Career and Professional Development

Structured Reflection catalyzes transformative learning by employing intentionally designed exercises, activities, or assignments that help students (and others) make connections between:

                (a) assumptions held and experiences encountered, 

                (b) assumptions held and theories/concepts known, and 

                (c) experiences encountered and theories/concepts known. 

Experiential learning, such as the learning that happens during externships and internships, can be a powerful catalyst for moving along the transformative learning continuum during the four years at K. Specifically, through engagement in CCPD programs and services, students' structured reflection may lead them to new understandings about their own assumptions and about the theories and concepts they have learned in the classroom. Students engage in structured reflection as they consider the questions assigned as part of the 

• Discovery Externship Program: https://reason.kzoo.edu/ccd/programs/externships/completion/reflective/
• Field Experience Program:  https://reason.kzoo.edu/ccd/programs/internships/kinternships/assignments/

Our colleagues in the Institute for Service-Learning offer great resources on structured reflection in service-learning, and their guidance applies equally to internship and externship experiences:

https://reason.kzoo.edu/servicelearning/reflection

A structured reflection model is provided in the Related Documents (right).