Guiding reflections with structured questions

In this session, a pharmacist and higher education educator from Aston University shares a practical case study on improving reflective writing for postgraduate healthcare students using PebblePad.

Opening with reflections on AI and authenticity in learning, the talk explores why reflective practice remains deeply personal — and why structured support is essential, particularly in postgraduate education where students often return to study after years in professional practice.

The session covers:

Common challenges postgraduate students face with reflective writing
Why open-ended “reflection boxes” often lead to description rather than insight
Student feedback highlighting uncertainty around expectations, grading, and depth
The shift from unstructured reflections to a semi-scaffolded reflective framework
How breaking reflections into clear subsections improved critical thinking and emotional insight
Encouraging students to consider multiple perspectives, including patients, clinicians, and themselves
Moving beyond “what happened” to “how did I feel, why did it matter, and what will I do differently?”
Embedding SMART-style future action planning into reflective practice

By redesigning reflections into smaller, guided sections — such as description, emotional response, event analysis, future planning, and overall reflection — students were better able to move beyond narration and develop deeper, more meaningful insights aligned with module learning outcomes.

The approach has led to:

Richer, more reflective submissions
Stronger links between theory and practice
Clearer identification of individual learning needs
Improved confidence in reflective writing

Following its success with postgraduate students, this reflective model has since been rolled out across undergraduate MPharm programmes, supporting reflective development at multiple stages of learning.

This session will be particularly useful for: