning strategy. Although its benefits are well recognized, students frequently experience critical reflection as difficult and challenging. This paper examines that challenge when incorporating critical reflection in a graduate course at the University of Guelph. Practical strategies are presented using Aronson’s (2011) framework and outcomes from a 2013 STLHE Conference workshop.",{"@graph":14,"@context":73},[15,34,56],{"@type":16,"itemListElement":17},"BreadcrumbList",[18,23,27,31],{"item":19,"name":20,"@type":21,"position":22},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",1,{"item":24,"name":25,"@type":21,"position":26},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":28,"name":29,"@type":21,"position":30},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/","Research & Report",3,{"item":32,"name":10,"@type":21,"position":33},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/teaching-critical-reflection-to-graduate-students/598709/",4,{"url":32,"name":10,"@type":35,"image":36,"author":41,"headline":10,"publisher":44,"fileFormat":47,"inLanguage":8,"description":12,"dateModified":48,"datePublished":49,"encodingFormat":47,"isAccessibleForFree":50,"interactionStatistic":51},"DigitalDocument",{"url":37,"@type":38,"width":39,"height":40},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/teaching-critical-reflection-to-graduate-students/598709.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":42,"@type":43},"awa","Person",{"url":19,"name":45,"@type":46},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-30","2026-10-15",true,{"@type":52,"interactionType":53,"userInteractionCount":55},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":54},"ViewAction",5,{"@type":57,"mainEntity":58},"FAQPage",[59,65,69],{"name":60,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":62},"Why is critical reflection considered valuable in higher education?","Question",{"text":63,"@type":64},"Critical reflection supports ongoing development of practitioners and improves learning experiences across disciplines. It is widely used in graduate education to build learners’ capacity as critical reflective teaching practitioners.","Answer",{"name":66,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":67},"What challenge does the paper focus on?",{"text":68,"@type":64},"The paper addresses the recurring difficulty educators face when effectively incorporating critical reflection into the graduate course UNIV*6800 at the University of Guelph.",{"name":70,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":71},"How is critical reflection included in the UNIV*6800 course?",{"text":72,"@type":64},"It is core to both the course philosophy and delivery, incorporated explicitly as a learning objective. Students are expected to reflect critically on their learning and teaching practices in both disciplinary and broader contexts.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":32,"og:type":75,"og:title":10,"og:site_name":45,"og:description":12},"article",{"robots":77,"canonical":32},"index,follow",{"doc_id":79,"site_id":7},598709,1792890658,{"code":4,"msg":82,"data":83},"success",[84,88,92,96,100,105,110,114,119,122,126],{"id":22,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":85,"show_sort_weight":86,"slug":87},"Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":26,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":89,"show_sort_weight":90,"slug":91},"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":33,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":93,"show_sort_weight":94,"slug":95},"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":55,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":97,"show_sort_weight":98,"slug":99},"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":101,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":102,"show_sort_weight":103,"slug":104},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":106,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":107,"show_sort_weight":108,"slug":109},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":111,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":29,"show_sort_weight":112,"slug":113},8,30,"research-report",{"id":115,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":116,"show_sort_weight":117,"slug":118},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":117,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":120,"show_sort_weight":117,"slug":121},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":123,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":124,"show_sort_weight":123,"slug":125},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":127,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":128,"show_sort_weight":55,"slug":129},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":82,"data":131},{"doc_id":79,"user_id":132,"nickname":42,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":111,"category_name":29,"doc_title":10,"doc_description":12,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":55,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":22,"is_downloadable":22,"audit_status":22,"page_count":101,"language":139,"language_code":8,"site_id":7,"html_lang":8,"table_of_contents":140,"faqs":141,"seo_title":142,"seo_description":12,"update_tm":143,"read_time":144},3985747858093,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_3d24733baf745e90a7e4bdd5f77d97b2","Teaching