Today I'm lifting the lid on the secret to creating online courses that truly resonate with your students.
Discover how guided reflection questions can transform the learning experience by promoting deeper engagement, retention, and practical application.
Join me, Francesca, as we explore the science behind reflection and its ability to strengthen neural connections, making learning stick.
Learn the art of strategically incorporating reflection questions into your lessons, whether through carefully timed pauses, personalized feedback, or thoughtfully designed worksheets that go beyond memorization.
Prepare to revolutionize your teaching toolkit with actionable insights from our discussion.
We'll uncover how reflection not only bridges the gap between learning and action but also challenges educators to elevate their course design for unforgettable impact.
Plus, you'll get an exclusive preview of the Teaching Mastery Academy, where you can further hone your skills in course creation.
As we conclude, I offer you practical strategies ready to be implemented, ensuring your courses leave a lasting impression on your learners. Tune in and embark on this journey to create courses that no student will forget.
Think of your course (or your course idea,) like a luxury car. People won’t pay top dollar unless it’s high quality, delivers an incredible experience, and meets their needs perfectly. Teaching Mastery Academy teaches course creators like you how to ‘build’ that luxury-level course—one that students trust, complete, and rave about, justifying premium pricing every time. Ready to take your expertise and ensure your digital course stands out from the crowd? Premium courses (and premium returns) start with the core teaching fundamentals that all the best course creators instinctively do, but now I'm showing you how! Join the VIP waitlist for Teaching Mastery Academy now! Click here to learn more.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello, welcome.
I am thrilled that you arejoining me here today.
Welcome back to TeachingMastery Academy, francesca, here
for the next half an hour, andtoday we're going to be diving
into a game changing teachingtechnique.
We're looking at techniquestoday, just one in particular,
but it's a very special one andit's one that most course
(00:21):
creators overlook.
But once you start using it,you can completely transform
your student's learningexperience.
Do you know what I'm talkingabout?
Okay, I'll tell you.
I'm talking about guidedreflection questions.
Now I know you might bethinking, francesca, I already
(00:43):
include review questions in mycourse.
Isn't that the same thing?
Nope, not even close.
Because while review questionscheck what your students
remember, guided reflectionquestions help your students to
connect, help your students toprocess and help your students
(01:04):
to apply what they've learned ona deeper level.
And guess what?
When your students reflect,they retain more, they engage
more and they actually takeaction on what you're teaching,
which is great, because then youget those course completion
rates, then you get thosetestimonials and those referrals
and those repeat sales.
Get those testimonials andthose referrals and those repeat
(01:25):
sales.
So in today's episode, we aregoing to unpack what guided
reflection questions are and whythey're so powerful.
We're going to look at how tostrategically use them inside
your digital course.
We're going to look at thepsychology behind why reflection
makes learning stick, and I'mgoing to give you some specific
(01:46):
examples of guided reflectionquestions that you can start
using today in your own course.
So by the end of this episode,you'll have a new tool in your
teaching toolkit that will makeyour course more engaging, more
impactful and more valuable toyour students.
So grab your notebook, get cozyand let's dive in.
(02:07):
All right, so let's start withthe basics.
What are guided reflectionquestions?
So, guided reflection questionsare not simple review or
comprehension questions.
Okay, these are in a separatecategory.
They're not about recallingfacts or definitions.
We're not testing our audience.
(02:27):
Instead, guided reflectionquestions are thought-provoking,
open-ended questions that helpyour students process,
internalize and apply whatthey've learned in your lesson
or your module or your course,wherever you want to put them in
your overall course.
So think of them as the missinglink between consuming content
(02:51):
and actually using it in reallife.
And they are really effective,and I'll tell you why.
So most online courses aredesigned like this Step one
teach the concept.
Step two give an exercise orworksheet.
It means.
Step three, move on to the nexttopic.
Right, does that sound likeyour course?
(03:11):
But what's missing?
The processing stage.
Here's what happens when youdon't build in reflection.
Your students watch yourcontent but they don't take the
time to connect it to their ownexperiences.
They understand the lesson butthey don't apply it to real
world scenarios.
(03:31):
They don't find the relevanceand they forget the material
because they never actuallydeeply engaged with it in the
first place.
And when you introduce guidedreflection questions, you create
a moment of pause in yourlesson or your module.
It's a structured space whereyour students actually think
(03:52):
about what they just learnedbefore moving forward.
And I've got a littlepsychology fact for you, because
research shows that reflectionimproves memory retention by up
to 30%, because it strengthensthose neural connections in our
brain.
