Reflective Writing: Reflections on University Life and Learning

This reflective writing piece details a student's initial experiences at the University of Sydney, beginning with their first week and extending through week four. The student, an undergraduate in health sciences, reflects on the challenges of adapting to a new environment and the adjustments requir...Read More

Running head: REFLECTIVE WRITING
REFLECTIVE WRITING
Name of the student
Name of the University
Author Note

1REFLECTIVE WRITING
Week 2:
It has been a week since I enrolled at the University of Sydney for an undergraduate
course as a bachelor of science (health). Being an American, I was hesitant of moving to a new
place, far away from home, in order to pursue my studies. A week has already passed now since
I joined up and I believe I am growing familiar with the place and the people. With more passing
time, I believe I would be more comfortable in settling down and attending the classes here.
Since the time I have arrived, I have made acquaintances with two of my hostel
roommates. They have been helpful enough in providing an essential tour of the university
campus and pointing out the hangout spots in the city. I have already attended three lecture
sessions and the standard of education looks promising.
The University of Sydney is one of the most oldest and reputed Universities in the world.
The rules present here are strict and violating them may result in suspension or expulsion. The
faculty is qualified and capable. Unlike American Universities, Australian Universities do not
have fraternities or sorority, which is upsetting. However, the overall atmosphere here seems to
be satisfying and wholesome.
As more days pass by, I hope to make new friends with the other students in my batch as
well as the University. The University has an ambitious and talented football team that I wish to
join up. Apart from studies, I feel having fun and maintaining a social life is important as well,
mostly since it would make me feel less homesick. This is my first experience of staying abroad
and studying abroad and I wish to make many new experiences during my course of stay here.

2REFLECTIVE WRITING
Week 3:
As I started to spend more time attending the lecture sessions and classes at the
University, I realized it was important to keep a note of the discussions and presentations taking
place in the lecture sessions. Most of the professors did not provide handouts of their lecture
sessions and therefore the best solution was to manually write down and maintain a copy of
important notes.
The process of note taking soon became quite troubling for me. It was hard to keep up
with what the professor was saying and most of the time I could not keep up. I possess a short
attention span and most of the time I found myself losing focus, which contributed more to the
problem.
The constant difficulties I kept facing in writing and maintaining notes made me realize
the reasons due to which this was occurring. The lack of focus and inability to keep up with the
pace of the lecturer were the primary causes. The other reasons being my problems in
understanding the technical terms used by the lecturer, inability to prioritize what to note down
and the lack of handouts.
In case of any problem, the solution is never too far away. I too similarly discovered
ways by which I could solve my problems in note taking. I observed that sitting in the front seats
would help increase my attention and I would be more focused in class. Reading the chapter
ahead of the next day’s class helped me in understanding which of the points were important and
need to be note down. Using short forms or abbreviations was helpful in maintaining the speed
while writing. Lastly, comparing the notes with other students allowed me to fill in the
incomplete parts or areas I missed out while writing.

3REFLECTIVE WRITING
Week 4:
Learning is considered as one of the most primary and important functions of the brain.
The term learning has numerous definitions. I feel that the term learning simply means to gain
information, knowledge or training that was previously unknown. There are two types of
learners- active and passive learners.
The course of study I am currently pursuing requires me to be an active learner in order
to stay updated on the topics and it would be helpful in understanding the subject clearly. In the
active learning process, I need to constantly be engaged with the content that I am learning.
Passive learning on the other hand, means listening to a piece of information but doing nothing
about it.
It is true that it would not be possible for me to be an active learner on almost all of the
topics that I am learning. Being a passive learner is applicable for these cases. However, I feel
active learning has its own benefits which outweigh that of passive learning. Active learning has
helped increase my motivation in the subject I am currently studying and has made me aware of
the effectiveness of working in a group.
Active learning can be implemented via a number of ways. I however, feel that
researching and gathering information from other sources like articles, books, research papers
and so on, is a simple yet effective method of active learning. Discussing various topics with
friends, family or like-minded people helps you gain some valuable insights you previously had
no idea about. Following up on the subject after the end of a class, homework and participating
in debates are some of the steps I wish to implement in future to increase my level of active
learning process. I feel that if there were more discussion sessions in class and educative game

4REFLECTIVE WRITING
sessions, it would be an extremely helpful way of active learning, for not only me, but also the
entire class as a whole.

5REFLECTIVE WRITING
Bibliography
Baepler, P., Walker, J. D., & Driessen, M. (2014). It's not about seat time: Blending, flipping,
and efficiency in active learning classrooms. Computers & Education, 78, 227-236.
Boctor, L. (2013). Active-learning strategies: The use of a game to reinforce learning in nursing
education. A case study. Nurse education in practice, 13(2), 96-100.
Freeman, S., Eddy, S. L., McDonough, M., Smith, M. K., Okoroafor, N., Jordt, H., &
Wenderoth, M. P. (2014). Active learning increases student performance in science,
engineering, and mathematics. Proceedings of the National Academy of
Sciences, 111(23), 8410-8415.
Jensen, J. L., Kummer, T. A., & Godoy, P. D. D. M. (2015). Improvements from a flipped
classroom may simply be the fruits of active learning. CBE-Life Sciences
Education, 14(1), ar5.
Kim, K., Sharma, P., Land, S. M., & Furlong, K. P. (2013). Effects of active learning on
enhancing student critical thinking in an undergraduate general science
course. Innovative Higher Education, 38(3), 223-235.
Minasny, B., & McBratney, A. University of Sydney.
Risko, E. F., Buchanan, D., Medimorec, S., & Kingstone, A. (2013). Everyday attention: Mind
wandering and computer use during lectures. Computers & Education, 68, 275-283.
Shernoff, D. J., Csikszentmihalyi, M., Schneider, B., & Shernoff, E. S. (2014). Student
engagement in high school classrooms from the perspective of flow theory.

6REFLECTIVE WRITING
In Applications of Flow in Human Development and Education (pp. 475-494). Springer
Netherlands.