Can GenAI help students become more proficient reflective writers? How can we reposition how GenAI is viewed in terms of supporting students with written assessments? John Warner’s persuasive argument is that generative AI creates syntax but doesn’t write because ‘writing is thinking’ (Warner, 2025). This post demonstrates how to teach reflective writing by instructing GenAI to act as a writing coach. It outlines a simple step-by-step approach to teach students how to work with a GenAI tool to be guided through a reflective and critical thinking process; NOT to do their writing for them.  

Reflective writing tasks which examine learning either from a key event or experience are a core component of many assessments, especially in education, health, and social sciences as they help students to demonstrate higher order thinking. Historically, students can struggle to gain depth in their writing when they are new to this type of writing style which is vastly different to a traditional academic essay. Providing in depth, well-structured and critical reflection which shows development and evidences learning outcomes is challenging. A standard assignment of this type would provide students with a list of questions or a reflective model to work through with their writing for example What? So What? Now What? 

There is an opportunity with GenAI to bring the process of reflective thinking to life. No answers are artificially generated or changed in this methodology and the output is all the student’s own work. 

This model is simple to replicate, and adaptable across disciplines. Whether you’re supporting students in clinical reflection, work-based learning, or personal development planning, structured engagement with GenAI as a writing coach can offer a low-stakes way to build confidence in writing ability and model higher-order thinking development.  

Rather than just asking GenAI to answer the questions and then interrogate the strengths and weaknesses of the response, this task places agency on the student to write and build up their responses aligned to a reflective thinking model, guided by a coach asking questions.  

What sets this approach apart is its alignment with authentic and ethical assessment principles. The focus is on process over product, encouraging students to take ownership of their work. Crucially, it repositions AI as a useful coaching tool for their studies. The digital literacy skill gained by using GenAI in this way would also be highly applicable to other writing exercises.  

Bite-sized task 

In this task you will play the role of a student who has been set a reflective assignment. You can then experience how the GenAI tool will prompt and help develop the reflective piece. This will help you to introduce the same method with your students.  

Step 1 – Learn 

Spend a few minutes reviewing the library guidance “Reflection and Reflective Practice“. Here you will find an overview of reflective thinking and some common reflective writing models.

Before you begin it is useful to identify which reflective model you would like the students to work with for example Gibbs Reflective Cycle 1998, Schön’s Reflection-in-Action & Reflection-on-Action (1983). You may choose a model that is appropriate to your subject discipline. 

Step 2 – Do 

This task can be completed with any GenAI tool for example ChatGPT, Microsoft Co-Pilot, Claude. Microsoft Co-Pilot is recommended as it is the UoS safeguarded AI option. 

 Begin by logging in to the tool and creating a new chat. 

Copy and paste/re-type the below chat into the GenAI tool and be sure to personalise it for the specific reflective assignment you are going to set. Include as much information as possible about the topic of the reflective piece.  

I’ve been asked to write a critically reflective piece based on [insert academic or learning experience], using Gibbs’ Reflective Cycle (1988) as the guiding framework. I’d like you to act as a writing coach and support me through the thinking and writing process step by step. Please guide me by asking one question at a time for each stage of the model,  helping me to unpack my experience in depth. 

As we go, prompt me to explore relevant emotions, assumptions, and academic theories or concepts that apply. Once we’ve completed all the stages, I’d like your help shaping my responses into a well-structured, analytical, and high-quality reflective piece suitable for university level assessment. 

This prompt is designed to do a few key things: 

• Names the goal clearly (“critically reflective piece”). 
• Identifies the model to be used (“Gibbs Reflective Cycle).
• Requests structured interaction in a coaching model (step-by-step, one question at a time). 
• Signals the level of thinking expected (assumptions, emotions, theory, application). 

Once you have experienced the writing process, you will be in a good position to decide how you might implement this task with your students. This would be an easy step to add to your assessment guidance or a useful resource provided via Blackboard. 

Step 3 – Reflect 

1. What was the quality of the written output? Did anything surprise you?
2. How did writing in this way feel, was it easier or harder to collect your thoughts?
3. What can students gain from using GenAI in this way and how might this activity change how they may interact with GenAI in the future?
4. How might you embed this in your teaching to support reflective writing for assessments?  

Reference

Warner, J., 2025. More than words: How to think about writing in the age of AI. First edition. New York: Basic Books. 

© 2025. This work is openly licensed via CC BY-NC-SA