It's like pressing save oneverything that you've just
(04:13):
learned.
So, for example, let's sayyou're teaching a course on
social media marketing and astandard review question might
be what are the key metrics totrack on Instagram?
But a guided reflectionquestion would sound like this
which of these metrics is mostrelevant to your business right
now and why Can you see thedifference?
(04:34):
The second question forces yourstudents to think critically.
Apply the knowledge to theirown situation and make
meaningful connections.
So have a think about what typeof questions, if you are even
using questions in your course,and see if you can start to
bring in some of these guidedreflection questions.
(04:57):
Now that we know what guidedreflection questions are, let's
talk about how to actually usethem inside your course, right?
That's why we're all here.
So here are three strategicways to incorporate them
seamlessly, perfectly.
And the first way is to embedthem directly into your lessons.
One of the easiest ways tointegrate reflection is to pause
(05:18):
mid-lesson and ask a reflectionquestion before continuing.
And you don't just want to askthe question, I would suggest
maybe asking your students toactually write down their
response, because the act ofwriting really deepens that
cognitive processing.
So, for example, if you'reteaching productivity strategies
, instead of just explainingtime management techniques, you
(05:42):
could pause and ask which ofthese techniques have you
struggled with in the past andwhy?
And the reason why this worksis it makes your students stop
and engage actively with thelesson, and it also makes it
personal.
It personalizes the learningexperience for each student.
And this works really well forEvergreen courses in particular,
(06:07):
because if you're not there,teaching the content live and
you're not there to read theroom as such and see what your
students' responses and uptakeis, then you have no way of
knowing if what you have justtaught in that lesson is
resonating with your audience.
So by having these reflectionquestions sprinkled into your
lessons, it's a really great wayto make sure that nobody no one
(06:29):
in your class, no one in yourcommunity gets left behind.
Now the second strategic waythat you can incorporate these
reflection questions into yourcourse is to use them in
worksheets or journals.
So, instead of just providingworksheets that summarize
content, you could createreflection-based worksheets that
(06:49):
make students analyze and applywhat they've learned.
So, for example, if you'reteaching, let's say, business
coaching, instead of asking whatis a brand mission statement,
you could ask what does yourcurrent brand mission say about
your business and how does italign with your long-term vision
?
Do you see the shift?
Now the question isn't aboutmemorizing, it's about applying
(07:12):
and analyzing.
You could offer a coursereflection journal in your
course where students could sayanswer three to five reflection
questions after every module andI know that I use Kajabi and
I'm sure that all the otherplatforms, course platforms
would offer something alongthese lines, where you can even
lock the next module untilthey've answered a question or
(07:33):
two and then maybe have access.
Lock the next module untilthey've answered a question or
two and then maybe have accessto the next module after that.
So there's lots of differentways that you can use journal
prompts or worksheet prompts.
Now, the third way that you canintegrate them is by adding
reflection inside your communityor on coaching calls.
So if you have a studentcommunity or if you do offer
(07:55):
live Q&A calls, guidedreflection questions can spark
deeper discussions with yourcommunity.
So, for example, in a Facebookgroup or, let's say, a private
Slack channel, you could postthis question.
What's one thing you learnedthis week that surprised you and
how are you planning toimplement it?
Because these types ofopen-ended questions does two
(08:16):
things it's going to keep yourcommunity and your students
engaged and it's also going tocreate that peer-to-peer
learning opportunities, andthat's what we want.
We want to encourage ourcommunity to be talking amongst
each other.
We don't want it just to becompletely teacher-led,
teacher-driven, because then noone will have the confidence or
feel like they can spark up aquestion and have other people
(08:37):
jump in to answer it.
So, by using reflection,questions within a community is
a great way to get everybodyelse on board, because
reflection isn't just personal,it's social too, and when
students share their reflections, they learn from each other's
experiences, which also buildson the credibility of your
course.
(08:57):
Now I want to look briefly atwhy guided reflection questions
make learning stick, and there'sa little bit of science behind
it.
Right, it's not just theory orI've tried it, I've thrown
something, some spaghetti, atthe wall, and this is what
sticks.
There's actually science behindwhy reflection questions work
really well, and the firstreason why is that reflection
(09:19):
strengthens memory, and studiesshow that when people actively
reflect on what they've learned,their brains create stronger
neural connections, making theinformation so much easier for
them to retrieve later on.
Think of it like this withoutreflection, it's like scribbling
notes on a whiteboard that getserased, but with reflection,
it's like throwing knowledgeinto stone.
