REFLECTIVE TEACHING IN HIGHER EDUCATION

NASER ZABELI
University of Prishtina
REFLECTIVE TEACHING IN HIGHER EDUCATION

Reflective Learning
University teaching can be defined as an academic activity that requires a wide range of professional skills and practices, as well as a high level of expertise in relevant fields and disciplines, and other contextual issues. The effort to apply effective teaching approaches as a university educator provides the foundation for a quality context for learning and teaching, and such an effort is critical for teaching, staff, academic researchers, and the entire higher education sector, both nationally and internationally.
Reflective learning is a process that involves individual inquiry, reviews in various contexts, and is a skill that includes look†ing back at the experience of learning, assessing whether the content is understood and can be applied in practical situations. Reflective learning is becoming increasingly important to address the challenges of a technologically advanced world and to develop skills for adapting to environments that are constantly changing. Reflection allows for meditation on the new, for experiences, and their association with past experiences in different contexts, while focusing on the future. Reflection is known as one of the most important transferable competencies in lifelong learning and impacts continuous personal and professional development (Colmer et al., 2020). Reflective learning examines both internal and external individuals, as well as collective initiatives and activities centered around generating and reflecting on knowledge (Feliu, 2020).
Reflection is considered a key to successful learning for both students and educators. Reflection is an important human activity through which people meditate and evaluate various information and knowledge. It is considered a fundamental value for enriching and refining both learning (the student) and teaching (the educator). The reflection process can strengthen learning and the personal and professional effectiveness of the institution. In this sense, analyzing experience should be one of the main objectives of learning in a higher education institution. Reflection activates learning, self-analysis, and problem-solving. The ability to speak about oneself and others, and what we have experienced, allows us to respond and reframe everyday life scenarios. The modern learning paradigm and its application in higher education transform the perspective of traditional teaching, where the student is passive. A student, when interacting with the environment based on their prior experience, creates their own individual knowledge. Reflective learning is transformative, enabling students to analyze their experience, personal learning principles, linking them to theoretical and practical knowledge, and developing skills to identify and solve problems (Bubnys, 2010).
Students should reflect on their learning process to strengthen their learning and understand how to develop metacognition to manage the ongoing changes and challenges encountered in both higher education and workplaces. Students need structures and tools to assist them in reflecting both individually and with others (e.g., fellow students, teachers, or supervisors). Reflection is the most important tool for achieving progress in work-integrated learning, but we cannot use reflection mechanically. Daily reflection is not enough; students must reach the level of metareflection if they are to create a deeper understanding of knowledge that enables knowledge in action. Learning to reflect is an art and requires training. For students to develop metareflection and achieve progress in their work-integrated learning, they need a systematic structure and tools they consciously use (Pennbrant et al., nd).
 

Reflective Teaching
Both reflective learning and reflective teaching are identified in literature with various definitions summarized into several key characteristics, as follows:

• The ability to reflect on teaching practices and identify strengths and weaknesses within
  them.
• Focus on self-improvement for better teaching practices as well as professional growth.
• Based on self-observation and self-assessment by educators of their teaching methods.
• An open mind towards teaching practices and a willingness to improve for the better (Definition, advantages, and disadvantages of reflective teaching, nd).

Reflective teaching is a process in which educators reflect on their teaching practices in order to examine the overall effectiveness of their approaches during the teaching process, enabling them to improve, modify, or change their teaching methods and pedagogical approaches in general. Throughout research, university educators must develop reflection to strengthen their teaching practices, and the conclusion is that reflective teaching practices are inevitably vital for effective teaching. One can begin reflective teaching by asking the questions what and why. Reflective teaching is an approach that enables educators at all levels to understand how they use their knowledge in classroom situations and how they combine theory and practice in a more effective way. A reflective teacher can gather data from various sources such as faculty leaders, students, and colleagues in order to improve their teaching by using reflection. The way we reflect on what, why, and how we do things, and how we develop them, enriches the practices of educators, and this is considered one of the essential characteristics of a good teacher (NCERT, 2009).
Reflective teaching is a process where educators look back on their teaching practices and find ways their methods could be improved or changed for better student learning. They may discover this by observing how well students respond in class and by analyzing test results. A teacher reflects on their teaching process to learn about their practice and to think about whether it works for students' learning. Through self-observation and self-assessment, educators can improve their teaching techniques. By reflecting on their teaching style, they will excel in their work and offer an effective learning experience for students. Liston and Zeichner (1987) describe four levels of reflection:

1. Factual (reflection focused on classroom routines and teaching procedures)
2. Procedural (reflection focused on evaluating teaching outcomes)
3. Justificatory (reflection regarding the reasoning behind education)
4. Critical (reflection focused on a critical analysis of education as it impacts social justice
   and the professional development of teachers before service) (Definition, advantages, and
   disadvantages of reflective teaching, nd).

