Introduction
Learning is perhaps the most important goal for every student. However, few students can be termed as strategic learners. Most of us do not know how to maximise what we learn so that in the end we find ourselves wallowing in shallowness, never actually learning what we purport to have learned. There is need, therefore to understand what constitutes strategic learning, the kind of learning that is not easily forgotten and the role of reflective practice in strategic learning. This paper, therefore, seeks to explain how a learner can employ reflective practice as an aspect to strategic learning. In order to understand how one can become a strategic learner, there is need to understand the components of strategic approach to learning and whether reflective practice has any significant role to play.
In this regard, the paper will give a definition of key words like strategic learning and its components which include surface and deep learning, reflection in and on action, experiential cycle of learning and the double-loop learning.
Strategic Learning
Whether or not one is a strategic learner is, according to the Academic Professional Practice, determined by his ability to meet the requirements of learning by planning meticulously and applying focused effort. In this regard, a strategic learner can use his cognitions and meta-cognitions to manage his skills. It can be enhanced through reflection and reflective thinking both retrospectively and prospectively as posited by Cheshire in addition to the application of a thorough understanding of learning styles. The result is that the learner draws closer to his learning goals, thereby qualifying to be a strategic learner.
The strategic learner is one who can use both surface and deep learning methods to achieve the best results. This learner uses surface learning when he needs to extract the facts in his study. The manager in an office can also employ surface learning to collect pertinent information about his area. Deep learning, on the other hand, is used when the learner or the manager needs to get an in-depth understanding of the topic in question. The learner may be conducting a serious study that requires him to demonstrate a thorough understanding of the topic under study, and the manager may require employing deep learning strategies when scrutinizing departmental reports with a view of drawing conclusions and forging a way forward.
While a combination of surface and deep learning are important factors for the strategic learner, the most crucial aspect is the metacognitive aspect. This strategy requires that the learner or the manager constantly self-regulates his learning. It advocates for constant reflection as a form of monitoring the effectiveness of one’s learning strategies. Unless the learner or the manager makes it a habit to stop, once in a while and reflect on his experiences and try to make sense of them, he will continue to wallow in ignorance, never knowing with a degree of certainty what he has managed to learn (Hetzner, Heid and Gruber 40). Only a reflective learner can determine whether he is working towards the attainment of his goals.
Reflection allows the learner to make sense of his experiences, thereby enabling him to plan better in future. By reflecting, the learner not only understands his experience but is also able to make sense of the assumptions, thoughts, feelings and emotions that are associated with the experience. Consequently, they are able to deduce how they can influence the outcome. When a student, on reflection, notes that he started failing the moment he decided to alter his sleeping pattern, he can decide to revert to his old sleeping pattern and influence the outcome of his studies.
According to Cheshire, reflection involves the recapturing of one’s experiences, thinking about it, mulling over it and evaluating it. Its importance in the learning process cannot therefore, be overemphasized because and as Cheshire further states, it is only through reflection that a learner can truly understand his experiences (Cheshire 4). When a learner sits back to reflect, he is in the process, taking part in his learning process. He, for the first time, looks at himself through the eyes of the instructor, the eyes of the teacher or that of an examiner and sees what it is he is doing wrong or right. He analyses how he learns and evaluates how effective his learning strategies are. By so doing, he can judge his performance, which is not always an easy thing to do but because reflection is done for a purpose, the learner is ready to bare his performance to himself if only he will become a more efficient and effective learner, the very indicators of a strategic learner.
A strategic learner is defined by his ability to exercise critical thinking. The learner who sits back to reflect on his learning inadvertently becomes critical of his learning methods, not necessarily in a negative way but in a way that is constructive and only meant to better his performance (Haggerty 9). The critical reflector will deeply probe into how and what he learns by questioning the outcomes of his activities and experiences and the effect they have on his overall goal. Should he realize, on reflection, that his methods have a negative impact on his goals, he is justified to alter them or adopt the ones that have a positive impact on his goal.
Two types of reflection have been advanced as critical strategies for strategic learning: Retrospective reflection and prospective reflection. Retrospective reflection involves looking into our past experiences with a view of deriving best practices and avoiding past mistakes that may have had detrimental consequences for our learning. Prospective reflection, on the other hand, involves making predictions on what might be (J. A. Raelin 7). This calls for critical thinking as one tries to visualise every possible outcome of his activities.
Retrospective reflection expands Kolb’s experiential cycle of learning. It calls for the bringing of feelings and thoughts elicited in a learner by a certain experience. The strategic learner must develop and maintain a log that helps him reflect and question their assumptions. The other type of reflection in learning is the double looping which involves the practice of questioning the learner’s values and how they affect the outcome. It has been noted, however, that most learners are afraid of using this kind of reflection because it exposes errors and flaws in their thinking and behaviour.
Reflective practice
Raelin defines reflective practice as a habit of stepping back, periodically, to ponder on the implications of personal or collective experiences in the recent past and our immediate environment (J. A. Raelin 1). By so doing, we can illuminate what we have gone through, what we have learnt, what we have achieved and how we have failed and, consequently, we are able to strategize on how we are to act in the future so that we can avoid the mistakes and maximise on the gains. Reflective practice differs from the reflection in that it requires a deeper probe and it is more regular, thus a practice. It calls on the learner to question even the most fundamental assumptions and beliefs held. It requires him to think, not just about his learning but also his thinking.
The strategic learner who wishes to improve his competence and the manager who wishes to develop professionally must critically analyse their everyday practices. They must cultivate the reflective practice. They must not merely reflect on their learning and working practices as is the case in reflection but they must link this reflection to actions (R. J. Raelin 10). Mere reflection on one's learning is not enough. One must do it with the intention of improving his learning, and this is what constitutes reflective practice. Reflective practice involves more than merely looking at the past experiences, the reflective learner and practitioner must learn to be thoughtful and wise in addition to being contemplative (Pedler 34).
Reflection and reflective practice are crucial for the learner and the manager. These aspects are essential for the strategic learner because; a strategic learning is about using cognitions and meta-cognitions to manage his skills. Reflection and reflective thinking both retrospectively and prospectively contribute to a thorough understanding of ones learning styles thereby helping the learner draws closer to his learning goals and becoming a strategic learner.
A lot is credited on reflection and reflective practice as the factors that improve the quality of learning and it is important for the strategic learner to devise strategies that ensure that what he is learning is effective and efficient to his overall goal. Strategic learning is especially important for post-graduate students as it contributes to academic success since reflective practice is a major factor of strategic learning.
Works Cited
Cheshire, MMU. "Academic Professional Practice Unit Number 8264m270 and 8264m279(bvi/dl)' Introduction to Unit'." Department of Business and Management (2015a): 1-7.
Haggerty, D R. "Doing by Learning: How Reflective Practice Builds Learning for Members of work based learning teams." Journal of Learning (2011): 1-18.
Hetzner, S, H Heid and H Gruber. "Using workplace changes as learning opportunities: Antecedents to reflection in professional work." Journal of workplace learning (2015): 34-50.
Pedler, M. Action Learning in Practice. Gower, 2011.
Raelin, Joseph A. "I Don't Have Time to Think versus the Art of Reflective Practice." Reflections (2014): 67-90.
Raelin, R J. Work Based Learning: The New Frontier of Management Development. Upper Saddle River: N J: Prentice Hall, 2010.
