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.

Summary - Activity-reflection e-portfolios (Richards)

Resource
Activity-reflection eportfolios - An approach to the problem of effectively integrating ICTs in teaching and learning, Richards (2005)

Very interesting read.
Richards presents the idea of using eportfolios not as a simple repository for artefacts but as a means to realizing an activity reflection cycle with students. A cycling and recycling between activity and reflection on the process of completing a project, course or activity. More specifically a activity reflection cycle that causes the student to examine perhaps the various hurdles faced, identified and overcome in completing a project, or solving a problem. Very similar to Kolb's experiential loop or spiral, Schon's "reflection on action" but grounded in a context for application and organized / guided to a certain degree in practice (i.e. via questions or format)

The idea being that the learner may discover theory, procedures, or content not simply through reading but through a need to apply these to realize a meaningful project / purpose and then reflect on it. The depth of their understanding is challenged by this need to apply it to the problem. Note that reflections on the task and subtask is encouraged not just at the project's completion or even at the end of key stages of the project but before starting a task and while completing a task.

These can be realized via guided focus questions. Possible questions might encourage focusing on how they might solve or have ended up solving a problem, identifying the skills they had to learn to overcome a problem, or comparing their final work with exemplary examples.

Evidence of good reflection in the eyes of Richards?.

• responses with higher order learning / thinking / knowledge construction
• responses that related to practical experience or application of theory
• responses that were supported by references and/or well informed arguments

Example of a simple eportfolio framework?
A template with headings. Each heading with subheadings .. The student is asked to produce artefacts that support the needs described alongside or in the subheadings and are then stored and hyperlinked to these subheadings. Then the student needs to support the work with an overall review of the portfolio with a focus on reflections about

• key stages of development / learning
• their artefacts of learning

.. but the process doesn't end there. Final reflections are then posted for sharing with others which invites more opportunities for collective learning and creation of a learning community. From my perspective, this also invites the possible identification of "good practices" and debate about most effective "learning / problem solving strategies"