The Importance of Reflective Teaching
Reflective teaching is important for many reasons:
 

1. Improving Performance: First, reflective teaching helps educators understand their performance and improve it for the betterment of students in the future.
2. Innovative Methods and Techniques: Second, reflective teaching leads to innovative teaching methods and techniques by the educator. This allows teachers to find creative ways to make classroom activities engaging and enjoyable for students. In this way, students will have a fulfilling learning experience in the classroom.
3. Problem-Solving Skills: Third, reflective teaching also helps improve the educator’s problem-solving skills. Teachers will be able to develop new strategies and techniques to make the learning process easier and more understandable for students. 
4. Accountability and Responsibility: Fourth, reflective teaching enables the educator to be accountable to their role and to take the future seriously. Approaches to reflective teaching are based on: self-reflection and self-assessment in response to student and colleague feedback, identifying lessons learned in the classroom, using innovative teaching methods and techniques, and building good relationships with students.

Therefore, reflective teaching is an important concept because it can help a teacher understand how they function in the classroom. Reflective teaching allows us to know what works best for students' interests (Characteristics, importance, and approaches of reflective teaching, nd). Like every aspect of the learning and teaching process, reflective teaching has its advantages and disadvantages, but research has proven that it has more benefits than drawbacks.

Table: Advantages and Disadvantages of Reflective Teaching 

(Adapted from: What are the Types of Reflective Teaching and Advantages and Disadvantages of Reflective Teaching, nd).
 

Reflective Teacher
To be a reflective teacher, knowledge, skills, and a commitment to the profession are naturally essential. Knowledge of content, pedagogical content knowledge, and technological pedagogical content knowledge are all necessary, in other words, a specific range of competencies. Alongside these characteristics, the personal attributes of the teacher are just as important. Various authors, in addition to the environment, emphasize the importance of the teacher's personal attributes.
Personal attributes refer to self-efficacy (the belief that people have in their ability to successfully perform a certain action in specific situations, e.g., teaching), personality types (whether one is imaginative or reflective), and work experience.
Self-efficacy can strongly influence a person’s ability to cope with goals, tasks, or challenges. People with high self-efficacy believe that they can perform well and are more likely to view difficult tasks, problems, or challenges in broader contexts and with the skill to handle them, rather than avoid them. The frequent and successful completion of a specific task enhances self-efficacy (Bandura, 1997), because when people believe their efforts have been successful, their confidence in completing similar tasks increases. On the other hand, repeated failure can reduce self-efficacy beliefs. Observing the successes and failures of others also contributes to individuals' beliefs in their own abilities, while positive verbal encouragement motivates
individuals to try, persist, and succeed, thereby fostering skill development and increasing self-efficacy beliefs. Various studies show that teachers with a greater sense of self-efficacy persist longer when faced with challenges, display greater enthusiasm for teaching, and are generally more effective in the classroom (e.g., Holzberger et al., 2013). High levels of self-efficacy are
generally associated with positive teaching behaviors, characterized by the selection of teaching activities, effort, perseverance, achievement, professional engagement, passion for the job, and so on (Vogel & Human-Vogel, 2016). A person’s sense of self-efficacy can influence their ability to deal with unexpected or challenging situations in creative ways.
In addition to self-efficacy, studies show that as teachers become more experienced, they tend to improvise more. Experienced teachers exhibit more creative teaching behaviors. Reflective teaching, according to Pollard et al. (2019), is applied through a cyclic or spiral process in which the teacher monitors, evaluates, and revisits their ongoing practice through key stages such as: Reflect; Plan; Make provisions; Act; Gather evidence; Analyze evidence; Evaluate evidence.
Reflective teachers ask questions, examine evidence, and seek ideas they can use to help their students succeed. A reflective teacher plans enough time to think about teaching activities and to create new plans. The reflective teacher uses problem-solving strategies to address complex issues and always thinks both prospectively and retrospectively.
To become a reflective teacher, one will need useful information on how students respond to lessons, as well as some critical attitudes and skills. Gaining knowledge about the effectiveness of teaching is best accompanied by continuous monitoring of student progress through formative assessment. To become a reflective teacher, one needs the willingness and ability to challenge their assumptions about teaching and learning (Gupta et al., 2019).
Reflective learning and reflective teaching require time, commitment, and more thought, but in return, this ensures great benefits. Involvement and engagement in this process will be valuable and appreciated for both teachers and students, as it leads to effective teaching and meaningful learning experiences.
 

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