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It’s tempting to think that established teaching strategies, commanding classroom techniques, or specialized pedagogical knowledge are the fundamental markers of an expert teacher. And while teaching excellence is certainly bolstered by these fundamentals, they alone do not mark great teaching. Innate curiosity, however, just might...

At its core, becoming an expert teacher is less about mastering technique than it is about cultivating curiosity as a way of being—curiosity about what’s working, what isn't, and about why our teaching experiences have unfolded as they have. We must examine not only what happens in our courses and with our students, but also the beliefs, conditions, and relationships shaping our everyday teaching and learning experiences. 

Curiosity isn’t a one-off practice. Expert teachers engage in consistent, purposeful reflection on their teaching over time, embodying a genuine willingness to adapt, adjust, and engage in incremental change to become “even more effective” and responsive to ever-evolving university and classroom contexts (Kreber, 2002, p.13, author’s emphasis).

This is not to say that pedagogical skills and approaches don’t matter, or that research-informed strategies for teaching and learning don’t exist. They absolutely do (see, for example, Devlin & Samarawickrema, 2022; Kenny et al., 2017; Tigelaar et al., 2004). But what these skills and approaches all have in common is not perfect teaching technique, but a curiosity about teaching and student learning and a desire to explore, act upon, and study it through ongoing and purposeful critical reflection.

The Heart of It: Critical Reflection

Critical reflection is a structured, intentional process of examining not only your teaching, but also the assumptions, values, beliefs and contexts that shape it. Critically reflective teachers ask not only "What happened?" but also "Why did it happen?" and "How might this inform what I do next?" 

Critical reflection is a cornerstone of the scholarship of teaching and learning but long predates the formulation of the field. In How We Think (1910), Dewey suggested that “[a]ctive, persistent, and careful consideration of any belief or supposed form of knowledge in the light of the grounds that support it, and the further conclusions to which it tends, constitutes reflective thought” (p. 6). Schon (1983) conceptualized “reflecting-in-action,” which recognizes that “we sometimes think about what we’re doing” (p. 54) and invite thoughts to inform our next steps. And Brookfield (1995/2017) defined critical reflection as “the sustained and intentional process of identifying and checking the accuracy and validity of our teaching assumptions” (p. 3) through four distinct lenses—students’ eyes, colleagues’ perceptions, our personal experiences, and theory and research. From these foundations, critical reflection has grown to become not only a central methodology in the field of SoTL (see Cranton, 2011, for some of this history), but also a productive approach to strengthening one’s teaching practice and its ongoing currency.

A Framework to Try: What? So What? Now What?

What does critical reflection actually entail? An accessible framework for educators of all skill levels is the What? So What? Now What? model, adapted below from Driscoll (1994) and Hill (2013).

1. What? Describe the experience. What happened? When? Who was involved? Where? How did it happen? What patterns, interactions or outcomes did you observe?
2. So What? Interpret and make meaning of the experience. Why did this happen? How do you know? What does this mean? What do you think and feel about this? What beliefs, assumptions, values, power dynamics or other contextual factors influenced what occurred? 
3. Now What? Name your key learning and translate insight into action. What did you learn about yourself and others from this experience? What will you do differently in the future? What incremental change will you make to improve as an educator? How and when will you make these changes? What might get in your way? What support might you need to overcome these barriers? Who might you share this learning and these actions with?

This framework can be used in almost any context: following a specific class or course assessment, as a reflective activity at the end of a course, over an informal conversation with a colleague, in an ongoing reflective teaching journal, or even in a quiet moment of reflection before your next session with learners. There is no “right” answer to any question in this framework, and the outcomes of your reflections should not include a complete course overhaul.  Remember: this is about ongoing, incremental change. What is required is an honest and genuine commitment to learning, adaptation, and continuous growth, even when it feels uncomfortable.

This week, try using the What? So What? Now What? framework after a class or meeting that left you with lingering questions. Give yourself ten minutes. Journal or talk through it with a colleague you trust. Notice what you discover. And then ask yourself, “If expertise is built in moments like this—in small, honest, curious and incremental acts of reflection, what might be possible if I did this regularly?”

References

Brookfield, S. D. (2017). Becoming a critically reflective teacher. 2^nd Edition. John Wiley & Sons.

Cranton, P. (2011). A transformative perspective on the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning. Higher Education Research & Development, 30(1), 75-86.  

Devlin, M., & Samarawickrema, G. (2022). A commentary on the criteria of effective teaching in post-COVID higher education. Higher Education Research & Development, 41(1), 21-32.  

Dewey, J. (1910). How We Think. Boston: D. C. Heath & Co.  

Driscoll, J. (1994). Reflective practice for practise—a framework of structure reflection for clinical areas. Senior Nurse, 14(1), 47–50.

Hill, C. (2013). Scaffolding reflection: What, so what, now what?. In McCauley et al (Eds.), Experience‐Driven Leader Development: Models, Tools, Best Practices, and Advice for on-The-Job Development (pp. 256-250). Wiley.

Kenny, N., Berenson, C., Chick, N., Johnson, C., Keegan, D., Read, E., & Reid, L. (2017). A developmental framework for teaching expertise in postsecondary education. 91°”ÍűœûÇű.  

Kreber, C. (2002). Teaching excellence, teaching expertise, and the scholarship of teaching. Innovative higher education, 27(1), 5-23.  

Schön, D. A. (1983). The reflective practitioner: How professionals think in action. Basic Books. 

Tigelaar, D. E., Dolmans, D. H., Wolfhagen, I. H., & Van Der Vleuten, C. P. (2004). The development and validation of a framework for teaching competencies in higher education. Higher education, 48(2), 253-268.