Abstract:

There is no doubt that reflexion contributes to the process of maturity and self-education, essential not only in academia but also professionally. Utilization of social networks is very popular for educational purposes providing new opportunities and breaking the classical training scenarios, limited to schools. However, information and communication technologies (ICT) really facilitated a significant and reflective knowledge?
One of our priorities has been to develop reflective learning tools for improving the learning environment as a contribution to the integral formation and meaningful learning of the students. With this idea, a group of teachers of different subjects at the University of Alcalá started-up some years ago an innovative teaching experience based on “reflective diaries” (Weekly Reflection Papers, WRP). Evolution of the starting methodology led us to design a more flexible and valuable tool called “Guided Weekly Reflection Papers” (GWRP).

The aim of this paper is to present and analyse the results of the application of GWRP in our teaching practice during the two last academic years. The research described here is oriented to analyse two main different aspects: on one hand the percentage of the students’ participation in this activity and in which year of the degree is located the considered subject. The second aspect to analyse would be the level of satisfaction of the participant students as much as the usefulness of this tool and how has it influenced the performance in their learning process.
The outcomes of data analysis show that students evaluated positively the experience and prove that GWPR tool provides a higher engagement of the students with the teaching-learning-process allowing helpful learning environment.

Keywords:

Guided weekly reflection papers (GWRP), reflective learning process, university teaching innovation.