{"id":196,"date":"2018-08-06T15:08:54","date_gmt":"2018-08-06T15:08:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.kcl.ac.uk\/aflkings\/?page_id=196"},"modified":"2019-08-05T12:27:12","modified_gmt":"2019-08-05T12:27:12","slug":"reflection","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/blogs.kcl.ac.uk\/aflkings\/students-directing-their-own-learning\/reflection\/","title":{"rendered":"Reflection"},"content":{"rendered":"<blockquote><p>&#8220;It is not sufficient to have an experience in order to learn. Without reflecting on this experience it may quickly be forgotten, or its learning potential lost.&#8221; (Gibbs, 1988:9)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<h2><strong>What is it?\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Reflection is a natural human thought process involving <strong>memory, analysis and future predictions and goal setting <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.researchgate.net\/profile\/David_Boud\/publication\/247281411_Promoting_Reflection_in_Professional_Courses_The_Challenge_of_Context\/links\/5622e4dc08aed8dd1944154a\/Promoting-Reflection-in-Professional-Courses-The-Challenge-of-Context.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">(Boud and Walker 1997).<\/a> Reflective writing is a more formal and structured expression of that process. Reflective writing is a common feature of many disciplines and professions such as nursing, management, education and medicine; therefore, is often summatively assessed in these courses. However, reflection has a place in all modules because it is key to learning. It can serve as a formative assessment tool to help students <strong>develop autonomy and direct their own learning processes.<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/eric.ed.gov\/?id=ED353469\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Mezirow (1991)<\/a> states that reflective thinking becomes critical thinking when it is a more careful and formalised process of writing.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-299\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.kcl.ac.uk\/aflkings\/files\/2018\/08\/relective-300x179.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"374\" height=\"223\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.kcl.ac.uk\/aflkings\/files\/2018\/08\/relective-300x179.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blogs.kcl.ac.uk\/aflkings\/files\/2018\/08\/relective.jpg 410w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 374px) 100vw, 374px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/student.unsw.edu.au\/reflective-writing\">image taken from https:\/\/student.unsw.edu.au\/reflective-writing<\/a><\/p>\n<h2><strong>Why would I use it?\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>It is the first step to developing critical thinking and analytical skills through examining assumptions, beliefs and knowledge <a href=\"https:\/\/eric.ed.gov\/?id=ED353469\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">(Mezirow, 1991).<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Reflecting on experiences, for example of critical incidents on placements or of the transition from high school to university can be a way of dealing with challenges which might otherwise have been internalised and caused stress.<\/li>\n<li>It builds confidence in students by identifying strengths and reinforces the growth mindset<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ted.com\/talks\/carol_dweck_the_power_of_believing_that_you_can_improve\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> (Dweck, 2013)<\/a> through identifying areas for development rather than inherent weaknesses.<\/li>\n<li>It builds knowledge and awareness of other genres of writing and means of disciplinary knowledge creation through <strong>reflection on action or experience <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/books.google.co.uk\/books?hl=en&amp;lr=&amp;id=jpbeBQAAQBAJ&amp;oi=fnd&amp;pg=PR7&amp;dq=kolb+1984+experiential+learning&amp;ots=Vn5QrS0ZPf&amp;sig=SoiNVSjEui2owuAfUJqm-0RD62Y#v=onepage&amp;q=kolb%201984%20experiential%20learning&amp;f=false\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">(Kolb, 2013<\/a>; <a href=\"https:\/\/hhs.hud.ac.uk\/lqsu\/Sessionsforall\/supp\/Sch%C3%B6n%20reflection-in%20and%20-on%20action.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Schon, 1993<\/a>).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Known issues:<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Reflection can easily become a hoop-jumping exercise, especially when summatively assessed. Students may be less likely to be honest and self-critical if they feel they are being judged on aspects of their personality or emotions. <a href=\"http:\/\/eprints.chi.ac.uk\/2845\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Mantle (2017)<\/a> calls into question the &#8216;right&#8217; of educators to formally assess a deeply personal process in which students discover themselves and the world around them.<\/li>\n<li>It is important to set meaningful tasks that students can engage with critically. In other words, students must be given <strong>something to reflect ON.\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>Students may not be used to the personal narrative style of reflective writing or treat it as descriptive diary writing exercise rather than a legitimate academic genre.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><strong>How has it been used?\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The most common method of reflection is through<strong> journals,<\/strong> which can be completed on paper or online. Reflection can also take place through the medium of <strong>presentations, blogs or videos.<\/strong> The basic structure of reflective writing involves a three step process:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Description of the task\/incident\/performance<\/li>\n<li>Interpretation, or analysis of what went well, what not so well, what could have been done better. This includes what was learned and comparison to other incidents\/tasks etc.<\/li>\n<li>Outcomes, or implications of what was learned. This includes how the experiences feeds into future learning and may involve goal-setting.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>In management and business courses, students who work in groups are often given roles and responsibilities based on organisational theories such as<a href=\"https:\/\/www.simplypsychology.org\/learning-kolb.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> Kolb&#8217;s experiential learning styles<\/a> theory or <a href=\"http:\/\/www.open.edu\/openlearn\/education\/learning-teach-becoming-reflective-practitioner\/content-section-6.2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Gibb&#8217;s reflective cycle<\/a>. Part of the assessment involves an individual reflection on the student&#8217;s <strong>team work<\/strong> and performance in the task using the learning styles and roles theory (and accommodating its critics).<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Students can be asked to reflect on a <strong>performance,<\/strong> for example in a lab or OSCE.<\/li>\n<li>Reflection can be used as part of a <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.kcl.ac.uk\/aflkings\/authentic-and-complex-tasks\/portfolios\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>portfolio\u00a0 (see this resource)\u00a0<\/strong><\/a>or the portfolio could be a reflection in itself.<\/li>\n<li>Reflection can take place in-class or online through <strong>small tasks<\/strong> to be completed throughout the module.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sheffield.ac.uk\/polopoly_fs\/1.139235!\/file\/Session23.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Griffiths and Freeman<\/a> from the University of Sheffield provide an example of assessed reflection in clinical practice<\/li>\n<li>See <strong>Case studies<\/strong>\u00a0in this resource for an example of a reflective writing assessment from <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.kcl.ac.uk\/aflkings\/2018\/07\/13\/dommett\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">BSc Psychology in KCL&#8217;s IOPPN<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.kcl.ac.uk\/aflkings\/students-directing-their-own-learning\/reflection\/how-can-i-use-reflection\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">How can I use reflection?\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>&#8220;It is not sufficient to have an experience in order to learn. Without reflecting on this experience it may quickly be forgotten, or its learning <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.kcl.ac.uk\/aflkings\/students-directing-their-own-learning\/reflection\/\" title=\"Reflection\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":386,"featured_media":0,"parent":46,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-196","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kcl.ac.uk\/aflkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/196","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kcl.ac.uk\/aflkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kcl.ac.uk\/aflkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kcl.ac.uk\/aflkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/386"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kcl.ac.uk\/aflkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=196"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kcl.ac.uk\/aflkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/196\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1199,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kcl.ac.uk\/aflkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/196\/revisions\/1199"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kcl.ac.uk\/aflkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/46"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kcl.ac.uk\/aflkings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=196"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}