(09:41):
How powerful is that?
So we really want to make surethat we are using reflection
questions in our courses so thatour students will remember what
they've learned in three, six,nine, twelve months time, five
years time.
So reflection is reallyimportant.
Reflection also bridges theaction gap, and I want you to
(10:06):
think for a minute.
Have you ever taken a courseright, felt super inspired, but
never actually used what youlearned at the end.
That's because most coursesfail to bridge the action gap.
I call it.
The action gap force yourstudents to do is it forces them
(10:32):
to slow down rather than justbinge watching all the videos
and then not applying any of it.
Moving on to the next course,they actually have to stop and
think about what they've justconsumed, how they feel about it
, what they've learned, whatthey need to focus on for the
next lesson, and so on.
It forces your students toprocess their own thoughts.
So it's about arranging yourinterpretation of the
(10:53):
information that you've justwatched or viewed or worked
through and how you will applyit to your own situation.
And then, obviously, yeah, itforces your students to decide
how they're going to apply theknowledge.
So how are they going to use itin their real life?
For example, in a copywritingcourse?
Instead of ending with here'show to write a great headline,
you could add what's one way youcan test a new headline this
(11:15):
week in your business so theycan apply it straight away.
A next simple shift will getyour students thinking about
implementation, which meansthey're more likely to take
action.
So, now that we've looked atwhy guided reflection questions
are so powerful, we're going tolook at how you can apply them
inside your digital course.
(11:36):
So I have a challenge for you,a little mini challenge, and the
challenge is this I want you togo into your course today after
listening to this podcast, orwhile you're listening to it,
and look at your lessons, lookat your worksheets or your
community prompts, and I wantyou to ask yourself this
question Am I asking deepreflection questions or just
(11:59):
review questions?
And I want you to find threeplaces where you can add a
guided reflection question tomake learning more interactive
and transformational for yourstudents.
Now, if you want to master howto teach in a way that engages,
that inspires and gets realresults, then you can join me
(12:20):
inside Teaching Mastery Academy.
The doors aren't open yet, butthe VIP waitlist is running and
you can join the waitlist in theshow notes.
I will link it because that wayyou can be the first to know
when the doors open, because wego into so much more in TMA.
We go into every single littleaspect of course design and
(12:40):
course creation and courseteaching for you, no matter what
your niche is, no matter whatyour experience is, you are
going to come out of it with apremium course, design a premium
course that you can reallystart to command those premium
price tags.
So that's a brilliantall-in-one course and you will
get the bonuses if you sign upnow to the VIP.
(13:01):
I've got some little VIPbonuses and I can't wait to have
you join us.
So, my friend, that's it fortoday.
Thanks for hanging out with me.
It was a short podcast today,but I like to keep these short
and sharp.
So you've got something to goaway and implement straight away
.
So go now, apply this strategyand make your course truly
(13:22):
unforgettable.
I would love to hear how you goon.
Drop me a comment and let meknow how you found this strategy
Until next time.
Bye for now.
Hello, welcome.
I am thrilled that you arejoining me here today.
Welcome back to TeachingMastery Academy, francesca, here
for the next half an hour, andtoday we're going to be diving
into a game changing teachingtechnique.
We're looking at techniquestoday, just one in particular,
but it's a very special one andit's one that most course
(00:21):
creators overlook.
But once you start using it,you can completely transform
your student's learningexperience.
Do you know what I'm talkingabout?
Okay, I'll tell you.
I'm talking about guidedreflection questions.
Now I know you might bethinking, francesca, I already
(00:43):
include review questions in mycourse.
Isn't that the same thing?
Nope, not even close.
Because while review questionscheck what your students
remember, guided reflectionquestions help your students to
connect, help your students toprocess and help your students
(01:04):
to apply what they've learned ona deeper level.
And guess what?
When your students reflect,they retain more, they engage
more and they actually takeaction on what you're teaching,
which is great, because then youget those course completion
rates, then you get thosetestimonials and those referrals
and those repeat sales.
Get those testimonials andthose referrals and those repeat
(01:25):
sales.
So in today's episode, we aregoing to unpack what guided
reflection questions are and whythey're so powerful.
We're going to look at how tostrategically use them inside
your digital course.
We're going to look at thepsychology behind why reflection
makes learning stick, and I'mgoing to give you some specific
(01:46):
examples of guided reflectionquestions that you can start
using today in your own course.
So by the end of this episode,you'll have a new tool in your
teaching toolkit that will makeyour course more engaging, more
impactful and more valuable toyour students.
