The recent passing of Yogi Berra, US baseball star and pundit - and his quote that is the title of this post - gave me cause to reflect on the lack of reflection evidenced in the typical Higher Education offering.
Quality Assurance systems force academics to review performance and feedback as they tweak their teaching for the next Semester to reflect the concerns and changing needs of their students...or NOT. How many QA systems simply go through the motions and fail to fully reflect? How much teaching is undertaken in a mould cast many years ago when certain assumptions about student preparedness, ability to undertake independent learning and thought were well founded? How many changes to assessment, contact hours, teaching styles etc. are founded in "supply side economics" i.e. timetable constraints, academics teaching their research topics and the knowledge that "we've always done it this way"?
And yet, those same academics are now asked (actually they have been asked for many years but there's a big difference between hearing and listening) to encourage their students to reflect on their own skills and their development through a programme of study in order to enhance their learning.
Reflection is a key part of learning. It processes experiences, feedback, lecture and reading inputs and needs to be encouraged and supported at module and programme level. So, when do you find time to reflect?
Oh, and just in case readers think that these posts are rather cynical and could get me into trouble...."I never said most of the things I said" (Berra)
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