Using Reflection to Assess Students' Ability to Learn and Develop Leadership Skills

Abstract

Leadership skill development has been identified as an important element of future leisure service professionals' academic preparation. Thus, the purpose of this paper was to utilize in-depth course reflection and service-learning to assess whether undergraduate students enrolled in a leadership course were meeting the leadership objectives set forth by the Council on Accreditation of Parks, Recreation, Tourism, and Related Professions (COAPRT). Results indicated that service learning along with reflection enables students to better connect leadership principles and strategies to professional practice. Additionally, it was determined that structured reflection is thought to provide students with a framework that allows students to more effectively connect course material to their experiences out of the classroom.

Keywords:

• service learning
• leadership development
• self-reflection