Reflection and Learning Core Activity 2.4

Moon's (2001) paper takes a practical view of reflection and the role it can play in higher education. There are several helpful pointers for H808. And, whilst I am currently engaged in higher education as part of H808, my professional life involves me providing learning experiences for professionals who are in employment, rather than in education. I will therefore be very keenly looking out for lessons that can carry over to my professional practice.

Moon quotes Schon on the subject of Professional Knowledge. His research has demonstrated that espoused theory does not guide professional practice, rather a professional's expertise in practice is based on their reflections of the experience of being a professional. The professional over time develops tacit theories, of which they may be unaware. Making this 'knowing in action' explicit in order to reflect on it critically is seen as an essential trigger to professional development. This may very well be a start point that H808 participants should assume, myself included.

Mezirow (1991) similarly contends that adult judgements are based on assumptions, many of them very deeply held, and that these assumptions are open to question. Reflection on assumptions is therefore vital if the learner is to incorporate new knowledge into their view of the world. He describes reflection as the "intentional assessment of prior learning in order to re-establish its validity or to correct distortions"(p15).

It seems to me that both of these descriptions of the professional mindset demonstrate why we ought to take seriously the development of our reflective capabilities as learning professionals. If we wish to set an example for our learners of good learning practice, we must consider the extent to which we actively look for input that challenges our own view of the world, and that we demonstrate that we can use this input critically to examine our own assumptions. The more experienced we are, the more difficult that may prove to be, especially in the event that we do not have sufficient awareness of our own metacognitive processes.

The cohort on H808 contains a highly experienced group of professionals, who undoubtedly have strong assumptions and opinions, myself included. Since we are all required to use a reflective journal of our personal and professional development, I believe we must be willing to engage in Deep Learning. Moon, quoting Marton, Hounsell and Entwistle (1997), believes that reflection is required if learners are to move into the deeper levels of learning; making meaning, working with meaning and transformative learning.

In my own personal practice, there is an immediate parallel for the application of this learning, as we are running a Distance Learning Programme for a group of experienced professionals: these individuals have signed up to learn our consulting methodology and are considering incorporating it into their own practices. The three higher level learning processes I described above are very relevant for this group, who must be encouraged and supported to engage in deep learning, and hence, reflection. It may be possible for me to use the observation of the levels of reflection I am able to engender in my business students in parallel with our H808 reflections.

Moon recommends a number of methods for capturing reflective activity, including blogs, portfolios, reflecting on work experience, and peer and self assessment. These are all being encouraged on H808, and blogs, work experience and peer assessment will be used on my work project. Moon also recommends reflective exercises for learners who find reflective thinking difficult. These may have a place in my work based programme.

One benefit of a blog for reflection is that it is a medium in which creating the learning journal is very adaptable and correctible. In addition, the fact that the blog can then be viewed and commented on by others provides the chance to get feedback. The opportunity that a blog offers of keeping an ongoing record of reflections also sets the data in a context that enables the tracking learning development over time. Finally, the fact the the blog is published lends weight to its significance; were you just keeping personal private journal, there may be less thought given to its construction.





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/id69_guide_for_busy_academics_no4.doc (accessed 2 July 2008)