Reflections on TMA 2

I spent a wack of time on Part 2 ... integrating my understanding of our work in Acitivity 5.2 with the concepts of good practice in elearning.. and applying reflection to unearth them. An excellent assignment in my view because of how it caused me to really reflect on the level and quality of my interaction in the assignment. Perhaps pinpointing strengths and weaknesses in my reponses (or non responses) at various stages within .. and challenging my near knee jerk reaction to cry "foul" for the absence of a more comprehensive framework to guide the activity.

Key observation?

It must be a real difficult balancing act for an elearning course designer to realize a properly scaffolded assignment. The balance is between not providing too much structure so as to avoid guiding learners in a prescriptive fashion.. and not providing enough structure so as to minimize student guess work as to the purpose of the project assigned.

What I did with the reflective component in TMA 1. I did with the essay component of TMA 2. I made the mistake of underestimating the demands of the question ... Great question .. but not enough time for me to "weave" the assortment of themes the activity asked us to review - values, good practice, pd issues, pd strategies, evidence selection, reflection, collaboration, assessment, support tools .... to then reflect upon their relevance in my own context (my choice of contexts to use) to realize a comprehensive and well organized enough answer.

Key observation?

Caused me to conclude the need to have a comprehensive professional development plan that is self directed, "do"able and supported by solid evidence.... and to execute it to support other possibilites. I am keen to realize some sort of post H808 learning community to realize some sort of online community that supports peer review / collaboration. I think I may even be a candidate for the CMALT accreditation some time down the road..

Lessons learned from the TMA this time? Start even earlier with the ECA. Perhaps getting both the reflective component and eportfolio component behind me so that I can concentrate on the final essay.

Activity 7.2 - relevance to TMA2 Part 1?

Sources

Cheer, Peter (2008) ‘core activity 7.3’, H808 - aeb324 Unit 7, [online] Available from: fcp://@oufcnt1.open.ac.uk,%231004824/H808%20aeb324%20Self%20ass/%23162285826 (Accessed 6 December 2008).

Consider how these notes and FCC messages could be incorporated into TMA2 part 1

Areas where this info might be relevant?

Ways of evidencing my pdp development ...

• connecting with others with similar job title and responsibilities
• sharing personal objectives, evidence, competency frameworks, reflections

Ways of recording & evaluating development

• use of a rubric and then links to evidence to support attainment / progress towards an objective on the rubric

Knowing the different roles that elearning professionals play in this context

• need to identify others who share a similar role or at least others who understand the importance and complexity of the role (Peter Cheer)
  

Peter's idea of blind exchanges within a large organization or association to realize peer reviews of one's pdp efforts .... the advantage being that both parties have a stake in realizing detailed review and feedback .. and thus there's likely to be a higher participation rate.

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).