Like Driving a Car – Reflection in Leadership

A response to the Like Driving a Car Activity
created September 8, 2021 by Rob Harrison (@Rob H)

Number of views: 101

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In my leadership course, a key element is being able to consider how the theory and content we discuss in the course can be applied in a real-world context. While this is not specifically a key concept, it is an important part of the course learning outcomes. With something as abstract as leadership, encouraging students to find these connections in their own lives will help support their understanding and drive home the value of these concepts to their development as leaders and their understanding of leadership situations.

A key concept that applies to this goal is the process of reflection and reflective practice. This process is essential to allow students to create more personal meaning from the course content. It is important to reflect on the interactions between their experiences in different contexts (personal, school, professional) and the content we are reviewing in the course.

While many of us reflect informally all the time, the intentional and ongoing practice of reflection may not be as simple. Many students struggle to crate meaningful reflections at the beginning of this course as it may not be something they are asked to participate in regularly. With time and feedback, they can build more depth and meaning into their reflections.

One popular model for reflection is Kolb’s Model of Reflection. This model relies on student’s previous experiences outside of the course (concrete experience) and encourages them to reflect on that experience (reflective observation) and consider how the course content might inform their actions or change their approach if given the opportunity (abstract conceptualization). The final step is putting this new perspective into practice (active experimentation). While some students may have opportunities to do this during the course, many will have these experiences after the term ends. This emphasizes the importance of building reflection into their standard practice to ensure learning can be found in these future experiences as well.

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