Empowering Medical Education: Unveiling the Impact of Reflective Writing and Tailored Assessment on Deep Learning

Reflective thinking offers learners insight and encourages deeper understanding by leveraging past experiences. This study explores the impact of reflective writing, a self-assessment tool, on undergraduate medical students. The focus is on training students using author-specific reflection rubrics based on Moon's model.

A mixed-methods study involving 32 volunteered students undertaking an interactive 3-hour session on reflective thinking and writing (RT&W). 19 students submitted reflections, which were self-graded by students and two faculties independently. The perceptions of students were gathered through questionnaires and focus group discussions. The analysis was done using the mean, inter-class correlational coefficient, and thematic analysis.

Inter-rater reliability and inter-class correlation coefficient for reflective writing rubric scores was 63.2%, i.e. below the acceptable threshold. Cronbach's Alpha for the learner perception questionnaire was 0.90. The outcome of the student's perception questionnaire recognized the value of reflective writing in terms of professional skills enhancement (4.83±0.39) and improvement after feedback (4.17±0.72). However, satisfaction with overall training was comparatively lower (2.5±0.52). Focus group discussions revealed six themes.

Reflective writing enhances the learning outcomes, deepens understanding, and refines judgment. The author-specific reflection rubric, though reliable, warrants empirical validation with a larger and more diverse participant pool. Undergraduate programs should prioritize mastery of reflection and meta-cognitive learning approaches to optimize educational outcomes.