So grab your notebook, get cozyand let's dive in.
(02:07):
All right, so let's start withthe basics.
What are guided reflectionquestions?
So, guided reflection questionsare not simple review or
comprehension questions.
Okay, these are in a separatecategory.
They're not about recallingfacts or definitions.
We're not testing our audience.
(02:27):
Instead, guided reflectionquestions are thought-provoking,
open-ended questions that helpyour students process,
internalize and apply whatthey've learned in your lesson
or your module or your course,wherever you want to put them in
your overall course.
So think of them as the missinglink between consuming content
(02:51):
and actually using it in reallife.
And they are really effective,and I'll tell you why.
So most online courses aredesigned like this Step one
teach the concept.
Step two give an exercise orworksheet.
It means.
Step three, move on to the nexttopic.
Right, does that sound likeyour course?
(03:11):
But what's missing?
The processing stage.
Here's what happens when youdon't build in reflection.
Your students watch yourcontent but they don't take the
time to connect it to their ownexperiences.
They understand the lesson butthey don't apply it to real
world scenarios.
(03:31):
They don't find the relevanceand they forget the material
because they never actuallydeeply engaged with it in the
first place.
And when you introduce guidedreflection questions, you create
a moment of pause in yourlesson or your module.
It's a structured space whereyour students actually think
(03:52):
about what they just learnedbefore moving forward.
And I've got a littlepsychology fact for you, because
research shows that reflectionimproves memory retention by up
to 30%, because it strengthensthose neural connections in our
brain.
It's like pressing save oneverything that you've just
(04:13):
learned.
So, for example, let's sayyou're teaching a course on
social media marketing and astandard review question might
be what are the key metrics totrack on Instagram?
But a guided reflectionquestion would sound like this
which of these metrics is mostrelevant to your business right
now and why Can you see thedifference?
(04:34):
The second question forces yourstudents to think critically.
Apply the knowledge to theirown situation and make
meaningful connections.
So have a think about what typeof questions, if you are even
using questions in your course,and see if you can start to
bring in some of these guidedreflection questions.
(04:57):
Now that we know what guidedreflection questions are, let's
talk about how to actually usethem inside your course, right?
That's why we're all here.
So here are three strategicways to incorporate them
seamlessly, perfectly.
And the first way is to embedthem directly into your lessons.
One of the easiest ways tointegrate reflection is to pause
(05:18):
mid-lesson and ask a reflectionquestion before continuing.
And you don't just want to askthe question, I would suggest
maybe asking your students toactually write down their
response, because the act ofwriting really deepens that
cognitive processing.
So, for example, if you'reteaching productivity strategies
, instead of just explainingtime management techniques, you
(05:42):
could pause and ask which ofthese techniques have you
struggled with in the past andwhy?
And the reason why this worksis it makes your students stop
and engage actively with thelesson, and it also makes it
personal.
It personalizes the learningexperience for each student.
And this works really well forEvergreen courses in particular,
(06:07):
because if you're not there,teaching the content live and
you're not there to read theroom as such and see what your
students' responses and uptakeis, then you have no way of
knowing if what you have justtaught in that lesson is
resonating with your audience.
So by having these reflectionquestions sprinkled into your
lessons, it's a really great wayto make sure that nobody no one
(06:29):
in your class, no one in yourcommunity gets left behind.
Now the second strategic waythat you can incorporate these
reflection questions into yourcourse is to use them in
worksheets or journals.
So, instead of just providingworksheets that summarize
content, you could createreflection-based worksheets that
(06:49):
make students analyze and applywhat they've learned.
So, for example, if you'reteaching, let's say, business
coaching, instead of asking whatis a brand mission statement,
you could ask what does yourcurrent brand mission say about
your business and how does italign with your long-term vision
?
Do you see the shift?
Now the question isn't aboutmemorizing, it's about applying
(07:12):
and analyzing.
You could offer a coursereflection journal in your
course where students could sayanswer three to five reflection
questions after every module andI know that I use Kajabi and
I'm sure that all the otherplatforms, course platforms
would offer something alongthese lines, where you can even
lock the next module untilthey've answered a question or
(07:33):
two and then maybe have access.
Lock the next module untilthey've answered a question or
two and then maybe have accessto the next module after that.
So there's lots of differentways that you can use journal
prompts or worksheet prompts.
Now, the third way that you canintegrate them is by adding
reflection inside your communityor on coaching calls.
