Reflections about reflections

A case study of the use of reflections within the Applied physics and electrical engineering program at Linköping University is presented. Reflections have been used for several years and they are done at four stages in the program, in terms of reflections at the end of the Introductory course in year one, design-implement experiences in year three and five, and a reflection document that is the last component of the Master’s thesis. In the first three stages a project model is used to support the planning and execution of the project, and in the project model the project work ends with a reflection. In the reflection document connected to the Master’s thesis the student reflects upon both the thesis work itself and the entire education program, according to the sections and subsections of the CDIO Syllabus. The paper describes how the reflections are integrated in the program. Experiences from student perspective are collected in a small-scale study via interviews with students from year one and year five.