Exploring Professors' Thinking Through Post-Class Reflection

The topic of teacher reflection has gained§substantial attention in the education literature.§Yet, teachers' reflective processes have not been§well understood. This study explored characteristics§of professors' post-class reflection. Eight§professors--representing two levels of teaching§experience, teaching a lecture or seminar§undergraduate class in humanities or§engineering--participated in this case study.§Interviews, classroom observations, and instructional§plans and materials comprised the data sources.§Findings show that professors' post-class reflection§became a routine: it happened at different points of§time, mostly right after the class, and as a§continuous process. Their reflection involved a§mixture of having intuitive feelings about the class§as well as thinking logically about how the class§unfolded. Based on the results, a conceptual§framework is proposed that describes professors'§post-class reflection as interrelated with rational§and non-rational information processing. The study§contributes to a better understanding of the complex§process of teacher thinking and informs the design of§faculty development interventions that aim at§promoting reflective practice.