Academics, get your thoughts on the page and unlock your reflective superpower

As educators, we are well aware of the benefits of critical reflection. It is embedded in every facet of the role. We incorporate reflective exercises into our teaching and assessments. Reflective writing offers us an opportunity to build evidence of our developing professional practice, allowing us to gain Advance HE Fellowship or apply for awards or promotion. 

As new technologies, pedagogical approaches and student cohorts challenge the status quo, reflection prevents us from remaining trapped in habits; from standing still in a swiftly changing context. 

For me, the problem was not whether I reflected but what happened to those reflections once they occurred. The thoughts were often fleeting, bubbling to the surface during or immediately after a class, giving me a tantalising flavour of a good idea, only to disappear as the next task demanded attention. Too often, these reflective thoughts remained unexamined, unarticulated and ultimately unacted on, disappearing into the ether. 

And so, last year, I decided to do things a little differently. I committed to writing a reflective blog on LinkedIn. Each week, I attempted to catch the thoughts, feelings, beliefs and ideas that ran amok in my mind immediately after a lecture and put them on paper. This is what I learned.

1. Find time – and protect it

If you’ve applied for any level of Advance HE fellowship, you’ll have already experienced the value of setting aside time for reflective writing. Yet we can’t rely on these occasional formal exercises to force us into it. We need to carve out that time ourselves, building it into our routine during the working week. For my blog, I blocked out one hour after my “big lecture”. I went straight back to my office, made a brew and sat with the experience, capturing the feelings, thoughts and questions that arose in the classroom.

Try this:

• Schedule a recurring 30- to 60-minute slot after doing something that stimulates reflection. For example, teaching a class, attending a training session, having an interesting meeting or reading a thought‑provoking article
• Protect the time by setting your status as “busy” on email or on Microsoft Teams. Keep your office door closed and disable all notifications
• Start with a simple prompt: “What surprised me?”, “What worked?”, “What will I do differently next time?”

2. Write it down

Putting reflections onto the page gives them weight and allows you to revisit them. I’ve found that a stream of consciousness works well for a first draft, avoiding the urge to edit or improve. Ignore the usual expectations: the academic jargon, the correct grammar, the appropriate tone. Write as you think, being honest, emotional and messy. That’s where patterns, insights, emotions and tensions appear. Then tidy. Tailoring my writing to LinkedIn helped me make sense of my reflections for me and for anyone who read them. And yes, my wee pal GenAI helped too, by summarising themes and suggesting clear actions, ready to use when needed. 

• Spotlight guide: Is your academic career cleared for take-off?
• The ‘third way’ academic – becoming an education-focused professor
• Building your research profile via social media, with a focus on LinkedIn

Try this:

• Draft for five to 10 minutes without stopping (set a timer)
• When you’re done, highlight phrases that stand out
• Edit your writing in whatever format works for you, whether that’s a blog post or a private bullet‑pointed list. GenAI can help at this stage.

3. Store your reflections where you’ll see them again

Whether you blog or not, keep a usable record. If your reflections live in a forgotten folder, they’ll be lost by the next academic year.

As a Microsoft PowerPoint fan, I insert a hidden slide in every deck (delete it in the student upload version!) That slide summarises my reflections, including things to change, improve and develop. When I open the slide deck next year, those notes are right there, ready to incorporate, ensuring incremental annual improvements.

Try this:

• Choose a “home” for summarised reflections per module (first slide, front page of notes, or a pinned Microsoft OneNote page).
• Visit and add to it throughout the year when a relevant thought or idea springs to mind.
• Keep notes brief but useful. Consider what went well, what needs to be changed and what to look out for.

4. Share your reflections with colleagues

Your reflective writing doesn’t have to be shared. It can be personal, vulnerable and entirely for you. But I found sharing helpful. Committing publicly meant I couldn’t just have the thought and move on. Blocking time still felt uncomfortable as the near-constant demands of a busy semester took hold. But the commitment to publishing trained the muscle and strengthened my resolve.

Over the semester I wrote eight roughly 500‑word posts. Each had about 60 views and a handful of comments - supportive, funny and thoughtful accounts of similar experiences. Each one brought a small surge of connection and confidence. Opening reflections to others, whether online or face‑to‑face, deepens analysis, sparks ideas, validates good practice, inspires and builds confidence.

Try this:

• Share one reflection per month on your internal Microsoft Teams workspace, a blog, or LinkedIn
• End with a question to invite replies
• Join colleagues for a brew and a 15‑minute “teaching debrief” every fortnight.

Reflection is a superpower in today’s dizzyingly fast‑changing environment. Insights lead to meaningful change; perhaps a small tweak to your teaching or even a whole new approach or innovation. It all starts with a quiet space, a blank page and time to think.

Alison Zimmer is a lecturer at the University of Manchester.

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