Training e-Tutors to Support Reflection in Online Learners

The importance of reflection on learning as a means of development for greater autonomy and lifelong learning is now widely accepted in the field of education. It is often the case, however, that students are relatively unaccustomed to being systematically challenged to think critically, reflect on their own experiences and share their opinions, concerns and suggestions. This can be problematic in any postgraduate course, but critical reflection can become a real challenge to orchestrate and support in online education, where participants and tutors are often at great distances from each other. E-tutors responsible for supervising online learning need, therefore, to have a good understanding of what is meant by reflection, its importance in learning, what can prompt reflection, different levels of reflection, how to support and develop reflection, and how to assess it. This paper explores the section of the e-Educator programme which helps e-tutors develop a greater understanding of the role ofreflection in e-Iearning and to encourage and support the online reflection of their own students. A brief discussion of the importance of reflection is followed by illustrative extracts from the materials. Key findings are then presented from piloting in China and Malaysia which endorse the value attached to reflection by the course designers and the emphasis on experiential learning within the overall approach adopted by the course team.