5 FUN Ideas for Getting Your Professional Learners to Reflect

Elaine contributed the following:

"This blog post by Keeley Swartzer on the Learners Edge website starts with one of my favorite quotations about learning, by John Dewey: 

"“We do not learn from experience…we learn from reflecting on experience.” 

Reflection is a critical (and oft-neglected) part of the learning process. Swartzer offers a handful of creative suggestions for encouraging reflection among adult learners. While these suggestions are formatted for in-person learning, some could be adapted for an e-learning environment. 

Two of the most important ingredients for reflection in adult learners are space and time. There's often the impetus to cram as much content as possible into a learning experience to give the learner the most bang for their buck. In reality, this not only causes cognitive overload, but robs them of those chances to construct meaning from the content through reflective practices. I also appreciate Swartzer's use of playful methods to integrate fun into reflection. I've been pleasantly surprised to see how well most adults I've trained, including many who've seemed initially reluctant, have responded to playful learning activities."