Does Providing Feedback to Student Reflections Impact the Development of Their Leadership Competence?

Internship experience is a valuable component of an undergraduate degree. This is especially true in leadership education programs, where leadership development may take place in a variety of contexts. Theory purports reflection enhances a learners’ experience through a linkage of education, work, and personal development (Kolb, 1984). It is not clear, however, if reflection guided by feedback will enhance or diminish the learning and development. This study utilized a pretest-posttest experimental design in an attempt to determine if providing feedback to weekly internship reflections would make a difference in leadership skill development. Thirty-six undergraduate students were randomly assigned to treatment and control groups following enrollment in a 10-week summer internship course. All participants submitted weekly reflections. The control group received no feedback and the treatment group was provided feedback by a research team member to invoke deeper reflection and development of leadership skills. Leadership skill development was measured using the Leadership Skills Inventory-Self^©. Results of the study did not yield statistically significant differences between the two groups, but did demonstrate observable differences in the mean scores. Replication of this study is recommended utilizing quantitative and qualitative measures to further understand this phenomenon.