Introspections on introspection (whoa. meta.)

I decided to call my blog on teaching & learning in higher education "Introspection" as an homage to Wundt, Titcher, & all the other introspectionists from the early days of psychology. Introspection is the examination of one's own thoughts & mental processes, & has been around since well before Plato & Aristotle's discussions of the act.

While introspection served as one of the methods on which modern psychology was grounded, the idea of introspection as a method of studying human behavior has been poo-pooed for almost a century. This was largely due to the influence of John B. Watson, who argued that the discipline of psychology should concern itself with the prediction & control of behavior, stating that "Introspection forms no essential part of its methods, nor is the scientific value of its data dependent upon the readiness with which they lend themselves to interpretation in terms of consciousness." Ouch.

But introspection isn't in & of itself a useless endeavor. In several of my courses I include introspection-like assignments in which I ask students to engage in reflective writing around what they're learning. I ask students to examine their own learning process, & try to make a personal connection between academic concepts & methods, & their own lives. If introspection is so terrible for studying human behavior, what's the point of these assignments? It turns out that introspection – self-reflection,  bringing the self into the learning process, whatever you want to call it – is phenomenal for making information stick! Seriously guys, if you want to learn something, write about it in your own words, & try to drawn in new connections. The benefit of introspection is due to the fact that the knowledge that is being acquired is also being transformed, and in many cases, new information is being generated by the writer.

I do a lot of introspection about my own process as a teacher. I really consider every event that happens in my teaching practice, and I use those events & introspections to inform my future practice. I've also found that students tend to ask me about a lot of the decisions I've made in organizing my courses, often with the assumption that I haven't really thought about it. The reality is, I've definitely thought about it. A lot. In fact, sometimes I agonize about what seems like an small decision, like how will students submit an assignment? How many levels should I use in my marking rubrics? Cardigan or no cardigan? (ok, that last one was an easy decision - always yes to a cardy! I get cold easily. )

So, I'm going to share! I'm not going to lie to you - putting it in writing is also going to be a big help for me. Pausing to reflect on why I'm doing something has in the past made me realize this is not the way to achieve your goal, Kristie. I read a paper recently extolling the virtues of reflective writing assignments in which a student reported, "...if I don't understand it when reading, when I write it, it just so happens I do understand it for some reason." True dat :D