The development and validation of a short form of the STERLinG: a practical, valid and reliable tool to evaluate teacher competencies to encourage reflective learning.

BACKGROUND: To optimize response rates, it is important to have brief, comprehensive instruments. AIMS: We have developed and validated a short form of an instrument for measuring students' perceptions of teachers' competencies to encourage students' reflective learning in small groups (the STERLinG). METHODS: Based on statistical and content criteria, the original 36-item STERLinG was reduced to 15 items: three scales with five items each. This mini-STERLinG was validated. Confirmatory factor analysis was performed and internal consistencies were calculated. RESULTS: The instrument was completed by 501 respondents (63%). The original instrument structure was confirmed with 62.6% explained variance. Reliabilities were high with 0.91 for the entire mini-STERLinG and 0.87, 0.85 and 0.81 for its subscales. CONCLUSIONS: The mini-STERLinG was found to be a feasible, valid and reliable instrument.

Development of a student rating scale to evaluate teachers' competencies for facilitating reflective learning.

CONTEXT: teaching students in reflection calls for specific teacher competencies. We developed and validated a rating scale focusing on Student perceptions of their Teachers' competencies to Encourage Reflective Learning in small Groups (STERLinG). METHODS: we applied an iterative procedure to reduce an initial list of 241 items pertaining to teacher competencies to 47 items. Subsequently, we validated the instrument in two successive studies. In the first study, we invited 679 medical and speech and language therapy students to assess the teachers of their professional development groups with the STERLinG. Principal components analysis (PCA) with varimax rotation was used to investigate the internal structure of the instrument. In the second study, which involved 791 medical, dental, and speech and language therapy students, we performed a confirmatory factor analysis using the oblique multiple group (OMG) method to verify the original structure. RESULTS: in Study 1, 463 students (68%) completed the STERLinG. The PCA yielded three components: Supporting self-insight; Creating a safe environment, and Encouraging self-regulation. The final 36-item instrument explained 44.3% of the variance and displayed high reliability with α-values of 0.95 for the scale, and 0.91, 0.86 and 0.86 for the respective subscales. In Study 2, 501 students (63%) completed the STERLinG. The OMG confirmed the original structure of the STERLinG and explained 53.0% of the total variance with high α-values of 0.96 for the scale, and 0.94, 0.90 and 0.90 for the respective subscales. CONCLUSIONS: the STERLinG is a practical and valid tool for gathering student perceptions of their teachers' competencies to facilitate reflective learning in small groups considering its stable structure, the correspondence of the STERLinG structure with educational theories and the coverage of important domains of reflection. In addition, our study may provide a theoretical framework for the practice of and research into reflective learning.

The role of peer meetings for professional development in health science education: a qualitative analysis of reflective essays.

INTRODUCTION: The development of professional behaviour is an important objective for students in Health Sciences, with reflective skills being a basic condition for this development. Literature describes a variety of methods giving students opportunities and encouragement for reflection. Although the literature states that learning and working together in peer meetings fosters reflection, these findings are based on experienced professionals. We do not know whether participation in peer meetings also makes a positive contribution to the learning experiences of undergraduate students in terms of reflection. AIM: The aim of this study is to gain an understanding of the role of peer meetings in students' learning experiences regarding reflection. METHOD: A phenomenographic qualitative study was undertaken. Students' learning experiences in peer meetings were analyzed by investigating the learning reports in students' portfolios. Data were coded using open coding. RESULTS: The results indicate that peer meetings created an interactive learning environment in which students learned about themselves, their skills and their abilities as novice professionals. Students also mentioned conditions for a well-functioning group. CONCLUSION: The findings indicate that peer meetings foster the development of reflection skills as part of professional behaviour.