Critical Reflection to Graduate Students  \nGavan Peter Longley Watson, Natasha Kenny, University of Guelph  \nAbstract  \nCritical reflection is a highly valued and widely applied learning approach in higher education. There are many benefits associated with engaging in critical reflection, and it is often integrated into the design of graduate level courses on university teaching as a life-long learning strategy to help ensure that learners build their capacity as critical reflective teaching practitioners. Despite its broad application and learning benefits, students often find the process of engaging in critical reflection inherently challenging. This paper explores the challenge associated with incorporating critical reflection into a graduate course on University Teaching at the University of Guelph. Strategies for effectively incorporating critical reflection arepresented, based largely on Arsonson’s (2011)framework for teaching critical reflection and the outcomes of a workshop offered at the 2013 STLHE Conference. The strategies discussed have multidisciplinary relevance, and can be broadly applied to improve how critical reflection is incorporated into post-secondary courses.  \nIntroduction  \nCritical reflection, as a practice, has been recognized as a valuable tool for learning across multiple disciplines. For example, see Elizabeth Smith’s (2011) publication for a list of social and health-related disciplines where critical reflection is seen as “particularly important”(p. 211) as it supports the on-going development of these practitioners and, in turn, improves the experience of patient care. We value critical reflection in our personal practice as educators and educational developers (Brookfield, 1995) . At the same time, there is widespread confusion about just what critical reflection is. For example, Mezirow ( 1990) emphasizes that critical reflection involves identifying, acknowledging and unearthing our presuppositions, assumptions and beliefs, as a larger process of reflecting back on our prior learning to determine whether they are now justified under present circumstances and contexts. In Rogers’ (2001) concept analysis of critical reflection in higher education, he lists confounding assumptions students might hold when we, as educators, ask for “reflection”: Is it self-reflection? Reflection? Contemplation? Introspection? Given that these meaning are often used “interchangeably”(p. 40), it may be helpful to view critical reflection as a process where students actively engage with a (most often first-hand and meaningful) situation with the intention to “integrate the understanding gained into [the student’s] experience in order to enable better choices or actions in the future as well to enhance [the student’s] overall effectiveness”(Rogers, 2001, p. 41) as educators.  \nOur “disorienting dilemma” (Mezirow, 1995) related to critical reflection and UNIV*6800, a graduate course in University Teaching and Learning offered at the University of Guelph, is that each year we have struggled as educators to effectively incorporate critical reflection. Not surprisingly, as critical reflection challenges even “the most skilled of educators”,“fostering it in students remains an ongoing dilemma” (Rogers, 2001, p. 54) . The following essay presents a narrative of our journey to exploring how we will best approach our disorienting dilemma related to “teaching” critical reflection. We have framed our discussion largely upon  \nAronson’s (2011) framework for teaching critical reflection and the outcomes from our workshop at the 2013 STLHE Conference.  \nOur Case  \nUNIV*6800 (University Teaching: Theory and Practice) is a for-credit, pass/fail, interdisciplinary graduate course offered at the University of Guelph, with a yearly enrolment of 25-40 students. The course is designed to provide an opportunity for graduate students to critically examine and reflect on teaching and learning strategies and research in higher ed","cbCair1Jzic6kTif","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCair1Jzic6kTif","pdf",169688,"English","# Introduction\n# Our Case\n# The Dilemma","[{\"question\":\"Why is critical reflection considered valuable in higher education?\",\"answer\":\"Critical reflection supports ongoing development of practitioners and improves learning experiences across disciplines. It is widely used in graduate education to build learners’ capacity as critical reflective teaching practitioners.\"},{\"question\":\"What challenge does the paper focus on?\",\"answer\":\"The paper addresses the recurring difficulty educators face when effectively incorporating critical reflection into the graduate course UNIV*6800 at the University of Guelph.\"},{\"question\":\"How is critical reflection included in the UNIV*6800 course?\",\"answer\":\"It is core to both the course philosophy and delivery, incorporated explicitly as a learning objective. Students are expected to reflect critically on their learning and teaching practices in both disciplinary and broader contexts.\"}]","Teaching Critical Reflection to Graduate Students | PDF",1792087431,15]