Reflective learning as an important key to the success of an online course

This study proposed reflective learning in an online course design to maximise the effectiveness of online courses. A quasi-experimental design was employed, and 62 Taiwanese adults participated in the online course titled ‘Healthy Eating Plate’. The teaching content was delivered through multimedia animation every two days for four weeks, and a food nutritionist administered the curriculum to ensure the programme's accountability. Reflection tasks and daily food records as reflective learning activities were included as after-class activities and were recorded online through the website. Reflective learning is a set of activities to facilitate learners’ reflections upon their learning experiences. The result indicates significant differences between pre- and post-test scores of health knowledge, health beliefs, self-efficacy, and healthy dietary behaviour. Although there was significant improvement after the learning intervention, the regression showed that only reflective learning directly affected healthy behaviour and self-efficacy rather than knowledge. Result implies the effectiveness of reflective learning in the online training course since it directly affects behaviour and self-efficacy. Moreover, it also has a higher indirect effect value on healthy behaviour, while self-efficacy is included as a mediator. Findings suggest that the importance of reflective learning to raise learners’ awareness of questioning and evaluating their knowledge in the class.