Reflection

Reflection

1. Personal Development Planning

   • The notion of reflection has encouraged both a theoretical and a practical literature.
     • Practical uses of reflection
     • Theoretical approaches

2. Reflection lies somewhere around the notion of learning.

   • We reflect on something in order to consider it in more detail
     • We have a purpose for reflecting
     • Something ‘pops up’. There has been no conscious purpose.
     • Reflection is a form of mental processing

3. We put into the reflection process knowledge that we already have (thoughts, ideas, feelings etc), we may add new information and then we draw out of it something that accords with the purpose for which we reflected.

4. Some theoretical approaches to reflection

   • John Dewey
     • ‘a kind of thinking that consists in turning a subject over in the mind and giving it serious thought’
   • Jurgen Habermas (1971)
     • The way in which humans process ideas and construct them into knowledge.
       • Reflection plays a role in this process
       • 3 kinds of knowledge
         • - instrumental knowledge - interpretation of human action and behaviour - knowledge that is a way of working with knowledge
   • David Kolb (1984)
     • Kolb cycle
       • cycle of experiential learning.
         • Concrete experiencing Reflective observation Abstract conceptualising Active experimentation
           • 1. Have an experience 2. Reflect on the experience 3. Learn from the experience 4. Active experimentation
   • Donald Schon
     • Reflection in professional knowledge and its development (1983, 1987).
       • Schon suggests that there are two types of relevant reflection.
         • Reflection-on-action
         • reflection-in-action
   • Moon (1999)
     • Emotion in reflection.
       • Is the emotional content of reflection always present and influential?

5. STAGES

   • Noticing
     • Making sense
       • Making meaning
         • working with meaning
           • Transformative learning
             • Reflection has a role in the deeper approaches to learning
               • We learn from representing learning
                 • We ‘upgrade’ learning.
                   • chewing the cud’ exercise - or cognitive housekeeping
                 • In terms of learning from the representation of learning (b), we ask students to reprocess their learning into essays, examinations, reports and explanations in tutorials.

6. Reflection provides the right conditions for learning

   • Giving the time for the learner to process material of learning
     • develop greater ‘ownership’ of the material of learning,
       • encouragement of metacognition.
         • challenging their learning.

7. Some methods for integrating reflective activity into the curriculum

   • learning journals, logs, diaries.
     • portfolios
       • reflection on work experience
         • reflection in work-based learning
           • reflection on placement learning, fieldwork, year-abroad and so on.
         • reflective exercises
           • counselling, careers work, pastoral tutorials etc
             • in APEL (accreditation of prior experiential learning)
         • in peer and self assessment

8. Issues relating to the introduction of reflective activity in the curriculum

   • inter-disciplinary issues
   • cultural issues

9. The depth of reflection

   • Reflection can be superficial and little more than descriptive or can be deep and transformative
     • Two stage guidance process to reflection
       • The first stage – presenting reflection:
       • The second stage - deepening reflective work

10. Two stage guidance process to reflection may be helpful to students.

    • First stage
      • Presenting reflection
        • Consider - what is reflection?
          • Consider why reflection is being used to facilitate this area of learning
            • Consider how reflection differs from more familiar forms of learning
              • The issues around the use of the first person – ‘I’.
                • Give examples of reflective writing – good and poor.
                • Generate discussions of students’ conceptions of reflection
                • Enable practice and provide opportunities for feedback
    • Second stage
      • Deepening reflective work
        • Use examples to demonstrate deeper reflective activity
          • Introduce a framework that describes levels of reflection
            • Descriptive writing
              • Descriptive reflection
                • Dialogic reflection
                  • Critical reflection
                  • Resource 5 - The park 3 and the park 4 Resource 6 - The presentation 3
                • Resource 4 - Reflection in a work and on stady habitsover the last semester Resource 5 - The park 2 Resource 6 - The presentation 2
              • Resource 4 - Reflection on a skill module Resource 5 - The park 1 Resource 6 - The presentation 1
          • Introduce an exercise that involves reflection that is influenced by emotional reactions to events
            • Collaborative methods of deepening reflection –eg critical friends and group
        • Introduce exercises that involve reflection on the same subject from different viewpoints of people / social institutions etc.
          • Introduce an exercise in which there is reflection on the same subject from viewpoints of different disciplines