Reflections on reflection

A form of mental processing – a form of thinking – that we use to fulfil a
purpose or to achieve some anticipated outcome. It is applied to relatively
complicated or unstructured ideas for which there is no obvious solution.
(Moon, 1999a, 23; Moon, 1999b, 10). Ref

I was recently lucky enough to catch a short workshop on learning how to reflect and understanding the general concept of how students can reflect.

The workshop was conducted by Jenny Moon, who works for Bournmouth Uni at their CETL. The whole presentation was well received and left some time for group discussion work. I felt that her framework (good tho' it is) lacked a degree of practical application in regards to how to teach reflection. In my opinion, busy lecturers , especially those teaching both FE & HE need a framework that can be easily taught to students. Two of the best I've come across by recommendations are simple frameworks that could be used to scaffold reflective writing. The first is a very simple model by Driscoll, called "What, so what, then what". It really is very good and easy to follow and could be used as a template in an assessment form or blog. The second is the Gibbs model used in teaching clinical reflective practice. It's perfect for teaching undergraduates, as it begins with description, ending up with reflection (applying previous experience to new situations). The Gibbs model along with the very useful Kolb [experiential] model are illustrated here @ URL http://www.health.uce.ac.uk/dpl/nursing/Placement%20Support/Model%20of%20Reflection.htm



Reflection using blogs

Julie Hughes a lecturer at Wolverhampton Uni has achieved a high degree of success in encouraging and facilitating deeper reflective practice in her cohorts of trainee teachers. Julie has achieved this in the last few years by using a simple blogging tool (like blogger), which is part of a bigger eportfolio tool. I have watched Julie present on this subject and she really has worked very hard to get this important critical self reflection to materialise in her cohorts. By really engaging with her students and pushing the use of a blog, she has made a tremendous difference to the way she teaches and how her students now reflect in a much deeper manner. You can read a recent interview with Julie here.

• Research my web links on reflection : http://delicious.com/deliboy/reflection

• Some extra resources given out by Jenny Moon from their CETL;

Reflection - http://www.cemp.ac.uk/research/refelctivelearning/ (50 pages)
Learning journals - http://www.cemp.ac.uk/research/learningjournals (30 pages)
Production analysis - http://www.cemp.ac.uk/research/productionanalysis
critical thinking - http://www.cemp.ac.uk/research/criticalthinking