REFLECTIVE PRACTICE APPLICATIONS: “GUIDED WEEKLY REFLECTION PAPERS” EXTENDED FROM ALCALÁ UNIVERSITY (SPAIN) TO DE MONTFORT UNIVERSITY (UK)

Knowledge has to be developed firmly based on reflections and thoughts as much as evidence. Being conscious of this principle, our innovation teaching group from the University of Alcalá has developed a reflective pedagogical approach called Guided Weekly Reflection Papers (GWRP) and implemented it since 2007. In this approach students hand in to the lecturer their “weekly work”, in which they schematically express the most important ideas related with the topic presented during the classes, and their reflections and comments on those aspects which they found especially difficult or interesting. Moreover students have to apply the concepts developed during the week to solve some questions or problems proposed by the lecturers to find solutions to real life situations and to explore beyond the walls of the classroom to discover where in the world around them they can find application of the material presented by the lectures.

This innovative pedagogical approach has deeply contributed to the development of the student learning process and consequently be reflected in our teaching practice. The outcomes of the GWRP activity do not depend upon how much students have been studying but upon the level of comprehension of the knowledge we have shared with them. Therefore this strategy is very useful to prove the efficiency and quality of our teaching practice which lead us to continuously improve our way of teaching. When along this years we have shown our results both in internal meetings in our University and in International Conferences, our colleagues have been caught up by our enthusiasm, which promotes their involvement in our model. Thus, different academics and organizations have adopted our reflective tool.

The most recent incorporation of this approach has been implemented by selected academic staff at De Montfort University (DMU), Leicester (United Kingdom). This versatile methodology is being tested in a new university educational environment using a student cohort with a different set of characteristics and academic context in the academic course for 2015/16.

This communication will describe the adaptation of the GWRP to teaching in the Clinical Biochemistry module delivered as part of two different Bachelor degrees taught at DMU: Biomedical and Medical Sciences. The response of students enrolled in this programmes at DMU will be also analysed.