Reflections - TMA 1 time - not "tea time"

TMA 1 time - not "tea time"

Sources

Moon, Jenny (2001) ‘PDP working paper 4: reflection in higher education learning’, document, [online] Available from: http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/assets/York/documents/resources/resourcedatabase/id72_Reflection_in_Higher_Education_Learning.rtf (Accessed 2 October 2008).

Smith, Mark (1996) ‘reflection: What constitutes reflection - and what significance does it have for educators? The contributions of Dewey, Schon and Boud et al. assessed’, The Encyclopedia of Informal Education, [online] Available from: http://www.infed.org/biblio/b-reflect.htm (Accessed 2 October 2008).

As much as I struggled with TMA 1, I did find it a great exercise because I also found it a valuable learning experience. Part 1 - the academic essay - forced me (perhaps directed me is a better term) to "weave" the many concepts from Units 1 thorugh 4 (pdp, eportfolios, reflection) together in a coherent form that could be applied to a real life situation. An exercise in using the discourse of the topic, and personal engagement with these concepts to realize a possible practical application of them.

To my surprise, Part 2 - the reflective piece - proved to be the more challenging of the two. I think I made an assumption that this could be polished off quite easily and quickly.. but the moment I began to write things down, the process of reflecting on what had been learned already and how it might have impacted on my own personal development proved to be quite a mountain to climb. I started by confronting a bit of personal resistance to what was being asked - to identify what has really changed in my personal development after what still seems a remarkably short period of time (about 8 weeks). This seemed a tad bit over the top. I also confronted the personal need for quiet time to realize reflection (something that Moon noted - a part about slowing down activity) and yet was confronted by a deadline. Not a good mix - deadlines and personal reflection. Not a good mix at all.

It did dawn on me that I was practicing a reflective continuum here - reflecting on earlier reflections to see how things might have changed. How did I feel about the comments I made only a few weeks or even days ago?

What did I do to support this? I went back to my notes from readings on Richards and Moon to clarify for myself what constitutes "deep" reflection, even resorted to taking these notes, and putting them in front of me as a guide on how to attack the question. I've been pleasantly surprised by the outcome .. though I have to admit, I still have to plead some ignorance on how one can assess this sort of thing. The doubting Dewey mentions that is required to trigger reflection is certainly still there (Smith).

Activity 2.4 - Criteria for reflective writing

Readings
Moon (2001)
Richards (2005)

Advice to students on good reflective writing.

You need to understand what reflection is first, what its importance is to helping you learn. You likely already do it in a "non academic" common sense way , to think about something in more detail but often in a free thought or unstructured way (i.e. without a specific purpose or reason to do so) (Moon, 2001).

However we want you to practice more academic based reflection. Why? Academic based reflection is more guided, more purposeful. Reflection here is seen as realizing a deeper understanding of things, to connect that understanding with other things you know or to even challenge what you may already know. It often involves a critical evaluation of what you know to come up with more "sound", more "grounded, perhaps more confident judgements (Habermas) of things you have experienced and have come to "know". The alternative is to simply understand things in a simple, unconnected, isolated manner (Moon - surface learning). It can be seen not as a static "one off" process but part of a cycle featuring action then thought; a process of acting then refining your understanding of what it is you've done .. to then possibly repeat that action but with adjustments made that are based on your new understanding of the action (Kolb - experiential learning) . That process can be repeated to become an "activity reflection" cycle (Richards) directed to improving your understanding of things which in turn help move you closer to realizing a desired goal, overcoming an obstacle or solving a problem.

Put into the context of reflective writing, writing takes on new meaning. Writing means summarizing something. The content for that summary might be a thought, theory, experience or feeling. The act of summarizing invites you to interpret and personalize this content further. Reflecting on this writing invites you to relate these ideas to previous experiences to further personalize them or give them more meaning. You may find yourself going back to the same writing again and again, each time reviewing and refining it because your ideas have been changed by new experiences or ideas that impact on your understanding of the initial idea. These may test or challenge your earlier views causing a complete rewrite of them or they may invite you to refine the wording of them still more. Over time, you realize a deeper understanding of your initial idea. All of the writing, reviewing and editing also becomes a record of something potentially more useful to you - a deeper understanding of your learning processes.

This reflective writing process can be broadened through the inclusion of your peers. Their review or questioning of your work can also draw your attention to common themes or contradictions in your ideas. These too can cause you to clarify or refine your understanding of ideas.

