Create the space
to put your learning in perspective,
and become a better student of your own experience.
RL
Reflection Labs is a coaching and consulting initiative dedicated to mindfulness in education, reflective practice, and contemplative pedagogy. Here you will find a patchwork of cognitive, social, and organizational visions supporting these perspective-enhancing practices.
Perspective as a Literacy
To what extent can we gain perspective on what we have experienced? Maybe it comes naturally for some of us to take someone else's stance on a controversial topic or to pause and write about a stressful learning event. But going from casual to more deliberate perspective-making requires scaffolding, coaching, and, above all, modeling. Whether it's self-authoring courses, guided mindset workshops, or mindfulness coaching, this is about helping us claim our attention in a world oversaturated with information and content.
Cultures of Perspective Making
Guidance through a contemplative pause can help us understand a problem better. Coaching during moments of intentional inaction can help us develop the self-confidence to make the right decision. But we will be limited in our ability to gain perspective on our learning and our experience without practical examples to follow. When we are immersed in a culture that values reflection, we absorb the practice. We learn it. Reflection should not just be taught. It should be modeled.
"You've got to think about big things while you're doing small things so that all the small things go in the right direction."
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-Alvin Toffler
Why this? Why now?
Reflection Labs is a response to the unique conditions presented by old and new barriers to connected learning -- that is, learning we are connected to, that is connected across content, platforms, curricula, and that is connected to real problems and jobs in our communities and world. Here are some of those barriers.
#1 Trending does not mean relevant. Reflection literacy > digital literacy.
We pick up our phones to see what's new when there are plenty of important messages we have already received and which deserve deeper consideration. But our digital habits are prioritizing surface encounters with trending content over reflection on what we've already seen.
This prioritization of novelty over value compounds the challenge many face contextualizing learning even without the stream of unrelated reels, texts, and images. It disrupts the few reflective, contemplative, and mindful occasions that once helped us to process our experience and are perhaps still deep in the expectations of our educational traditions. For example, the walk across campus after a class, the pause while waiting for a class to begin, or the reflective moments before and after we sleep: these moments are no longer what they were when our current models of learning were designed, but the models haven't changed much. So without these pauses, our sense of agency over our thinking and learning can slip right through our hands. This problem of mobile technology salience further challenges our most fundamental inclinations toward the perspective-making (and perspective-taking) that once helped us put small moments in the context of big ones.
​#2 Learning is fragmented. And connectable doesn't necessarily mean connected.
Our formal education experience has always been characterized by some amount of disconnectedness, from separate disciplines to separate teachers not necessarily on the same page. But even the most integrated academic plan won't magically provide us with a clear or authentic pathway that makes everything we learned come together. Work evolves. The landscape changes. So do we, by the way. The responsibility to connect to our learning and across it depends to some extent on our ability to reflect on the connections. Greater support in gaining perspective on these connections may prevent cornerstones and capstones, signature work and internships from feeling like over-engineered, top-down obligations. It can provide us with the space to give deeper consideration to the impact our learning will make in our world. With guidance in reflection, contemplation, and mindfulness, we can become better at advocating for ourselves and making these connections on a deeper level, undeterred by changes in our world or even changes of mind and heart.
#3 Support is becoming more like first aid.
Well student ≥ good student.
We do not have to trade well-being for rigor. Executive function training and more holistic life coaching are already being incorporated into success curricula that used to focus solely on disciplinary skills. Program redesigns connecting academic services, advising, and career coaching are now responding to the need to be well -- to be centered and whole, not just credentialed. By emphasizing reflective practice, contemplation, and mindfulness, we ensure that all aspects of ourselves are included in our education-to-career journey. Reflection Labs is a partner in this movement to take the whole person along for the ride.
#4 Do we even have the problem and its solutions right?
Reflection doesn't automatically create perspective. Mindfulness is too easy to talk about. What happens when our attempts at these are misguided? What does it mean to facilitate mindfulness in a way that enhances core learning objectives, or to cultivate a culture of perspective-taking in a way that increases opportunities for collaboration and interdisciplinary connections? What do these practices look like where they have already been implemented at curricular and institutional levels? How can we carefully introduce them into new contexts with compassion towards all the different stakeholders given the shifts we are all facing in the way we work? In addition to delivering courses, workshops, and coaching, this vision invites interested parties who already engage in reflective practice, mindfulness, and contemplative pedagogy to discuss the methods and rhetoric of these practices.
What RL Does
​Reflective Practice
Portfolio Design and Reflection, Self-Authoring, Self Assessment, Content Curation
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Contemplative Pedagogy
Discipline-Specific Deeper Learning
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Mindfulness in Education
Self Regulation and Executive Function, Self Awareness and Mindset Work
Courses​
First Year Experience Lab (Supporting Academic Services & Advising)
College Success Lab (Going Beyond the FYE)
Signature Work Lab (Supporting a Connected Curriculum)
Athlete Lab (Self-Concept Coaching for the Student-Athlete)
Adult Learning Lab (Academic-to-Career Advancement/Pivoting)
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Educator & Student Workshops
Host a faculty/staff workshop, or incorporate RL into advising or academic and career coaching.
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Individualized Coaching
Sign up for a personalized Reflection Lab tailored to your career goals and interests, your pivot plan, or the story of your education.
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Materials
Workbook: Your own space at your own pace.
Cards: Carry your perspective with you.
"This is like Marie Kondo but for your education."
- student participant
Interested in participating?
​Reflective Practice - Contemplative Pedagogy - Mindfulness in Education
Reach out if you are interested in creating or developing a course, hosting a workshop for faculty and/or students, getting personalized coaching, or if you are simply curious and want to learn more.
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