Student reflections can take many forms: an individual five-minute writing activity, a full-class discussion, or somewhere in-between.
(From https://learning.northeastern.edu/reflecting-on-the-last-day-of-class/) Below is a set of possible prompts that you might use or adapt, based on a four-question reflective learning technique that has been shown to increase students’ retention of material (Boucquey, 2014; Dietz-Uhler & Lanter, 2009):
Can you identify one important concept, research finding, theory, or idea that you learned while taking this class?
Why do you believe that this concept, research finding, theory, or idea is important?
How would you apply what you have learned from this class to some aspect of your life.
What question(s) has the class raised for you? What are you still wondering about?
Other reflective activities include:
Summarize the course content
“Have students create concept maps illustrating major aspects of course content”(From Teaching Psychology, A Step by Step Guide – Bernstein, Chew & Frantz, 2020, p.90).
Review Pre-course responses
If you administered a pretest at the beginning of the course to assess what your students thought they knew about [the course], you might also spend part of the last class session reviewing their responses to that test and discussing how their ideas have changed (Bernstein, Chew & Frantz, 2020, p.91).
Celebrate Students’ Work
In writing-intensive courses, end the semester by celebrating the writing of your students. Before the last day, assign students to select a piece of their work to read aloud in 2-3 minutes. On the final day of class, each student reads the selection, and the class responds to each reading with applause. (https://teaching.berkeley.edu/last-day-class).
Letter to Future Students: Write a short letter to future students in the class, letting them know whatever you think is most important about the instructor, the course, the assignments, and the reading. https://www-chronicle-com.proxyiub.uits.iu.edu/blogs/profhacker/improve-your-course-evaluations-by-having-your-class-write-letters-to-future-students
Personalized Feedback Form: Provide a link to a Google form which students complete before they leave. On the form are questions you ask them about what they liked/disliked about your class, what activities/lectures helped them learn, and anything else they might want to share. This always provides me more rich information than any formal school-wide questionnaire can. Students usually take their time filling out this survey instead of just checking off boxes in the other formal survey. (Example copy of Google form end of the semester reflection) https://www.fierceeducation.com/best-practices/end-semester-tips-how-to-get-students-to-love-your-course