So if you have a studentcommunity or if you do offer
(07:55):
live Q&A calls, guidedreflection questions can spark
deeper discussions with yourcommunity.
So, for example, in a Facebookgroup or, let's say, a private
Slack channel, you could postthis question.
What's one thing you learnedthis week that surprised you and
how are you planning toimplement it?
Because these types ofopen-ended questions does two
(08:16):
things it's going to keep yourcommunity and your students
engaged and it's also going tocreate that peer-to-peer
learning opportunities, andthat's what we want.
We want to encourage ourcommunity to be talking amongst
each other.
We don't want it just to becompletely teacher-led,
teacher-driven, because then noone will have the confidence or
feel like they can spark up aquestion and have other people
(08:37):
jump in to answer it.
So, by using reflection,questions within a community is
a great way to get everybodyelse on board, because
reflection isn't just personal,it's social too, and when
students share their reflections, they learn from each other's
experiences, which also buildson the credibility of your
course.
(08:57):
Now I want to look briefly atwhy guided reflection questions
make learning stick, and there'sa little bit of science behind
it.
Right, it's not just theory orI've tried it, I've thrown
something, some spaghetti, atthe wall, and this is what
sticks.
There's actually science behindwhy reflection questions work
really well, and the firstreason why is that reflection
(09:19):
strengthens memory, and studiesshow that when people actively
reflect on what they've learned,their brains create stronger
neural connections, making theinformation so much easier for
them to retrieve later on.
Think of it like this withoutreflection, it's like scribbling
notes on a whiteboard that getserased, but with reflection,
it's like throwing knowledgeinto stone.
(09:41):
How powerful is that?
So we really want to make surethat we are using reflection
questions in our courses so thatour students will remember what
they've learned in three, six,nine, twelve months time, five
years time.
So reflection is reallyimportant.
Reflection also bridges theaction gap, and I want you to
(10:06):
think for a minute.
Have you ever taken a courseright, felt super inspired, but
never actually used what youlearned at the end.
That's because most coursesfail to bridge the action gap.
I call it.
The action gap force yourstudents to do is it forces them
(10:32):
to slow down rather than justbinge watching all the videos
and then not applying any of it.
Moving on to the next course,they actually have to stop and
think about what they've justconsumed, how they feel about it
, what they've learned, whatthey need to focus on for the
next lesson, and so on.
It forces your students toprocess their own thoughts.
So it's about arranging yourinterpretation of the
(10:53):
information that you've justwatched or viewed or worked
through and how you will applyit to your own situation.
And then, obviously, yeah, itforces your students to decide
how they're going to apply theknowledge.
So how are they going to use itin their real life?
For example, in a copywritingcourse?
Instead of ending with here'show to write a great headline,
you could add what's one way youcan test a new headline this
(11:15):
week in your business so theycan apply it straight away.
A next simple shift will getyour students thinking about
implementation, which meansthey're more likely to take
action.
So, now that we've looked atwhy guided reflection questions
are so powerful, we're going tolook at how you can apply them
inside your digital course.
(11:36):
So I have a challenge for you,a little mini challenge, and the
challenge is this I want you togo into your course today after
listening to this podcast, orwhile you're listening to it,
and look at your lessons, lookat your worksheets or your
community prompts, and I wantyou to ask yourself this
question Am I asking deepreflection questions or just
(11:59):
review questions?
And I want you to find threeplaces where you can add a
guided reflection question tomake learning more interactive
and transformational for yourstudents.
Now, if you want to master howto teach in a way that engages,
that inspires and gets realresults, then you can join me
(12:20):
inside Teaching Mastery Academy.
The doors aren't open yet, butthe VIP waitlist is running and
you can join the waitlist in theshow notes.
I will link it because that wayyou can be the first to know
when the doors open, because wego into so much more in TMA.
We go into every single littleaspect of course design and
(12:40):
course creation and courseteaching for you, no matter what
your niche is, no matter whatyour experience is, you are
going to come out of it with apremium course, design a premium
course that you can reallystart to command those premium
price tags.
So that's a brilliantall-in-one course and you will
get the bonuses if you sign upnow to the VIP.
(13:01):
I've got some little VIPbonuses and I can't wait to have
you join us.
So, my friend, that's it fortoday.
Thanks for hanging out with me.
It was a short podcast today,but I like to keep these short
and sharp.
So you've got something to goaway and implement straight away
.
So go now, apply this strategyand make your course truly
(13:22):
unforgettable.
I would love to hear how you goon.
Drop me a comment and let meknow how you found this strategy
Until next time.
Bye for now.
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