Collective reflection strategy for moderating conformity tendency and promoting reflective judgment performance

Abstract

Reflective judgement is crucial for medical-related practitioners in dealing with controversial issues. However, the conformity phenomenon is likely to occur and interfere with reflective judgement learning during interactive activities. Effective strategies are required to moderate the conformity behaviour tendency (CBT) and improve reflective judgement performance (RJP). This study demonstrates two significant results: (a) Compared with the guided self-reflection learning strategy, the online collective reflection (OCR) learning strategy effectively weakened the learners' general CBT while dealing with professional controversial issues; and (b) a significantly negative correlation between the RJP achieved and the change of CBT in online environment was detected in the OCR group. The implications and potential applications in higher education were discussed. Further studies are needed to confirm the long-term effects and the extending application to other professional studies.