4D in Action: DU’s Student Employees Add Reflection to Their Task List

Reflection, along with signature experiences and mentorship, is how the 4D Experience comes to life for students at DU—in classrooms, at the Kennedy Mountain Campus, and now, in on-campus jobs. 

Last year, student employees at the Community Commons started participating in quarterly, one-on-one reflection meetings with their supervisors. These meetings aren’t a standard performance review but rather, an opportunity for students to choose what they want to talk about by reflecting on their work and how communication skills, leadership, critical thinking, technology and other factors shape their experiences on campus.

Beth Goad, associate director of Driscoll and Community Commons, says the meetings go beyond traditional measures of job performance. “We introduce it during training, and so it’s really kind of embedded into our culture. It’s not a performance appraisal, it’s not an evaluation. This is actually a time for you to reflect on the work that you do in the Driscoll and Community Commons, as well as make connections between the workplace, your classroom and extracurricular activities.” 

In October, Goad presented and moderated a panel discussion on 4D Reflection with three students at the ACUI Region IV Conference at Boise State University. The ACUI focuses on supporting employees in their roles building strong campus communities. 

Empowering students to solve problems and look ahead

The reflection meetings encourage students to develop autonomy and problem-solving skills. “Problem solving is a huge theme that we see come up over and over again in these reflection meetings,” Goad says. 

Fourth-year student Kabe Aberle, an operations assistant at the Community Commons and one of the students on the ACUI conference panel, says the open nature of the meetings has been beneficial as he starts thinking about his life and career after graduation. “They’re more useful because you’re getting to reflect more holistically about your experience and what that is doing for you in the long term, versus a more traditional performance review where you look backwards and think about specific outcomes. These reflections feel much more forward-facing,” Aberle says.

Building a positive work culture

The reflection meetings also help build community among student employees, says Goad, including improved communication among team members and more meaningful relationships that extend past the end of their shifts. “A lot of times, student employees work with one other person at the Community Commons desk, and it’s not like they just focus on their task or the customer. You see them trying to build a connection and get to know each other,” she says.

For Aberle, the conversations open up opportunities for deeper introspection. “It’s not just about the job. It’s looking more at your experience as a student on DU’s campus and as a person,” Aberle says. “I think that kind of reflection is super important. As we think about where we’ve been, most of us have an idea of where we want to go. There’s so much to learn from looking at where we’ve been and forecasting that into where we want to go.”

Goad says the benefits of the process are clear. “We tend to be moving pretty quickly through life. I notice when we take time to pause and reflect, I find it really helpful. Just thinking about this quarter alone and the things we’ve accomplished as a department or as an individual, I feel grateful to do this work,” she says.