Reflective Journal

Learning Outcomes Explain the purpose of reflection State the benefits of maintaining a reflective journal Give examples of reflective models

Reflection How can reflection help me in practical class? What is reflection? “Reflection is an important human activity in which people recapture their experience, think about it, mull it over and evaluate it. It is this working with experience that is important in learning”. (Boud, Keogh & Walker, (1985),pg 19) How can reflection help me in practical class? We all reflect to some extent while working, for example, if something goes wrong in marking out or cutting the joint we make a mental note of it and try not to repeat the same mistake the next time. This is reflection in it’s simplest form.

Reflective journal What is an reflective journal? A Journal is keeping a written record of events. A reflective journal is also about reading back over past entries and writing about newly acquired knowledge. A reflective journal is a very effective tool in developing learning and deepens the learning experience. There are many models used for reflection.

Schön In practical class you are learning the skills of jointing techniques. Schon’s reflective methods best apply in this situation. Schön’s (1983) reflection-in-action (thinking while doing the task) as you need to reflect if the task in hand is going well or if you need to stop and re-evaluate what you are doing. In“reflection-in-action”, “doing and thinking are complementary. Doing extends thinking in the tests, moves, and probes of experimental action, and reflection feeds on doing and its results. Each feeds the other, and each sets boundaries for the other” (Schön, 1983, p. 280, as cited in Visser,W.(2010) pg 21)

Schön Schön’s reflection-on-action (thinking after-the-event) allows you to evaluate what you have just completed ask what you would have done differently and allows you to make decisions on what you will do the next time around. Exercise Think about your practical class last week. Is there anything that you would do differently next time around. For Example: The sequence in which you approached each task. The method used to complete each task. The pace at which you worked. The end result.

Schön Exercise In answering those questions what can you do if anything to improve on last weeks work. As you are ‘learning by doing’ you need to reflect on what you are doing as you are doing it and how you could possibly do it differently the next time around.

Schön’s views on professional practice Schön believes that as students progress in professional life that they will be more capable of being able to think on their feet and develop their practise as they draw on past experiences. Schön’s argument was as follows: Professional practice is complex, unpredictable and messy. In order to cope, professionals have to be able to do more than follow set procedures. They draw on both practical experience and theory as they think on their feet and improvise. They act both intuitively and creatively. Both reflection-in and on - action allows them to revise, modify and refine their expertise. (as cited in Finlay, L. (2008) pg4)

Kolb’s Reflective Cycle Experiential learning 1. Experiencing: Immersing yourself in the task 2. Reflection: What did you notice? 3. Conceptualisation What does it mean? 4. Planning What will happen next, What do you want to change? Kolb’s Experiential learning is going a step further than Schön’s. The reflection -in-action was only taking place when things were going wrong, with Kolb’s the reflection takes part on an ongoing bases.

Kolb’s Reflective Cycle Using Kolb’s reflective cycle allows you to plan ahead. By thinking back on how things progressed the last time around you are now in a position to plan your work better. Example: I cut the tennon too narrow. Why did this happen? Was it because I did the groove first? Planning Next time I’ll cut the cheeks of the tennon first before grooving.

Gibbs (1988) Reflective Cycle Description – What happened? Feelings – What were you feeling? Evolution – What was Good/Bad? Analysis – What sense could you make of the situation? Conclusion – What else could you have done? Action Plan – What could you do next time? Gibbs model is a never ending cycle whereby theory and practice constantly feed from each other

Gibbs (1988) Reflective Cycle By starting off using basic reflective models you should progress to a deeper reflective process. The more you engage in reflection the deeper your learning experience becomes. You begin to use your own system for analysing tasks and can apply your learning to any task given instead of just similar tasks.

Gibbs (1988) Reflective Cycle In professional practice tasks do not always follow set procedures. You need to draw on both practical experience and theory to think on your feet and improvise.

Blogging Online blogging can be used as an outlet were you can express your thoughts and ideas in a fairly quick manner. It is a place were you can keep all these ideas and resources together. It can be used to hold online discussions with other members of your class or programme. It can also allow you access to the wider community, help you make contacts, with people in the industry.

Performance Check Outline the purpose of reflection List the benefits of maintaining a reflective journal Identify three reflective models

References Boud, D., Keogh, R. & Walker, D. “Promoting reflection in learning: a model.” In Boud, D., Keogh, R. & Walker, D. (eds.) Reflection: Turning Experience into Learning, New York: Nichols, 18- 40, 1985 Finlay, L.(2008) Reflecting on ‘Reflective practice’. UK http://www.open.ac.uk/cetl- workspace/cetlcontent/documents/4bf2b488874 59.pdf Moon, J,A. (2006) A Handbook for Reflective Practice and Professional Development. Routledge .USA. Schön, D. A. (1983) The Reflective Practitioner: How Professionals Think in Action. New York: Basic Books. Visser,W. (2010). SCHÖN: DESIGN AS A REFLECTIVE PRACTICE issue 2 of Collection, on "Art + Design & Psychology," pp. 21-25. http://hal.archives- ouvertes.fr/docs/00/60/46/34/PDF/Visser_Coll ection2_Schoen.pdf

Resources Resources for online blogging: www.blogger.com www.penzu.com www.posterious.com www.tumblr.com