Activity 2.1. - reflection on Karen's Post

Books
Moon (2001)
Lister (2007)

Karen's note about relating this to professional practice got me to thinking about my own context. After reading Moon (2001) and then Lister (2007) I think that I've been encouraging reflection from my learners in the IT training that I give. I've recently put together a post workshop.. skills checklist. This checklist is given to my visitors (and those who are "no shows") a day or two after the presentation.. As simple as it sounds, I'm asking people if they can answer a series of "I can" statements .. yes no or unsure .. without anyone being present. I realize now that I'm expecting this to be a reflective exercise where they then can decide on their next move.. and to guide the next move back to us for follow up support. thus the reason for adding on the same sheet a set of contact names, numbers and email addresses from our department . But because I've only just started with the idea, I'm not sure if it works.. I'm also now thinking that each of those I can statements could be linked back to "learning objects" as another option for self study.

Activity 2.3. - Reflection & learning

Posting
Karen J.Ogilvie, Reflection - Karen's first thoughts, Sun Sept 28 5:20 pm

Readings
Moon, Jenny (2001)
H808, Assignment guide


My read of the H808 Course Guide and Assignment guide is that the reflective work that we do in the form of "core activities" will become important evidence to support our case for how we have realized "professional" or "personal" development via H808.

The strength of these "core activities" and their reflections will in many ways determine the strength of the work we do later on with the TMAs. I also see how each one of those reflection pieces is really a snap shot of my understanding of a concept at a certain point of time in the course. As we proceed further into the course, I'm anticipating the need to revisit these, to review / edit / revise them based on still more reflection.. I also anticipate discovering how my depth of understanding on certain issues / definitions has changed over time... and that this becomes an important objective of the course.

In theory, the contents and organization of the eportfolio should be a byproduct of these deep reflections. To draw from Schon, I'm also expecting to experience a form of "reflection in action" or "reflection on action" (depending on the "time constraints" I'm under) as we move to realizing an eportfolio. (H808 - Assignment guide - page 3 .. In your reflective commentaries your tutor will be looking for evidences that you have ...."

In reference to Moon, I can already see that reflection is going to occur through the active use of the "reflective continuum". That reflection needs to be academic rather than "common sense" in approach, meaning that we need to strive to put what we read/learn via the material into a clear personal context to improve the depth of understanding of it. The activities that direct us to deeper reflection include summarizing what we've read, integrating it with our personal situations or experiences (i.e. experiences, beliefs, etc.) then testing it with others. I can see myself using the framework developed by Hatton & Smith (Moon) as another means to realizing this depth.

Is the notion that some forms of reflection are better suited to some disciplines relevant to my own subject area or practice?
Yes.. First of I'm conscious of the need to reflect. How it impacts on my own learning. I see it as critical to improving the effectiveness of what I do. It typically takes on some urgency when something doesn't go as planned or was a flop. I then often review assumptions that I made in planning something. It could be about my learners, the context .. but I try to focus on the things that I have control over .. which can be somewhat defeating. I have to remind myself to also examine outside factors that may have contributed to a problem. The biggest problem I encounter with realizing reflection .. is making time to consciously do it and then the issue is to what degree have I done it - or to what depth that I can rely upon it or feel confident about acting upon it.

Choice of other media for reflective activity?
I real find summarizing and writing an ideal reflective activity .. and it's greatly facilitated by word processing. Blogs seem a good place to collect and collate the ideas too, especially for future review and reflection. I already find myself making "comments" to myself.. (which seems a bit odd - sort of like "talking" to yourself asynchronously). I've had experience with podcasting but unless I'd want to review how I said things (i.e. register cues) I can't imagine that it would add much of any value to my reflective process. If anything, I currently see their production and assembly even detracting from realizing meaningful reflection.

Though this last point is being challenged by Karen's note about how medical students she works with are producing video as a reflective activity. Topics include "how well they work with people, how they communicate to ultimately make descisions". How this same video is shared with peers to get feedback on "how well they carried out the task".

I asked ...

Curious? Is this a video that they take of themselves or is it a video that they have arranged be taken of themselves where they do a "voice over" reflective piece on afterwards? What value do you and the students "see" in having the video over writing things down in a journal. Do they not get bogged down with producing it .. or knowing that their peers will "see" them? Do the visual cues (body language) cloud the ability to review the reflection or do they act as sort of a "truth litmus" test for peers to judge and mention in their feedback? Tons of questions here. Sorry.