Reflection is a personal response to experiences, situations, events or new information. Submit a Reflection Letter looking back at what you have learned about yourself during our course. Address the letter to yourself. Use the following document to help you develop a well-written paragraph of at least eleven sentences.

Reflective Writing
A great deal of your time at university will be spent thinking; thinking about what people have said, what you have read, what you yourself are thinking and how your thinking has changed. It is generally believed that the thinking process involves two aspects: reflective thinking and critical thinking. They are not separate processes; rather, they are closely connected (Brookfield 1987).

Figure 1: The Thinking Process (adapted from Mezirow 1990, Schon 1987, Brookfield 1987)
Reflective thinking
Reflection is:

a form of personal response to experiences, situations, events or new information.
a ‘processing’ phase where thinking and learning take place.

There is neither a right nor a wrong way of reflective thinking, there are just questions to explore.
Figure 1 shows that the reflective thinking process starts with you. Before you can begin to assess the words and ideas of others, you need to pause and identify and examine your own thoughts.
Doing this involves revisiting your prior experience and knowledge of the topic you are exploring. It also involves considering how and why you think the way you do. The examination of your beliefs, values, attitudes and assumptions forms the foundation of your understanding.
Reflective thinking demands that you recognize that you bring valuable knowledge to every experience. It helps you therefore to recognize and clarify the important connections between what you already know and what you are learning. It is a way of helping you to become an active, aware and critical learner.