Being an effective, reflective practitioner: an experience shared

Katrina Swanton, FAUAQuality & Standards Manager

Student & Academic Services

Working Session 207

AUA National Conference & Exhibition, Leeds, March 2016

Warm up exercise

• Pick up an envelope from your table

• Write your name at the top of the front of the envelope

• Write what you hope to gain/achieve from this working session underneath your name

• Introduce yourself and your aims to your neighbours at your table

Aims of the Session

• To share my experiences of keeping a reflective journal over 12 months and the impact it had on me.

• To discuss and share methods which support reflective practice and the benefits and challenges in engaging in reflective practice.

• To identify and gather personalised action points to take away with you in your envelopes

My starting point:

I had developed the habit of regularly capturing and recording information regarding my own professional development

I was benefitting from regular mentoring sessions as a mentee where I was required to reflect regularly

Achieved Accredited AUA membership in 2013 and gained Associate Fellowship of the HEA in 2014• Aligning PDR objectives to AUA’s CPD Framework of

professional behaviours• Used Evernote (tool used to gather evidence)

See https://evernote.com/Use of tags was particularly helpful for this process

June 2014 - applied for a promoted secondment to lead preparations for the University’s Enhancement-led Institutional Review (ELIR)

During my interview I informed the panel of my intention of keeping a diary or blog through the secondment1) To capture and record my own personal

professional development

2) To capture information which could be used for institutional learning

Why?

• Recognising the fast pace and complexity of the project

• Acknowledging the work-flow during the 12 months would include less busy periods, facilitating opportunity for reflection

• I was applying for a promoted secondment – I wanted to take full advantage of the opportunity to learn from it, for my own career development. I wanted the interview panel to know this

• Informed by the theory that reflection serves to generate knowledge (Dewey, 1933; Habermas, 1977)

• Theories on experiential learning also influenced my thinking

Concrete experiencing of an experience

Reflective observation

Abstract conceptualising

Active experimentation

A simplified version of the experiential learning cycle (Kolb, 1984), taken from Moon, 1999 –Also see Gibbs, 1988

Schön (1983) The Reflective Practitioner makes the distinction between reflection-in-action and reflection-on-action

Reflection-on-action is a form of reflection that occurs after action and relates via thought to the action that the person has taken - ‘stop and think’

Diaries/blogs/learning journals are a method of supporting reflection-on-action - “A vehicle for reflection” (Moon, 2006)

Chose to use an online journal app (DAYONE) – on the recommendation of a student

Easily accessible on my ipad, phone, desktop –with advantage of adding photos etc.

Privacy settings

Additional data automatically stored (such as date/time/location)

Other tools are available

During the project, I recorded around 100 entries. Some short, some much longer. Some entries were descriptive, some were

more reflective. For me, the value was in the whole process

For good practice in being reflective using learning journals see:

Jennifer Moon (2006) Learning Journals: A Handbook for Reflective Practice and Professional Development (2nd Edition), Routledge.

How did I use the journal?

• Sporadically. Not everyday – but regularly and often multiple entries on different themes on the same day (not necessarily intentional – associated guilt for not doing it better!)

• Graphically. Illustrated entries with photos/ screengrabs to assist visual memory and ease description

• Privately. The entries were written with me as the only reader in mind – to encourage honest and open entries. I was aware that the entries would be distilled for other purposes, such as end of project report

“A couple of days ago, I had a 1:1 with [my line-manager]. She asked me a number of questions about preparations for ELIR, particularly around briefing and I was honest in saying that I felt somewhat in the dark as I have never really been involved in ELIR visits before. It lead [my line manager] to retort quickly “Then you need to get a torch” - fair point.

I did stress that I was using the 1:1 to have an honest conversation about how I was feeling and that I would be trying to exude more confidence in other dealings with colleagues - but it did get me to think about my demeanour and preparation - and to buck my ideas up a bit.

It triggered me to prepare better for the ELIR Project Team meeting the next day so that the Project Team would have confidence in me. I didn’t do masses - just transferred the thoughts/proposals that I had articulated on a paper circulated to the Project Team onto a series of flip-chart papers which I could then present to facilitate discussion. It seemed to work well.

In chatting with [my line manager] today I asked her whether I had come across as more confident in the meeting and she confirmed that she had made a note to commend me on the approach I had taken, and that I had come across as well prepared and knowledgeable. I thanked her for giving me the metaphoric kick up the bum to do so…”

Entry from January 2015 – names removed

Some advantages• ‘Therapy’

– when I look through my entries, I can see that I am using the diary to help me articulate concerns or frustrations that I was not able to share (at that time) and it helped me to process the actions I should be taking to continue leading the project successfully

– I also recorded successes (small and large), and positive feedback received. This is important to capture for self-esteem and for evidence of a job well done. It is important to think about why something was successful – luck or good judgement? and to consider what you can learn from it

Some advantages

• Documenting a project through from the beginning to the end provides a fantastic source of information/data which I have used in different ways:

– To produce a final project report which intended to highlight some of the institutional lessons learnt, which will hopefully inform future approaches to ELIR (or its successor)

– To inform the production of my successful application for Fellow of the AUA

Opportunity for future use:

• Continuing to develop my skills in reflection – for example double entry journalling = deep reflection

• A resource to draw on when applying forfuture jobs/ future professional accreditation

References and Further Reading Suggestions

• Boud, D., Keogh, R. & Walker, D. (1985) Reflection: Turning experience into learning, Kogan Page, London.

• Dewey, J. (1933) How we think, D.C. Health and Co, Boston.

• Gibbs, G. (1988) Learning by doing: A guide to teaching and learning methods (available: http://www2.glos.ac.uk/gdn/gibbs/)

• Habermas, J. (1977) Knowledge and human interests, Heinemann, London.

• Kolb, D. (1984) Experiential learning as the science of learning and development, Prentice Hall, NJ.

• Moon, J. (1999) Reflection in learning and professional development, Kogan Page, London.

• Moon, J. (2006) Learning journals: a handbook for reflective practice and professional development, Routledge, London.

• Schön, D. (1983) The Reflective Practitioner, Jossey-Bass, San Francisco.

Your reflective practice: group exercise

In your tables, share your experiences of being reflective practitioners:

- Do you consider yourself a reflective practitioner?

- How easy do you find it to be reflective?

- What are the barriers to being more reflective?

- What tools have you used?

- What has worked well?

- What has worked less well?

Use the prompt postcards to help your discussions

Remember to fill your envelopes with any useful advice or ideas you want to try out

Contact me

Email: k.swanton@napier.ac.uk

Twitter: @Katrina_Swanton

LinkedIn: Katrina Swanton, FAUA, AFHEA

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