capstone unit preparation: reflective journal writing · capstone unit preparation: reflective...

30/03/2015

1

Prepared by

Nick McGuigan (Macquarie University)

GradCertIA – PIP115

April 2015

Capstone unit preparation: Reflective

journal writing

voice of the profession - 2 -

Overview

• The Capstone Experience

• The Reflective Professional

• Developing a Reflective Capacity

• Why Reflect?

• Engaging in Reflection

30/03/2015

2

voice of the profession

What is a Capstone?

- 3 -

voice of the profession - 4 -

Why Might this Experience be Significant?

• A capstone unit enables you to consolidate and contextualise your learning.

• Creating a cumulative learning experience across your programme of study.

• May allow you to develop a greater insight of your own thought processes.

30/03/2015

3


The Reflective Professional



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDXWYzz7cHM&feature=youtu.be

30/03/2015

4




Developing a Reflective Capacity

• “The Practitioner allows himself to

experience surprise, puzzlement or

confusion in a situation which he finds

uncertain or unique. He reflects on the

phenomenon before him, and on the

prior understandings which have been

implicit in his behaviour.” (Schön, 1983, p.68)

• It changes one’s insights offering new

‘ways of knowing’ or seeing the world (Baxter Magolda, 1992)

30/03/2015

5


• How can one develop themselves?

• Reflective practice becomes the basis for all professional work.

• To be effective we are expected to continue to develop ourselves – continuous learning.

• This requires more than just technical updates.

• It requires the development of a reflective stance so that one also learns from experience.




30/03/2015

6


• Reflective practice is "the capacity to reflect on action so as to engage in a process of continuous learning” (Schön, 1983, p.68).

• It involves "paying critical attention to the practical values and theories which inform everyday actions, by examining practice reflectively and reflexively. This leads to developmental insight” (Bolton, 2005, p.xix).

• “The insistence that the oppressed engage in reflection on their concrete situation is not a call to armchair revolution. On the contrary, reflection – true reflection – leads to action” (Freire, 2000, p.66).



• Reflection means looking back on an experience and making sense of it to identify what to do in the future. Reflection will assist you to: reinforce your learning, apply concepts and principles in different and complex contexts and identify the best action to take.

• So what’s in it for me?

Why Reflect?

30/03/2015

7


Why Reflect?

Taking part in a learning activity (Concrete Experience)

Observing & Reflecting upon your actions

Testing the Implications of your Experience

Mulling over learning experience: formulating ideas

and generalisations


Why Reflect?

• “… Reflection has imposed a positive change on who I am as an individual. It is a course of realisation, actualisation and enlightenment, which has made me grow and develop my mindset and way of thinking, tolerance for the views of others and acceptance for things that have happened.”

• So how do you think we might go about trying to engage in a reflective process?

- 14 -

30/03/2015

8


What is a Reflective Journal?

- 15 -

• A reflective journal is a way of thinking in a critical and analytical way about your work in progress.

• It can illustrate how aspects of your work interconnect

• Assist in developing one’s contextual appreciation


Engaging in Reflection

• “Reflective practice has its roots in the Enlightenment idea that we can stand outside of ourselves and come to a clearer understanding of what we do and who we are by freeing ourselves of distorted ways of reasoning and acting” (Brookfield, 1995, p.214).

• Taking Action

- 16 -

30/03/2015

9



• “Reflective practice is learning and developing through examining what we think happened on any occasion, and how we think others perceived the event and us. Reflexivity is finding strategies for looking at our own thought processes, values, prejudices and habitual actions, as if we were onlookers” (Bolton, 2005, p.7).

• Taking Action

- 17 -



• “In practice, reflection often begins when a routine response produces a surprise, an unexpected outcome, pleasant or unpleasant. The surprise gets our attention. When intuitive, spontaneous performance yields expected results, then we tend not to think about it; however, when it leads to surprise, we may begin a process of reflection” (Schön, 1983, p. 73)

• Taking Action

- 18 -

30/03/2015

10


Practical Strategies’ that may Assist

Developing Reflective Writing

• Similar process to critical reading – stepping back

• It Involves:

• Analysing and commenting on the event (process, object etc) from different viewpoints using contemporary ideas and theories

• Exploring and explaining the importance or relevance of the event

• Considering things that went wrong as well as successes

• Saying what the event means to you

• Saying how your learning will influence the way in which you work

- 19 -



How to Structure your Writing

• Description

• Interpretation

• Outcome

- 20 -

30/03/2015

11



- 21 -



Experience Reflective Process Reflexive Process

Learning Behaviours

What did I do? What were the consequences (for me/others) of the experience?

What was I trying to achieve?

What would I do differently in the future?

What guided my actions? How can I learn from the experience?

Feelings Did I achieve personal or externally driven goals?

Could I have handled the situation better?

Ideas Why did I respond in a certain way?

How might I improve in the future?

Activities How did the situation make me feel?

How does the experience link with previous experiences?

Actions What factors influenced my behaviour?

How can I apply what I've learned to other situations?

Did I achieve my ‘best’?

Did I let myself ‘down’? - 22 -

30/03/2015

12


References

• Baxter Magolda, M. (1992). Knowing and reasoning in college: Gender related patterns in students’ intellectual development. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers.

• Bolton, G. (2005). Reflective practice: Writing & professional development, 2d ed. Thousand Oaks, California: Sage.

• Brookfield, S.D. (1995). Becoming a Critically Reflective Teacher. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

• Freire, P. (2000). Pedagogy of the Oppressed. New York: Continuum.

• Schön, D. (1983). The Reflective Practitioner: How professionals think in action. New York: Basic Books.

- 23 -

capstone unit preparation: reflective journal writing · capstone unit preparation: reflective...

Documents