Core Activity 2.5 Criteria for Reflective Writing

Hazel has focused on one of the aspects of the PENNState Reflect: Providing Insight website pages that gave me pause for thought, namely the selection of the subject for reflection. Hazel wondered whether this advice would lead to what she called 'sterilised selection', and I am inclined to agree.


On the very first page of the website, they describe what reflection can help learners to do; understanding yourself, reflecting on experiences, reflecting on yourself as a learner by discovering what kind of a learner you are, are three of those outcomes. The four stage Reflection process they describe in the Reflective Writing Steps section mirrors precisely the four stages in the Kolb Learning Cycle, referenced by Moon (2001), and whilst Moon observes that this process has proved very popular with teachers, I wonder if, for professional self development, there is enough emphasis on critical reflection. For my taste, the tone of all of the Reflect pages is rather introspective, and I wonder whether this introspection might focus the learner too heavily on what is already known or experienced - 'sterilised reflection' to extend Hazel's point;-)

Moon (2001) also considers Schon's work on professional learning. Schon's research has concluded that professional practice is not derived from theory, but rather develops when the professional adapts their theoretical learning to apply in the practice area in which they are engaged. This practice over time become what Schon calls tacit knowledge, and professionals can be unaware of the personal mental models upon which they are basing their professional practice. As I reflected in my blog on activity 2.4, "Making this 'knowing in action' explicit in order to reflect on it critically is seen as an essential trigger to professional development." On that basis, a model which focuses unduly on what has happened and what can therefore be concluded about the learner may make the learning process 'sterilised' (to use Hazel's term). My favourite writer on the subject of Transformative Learning in Adults is Jack Mezirow. His research (1991) highlights the predisposition in adults to develop a set of assumptions which, over time, become strongly held, and are rarely open to question. Yet if, as professionals we are to make our 'knowing in action' explicit, as Schon recommends, the subjects that we choose for reflection are surely vital. To make our tacit knowledge explicit, we must surely reflect on experiences which were, for us, routine, and which we handled instinctively?
Having made that selection, the Penn State advice does not cover how learners go on critically to reflect on that experience to surface an assumption. Mezirow's (1991) model includes a reflective stage in which an assumption is critically reviewed, "to re-establish its validity or to correct distortions"(p15). Moon's (2001) input-output model of refection imagines a number of possible outcomes of reflecting on an experience, two of which are; critical review and material for further reflection. Looking outside of the experience for material that challenges the assumptions, and brings an alternative perspective to supplement the existing mental models would seem to me to be important stimulus to engender transformational learning.

That said, the basic structure of the PENNState Reflection advice seems solid and logical, and gives learners an understandable structure which, for many, may de-mystify the process of reflection. In particular, I found the Rubric in the section Description vs Reflection gives valuable questions that learners can use to critique the extent to which their reflective writing has progressed beyond the purely descriptive to the sharing of meaning. The advice about writing style in the Reflective writing steps is most practical and makes what could be a most challenging task seem eminently do-able.



Madeleine


Note: this blog duplicates my posting on the H808 website, and is included on my personal blog for completeness of records.



Mezirow, J. (1991) 'Transformative Dimensions of Adult Learning', Jossey Bass, San Francisco.

Moon, J. (2001) ‘PDP working paper 4: reflection in higher education learning’ (online), The Higher Education Academy. Available from: http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/assets/York/documents/resources/resourcedatabase/id72_Reflection_in_Higher_Education_Learning.rtf (accessed 29 June 2007).

Penn State University (2006) REFLECT: providing insight, http://portfolio.psu.edu/reflect (accessed 10 July 2009).