Is reading the notes someone else has taken on a report about as engaging and of value as reading someone's account of a dream they've had?
My dreams have been interesting.
On brief. Perfect for reflection. This is what happens when you try to fall asleep your brain tickled by a movie with a ridiculous premise (Jumper) and frustrated by a your own anxieties about what you think about the course.
I should do nothing until the maelstrom subsides.
The dream I can recall in minutest detail. I can shred it on 27 questions I've been using for a decade to do this kind of thing.
I'm reminded of some advice in Robert H Heinlein's Sci-Fi bible, 'Time Enough to Love' where we learn how Lazarus Long survived yet another life as his life never ended, while those around him died.
Fit in. It doesn't pay to stick out.
Or in the case of an academic course, if it doesn't get you marks, don't bother.
Meanwhile my eye caught this.
'A great memoir is an unflinching mirror.' Robert MCrum, On Books, The Guardian, last Saturday.
This to me is reflection. Not 500 words, but 50,000. Not over 10 weeks, but over four or more decades.
To reflect is to stand in front of a mirror, not at the end of your career, but at the start, or between times.
That said, I am often told that to 'reflect' is to look at yourself in the mirror, and if you don't like what you see, do somethign about it. i.e. think about what you have done, what you need to do, then do it.