Assessment Strategies for Reflective Learning in the Workplace: A Pragmatic Approach

Abstract

Practitioners often struggle to assess reflective learning in the workplace because of difficulties conceptualizing reflection and its effects in the workplace. This article addresses this problem by offering a pragmatic approach to assessment that asks practitioners to specify why they are using reflection, what they are hoping to gain from it, and how it manifests in practice. This article then discusses several ways that practitioners can assess the impact of reflective learning at work while accounting for the contextual nature of adult learning and practice. Methods are described that aim to help practitioners identify with whom reflection works, where reflection works, and when reflection works best. It discusses implications for adult learning practice and theory.