On 19 February, the Centre for Teaching and Learning Enhancement (CTLE) hosted a half-day event with a focus on reflective teaching. The event attracted 75 UM faculty members and featured various theories and practices, as well as tools that can facilitate reflective teaching.

Prof. Michael Hui, Vice Rector (Academic Affairs) of UM, started the event by highlighting UM’s strong dedication to helping teachers enhance their teaching through reflection. He mentioned tools such as student feedback questionnaires (SFQs), mid-term surveys and Faculty Learning Communities (FLCs). He encouraged participants to ask questions, share own experiences and strengthen their commitment to reflective teaching. (Watch Video)

Dr. Julie McGurk from Yale University presented a keynote session, ‘Teaching Purposefully Through Reflection’, in which she anchored reflective teaching in theory and practice. She introduced Kolb’s experiential learning cycle (experience → reflection → conceptualization → experimentation) and Schön’s reflection-in-action. Dr. McGurk emphasized the cyclical reflective practice model with four foci, namely, technical, situational, sensitizing and problematizing on reflection, action and modification. She also interacted and engaged with the audience via a live poll which collected responses on motivations for reflection, including adapting to diverse student needs, aligning teaching with personal values and modeling lifelong learning.

Some practical strategies for implementing reflective teaching were shared by Dr. McGurk:

• Use one minute paper to modify in-class activities or framing lecture
• Conduct polls with students regularly in class to check understanding
• Use in-class activities and office hours to inform lesson planning

The session concluded with a remark: ‘reflection isn’t self-indulgence—it’s an ethical commitment to student growth.’ (Download Slides) (Watch Presentation)

 

Prof. Katrine Wong, Director of CTLE, led afaculty sharing session on reflective teaching in campus:

• Prof. Glenn McCartney (FBA) used a visit to the Macau Grand Prix Museum as a case study, in which he shared how his teaching integrated questionnaires, VR technology and hands-on tasks to connect classroom learning with real-world industry practices.

(Download Slides) (Watch Presentation)

• Prof. Katy Ho Weatherly (FED) introduced how the ‘Lighthouse Framework’ can foster student self-directed learning through music-inspired pedagogy and gamified projects.

(Download Slides) (Watch Presentation)

• Prof. Katrine Wong (CTLE) shared her experience of using a personal device to film her classroom sessions, helping her review her performance, enhance teaching effectiveness and identify both strengths and areas for improvement.

(Download Slides) (Watch Presentation)

In the session on ‘Digital Tools for Reflective Teaching: Transforming Practice Through Student Feedback,’ Dr. Chris Fulton (CTLE) demonstrated how Microsoft Forms and Moodle’s questionnaire activities can enhance teaching practices.

Dr. Fulton explained that reflective teaching can involve evaluating student learning, attitudes or our teaching methods. Digital tools facilitate this process by:

• Launching regular, online, in-class quizzes and surveys to gather insights into student experiences

• Using in-class quizzes as feedback mechanisms, particularly when combined with peer instruction

The presentation also offered practical tips that leverage AI, e.g., Copilot and Adobe’s AI Assistant, to colleagues interested in trying out online quizzes in their classrooms.

(Download Slides) (Watch Presentation)