Developing from Within: How we use the IDG Self-Assessment in Rflect

In a world of accelerating complexity, the ability to grow from the inside out has become just as important as technical skills or academic knowledge. This is where the Inner Development Goals (IDGs) come in - a framework that identifies 23 essential skills for navigating a sustainable and purpose-driven life. But becoming more self-aware, empathetic, or purposeful doesn’t happen by accident. It needs active training, and that often starts with reflection.

That’s why Rflect integrates the IDG Self-Assessment into learning journeys. It’s not about scoring or comparing. It’s about noticing, naming, and nurturing your own inner development over time.

What the IDG Self-Assessment Is

The IDG Self-Assessment in Rflect is a guided reflection tool based on the 23 skills of the Inner Development Goals framework. Lecturers can chose to either use the full framework, or pick and choose the sub-skills that are relevant for their program. It allows students, educators, and professionals to check in with themselves across five core dimensions:

• Being: Cultivating our inner life and developing and deepening our relationship to our thoughts, feelings and body help us be present, intentional and non-reactive when we face complexity.
• Thinking: Developing our cognitive skills by taking different perspectives, evaluating information and making sense of the world as an interconnected whole, is essential for wise decision-making.
• Relating: Appreciating, caring for and feeling connected to others, such as neighbours, future generations or the biosphere, helps us create more just and sustainable systems and societies for everyone.
• Collaborating: To make progress on shared concerns, we need to develop our abilities to include, hold space and communicate with stakeholders with different values, skills and competencies.
• Acting: Qualities such as courage and optimism help us acquire true agency, break old patterns, generate original ideas and act with persistence in uncertain times.

Each skill is reflected upon through brief, self-rated statements—not to test performance, but to help learners gain insight into where they are now and where they might want to grow next.

How It Works in Rflect

In Rflect, the IDG Self-Assessment can be integrated by lecturers at the start and end of a program—or at regular checkpoints—depending on the course setup. Users are invited to reflect on their current experience of each competency using a 7-point Likert scale.

This forms a personal reflection baseline. It can help:

• Spot patterns and strengths
• Make invisible growth visible
• Set meaningful development goals
• Track shifts in mindset or behavior

The self-assessment is often followed by open-ended reflection questions and exercises that bring these abstract skills into concrete life and learning situations.

Scientifically-Informed Scales for Reflection

To make self-assessments meaningful, we rely on scales grounded in scientific research. In collaboration with our scientific advisor Prof. Anna Jasinenko and her team, we have drawn upon validated psychological and educational assessment instruments to create the assessment.

Based on these foundations, we’ve adapted and simplified the language to make them accessible and useful in educational settings. The goal is not clinical precision, but deep, personal insight and practical relevance for students’ everyday development.

Value for lecturers & students

For lecturers, the assessment provides a way to make the invisible visible. It allows inner development to become a trackable and discussable part of the learning journey. By identifying where students are in their development, educators can better support them with targeted activities, peer feedback, and reflective dialogue - without needing to “grade” their personal growth.

For students, the IDG Self-Assessment offers a starting point: a structured way to become aware of their inner development and connect it to real-life situations. It helps them take ownership of their growth - not just academically, but as human beings navigating complexity.

Final Thoughts: Reflection as a Starting Point

The IDG Self-Assessment in Rflect is not a test - it’s a conversation starter. It helps learners see themselves more clearly, educators tailor support more effectively, and programs make inner development visible and intentional.

Whether you’re a student using Rflect or a lecturer integrating it into your curriculum, here’s one tip:

Don’t rush the results.

Invite reflection before action. Look at the patterns. Ask: What surprised me? What feels important right now? What do I want to try differently next week?

That’s where the real learning begins - not in the numbers, but in the stories we build from them.

Read more about the Inner Development Goals - why and how we use them in Rflect on our blog.

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