Unfolding the teaching-learning experience : a critical reflection / Maria Isabelle M. Pascual

Learning ensues through active involvement of the student: "it is what he does that he learns, not what the teacher does." This essay sought to explore the learning process through critical reflection. Three teaching evens served as the primary focus of discussion. Utilizing Borton's, (1970) framework of reflection, focused on three questions, specifically: "What?", "So what?" and "Now what?", the author developed personal assumptions and insights regarding the nature and practice of professional education. One particular theme that emerged was the context of cooperative and collaborative learning, which engaged students in a learning atmosphere where they can contribute to each other's experiences. Incorporating content with the process, this mode of teaching allows students. to assume accountability for their own learning. In addition, the emergence of outcomes-based education facilitated the development of students to meet specific outcomes. Various studies assert that what students must learn (outcomes), the mechanisms with which they do so (teaching methods), and the means by which the teacher determines the extent of learning (evaluation) must be aligned. Complement to these three themes was the discussion of critical reflection in professional education. This form of practice allows students to critically examine their experience thus, deriving more meaning to learning. Reflective practice, has since, been a significant means of augmenting student experiences. In the course of this essay, as the author engaged in the process of critical reflection, various perspectives and insights about the theory and practice of professional education emerged. Indeed, it is with this form of reflective practice that educators are encouraged to derive meaning out of their experiences with students and correspondingly, their learning endeavors.

Nursing.