Reflective Practice for Educators - Essay Example

Reflective Report Learning through experience and reflection is relatively long term as one can relate to it later on. Reflective practice is a process of learning from and through experience by which the learner can gain a new perspective of self or the activity being practiced (Finlay, 2008). Quoting great theorists such as Lewen, Dewey and Piaget, Osterman and Kottkamp (1993) stated that learning becomes most effective and is more likely to cause a change in behaviour when an experience especially a problematic experience is involved. In any environment, practitioners need to reflect on what they learn in order to change their practice and improve at what they do. Based on this concept, I examine my everyday practices to gain self-awareness and to critically assess my response to various situations. Although learning through experience plays an important role in the development of the professionals, often experience alone is not sufficient for learning. One needs to reflect or revisit the experience so that it is not forgotten. Reflection is an operation of mind which gives rise to new ideas and thoughts (Scharp, 2008). This operation helps understand and handle different situations and once you reflect on an idea you gain an entirely new view on how it appeared to you in the first instance. Therefore in my opinion, reflection helps understand a situation better while forming a link between theory and practice. Brigden and Purcell (2014) stated that unless a link is established between theory and practice, reading based on evidence is of little use. Hence it can be said that reflection has helped me develop the most effective delivery in terms of student learning which is also both manageable and practicable. This report shares my personal experiences and reflections on my action learning exercise. We were assigned an action learning task in which we have to work as a group. As a group we worked as an action learning set where we have to work in coordination with each other to accomplish the task of preparing the presentation. I am reflecting on that experience to learn from its outcomes as Surgenor (2011) emphasised that when you become aware of your shortcomings and reflect upon them you take appropriate steps to correct them. Through observation and analysis, one becomes able to figure out the problems and rectify them. This report is a reflective essay to help me learn from my experience of the group work. I used the Kolbs Model as a guide while assessing my experiences in this action learning exercise. Kolb’s learning model is especially useful in my action learning program. According to this model learning is a continuous cycle which begins with experience; we then revisit the experience and think about all the ideas, feelings and behaviours associated with it; in other words we reflect on our experience. Action learning is another name for learning from experience and it teaches the skills of initiating reflections and converting them into specific and real actions (Fry et al, 2008). In action learning the emphasis is not on “learning for its own sake” rather learning is treated as a process so that issues are resolved and obscurity in problems are understood through deliberate and informed actions (Griffith et al, 2008). Through action learning and reflection I become more open to resolution as also highlighted by Dilworth (1998). In the group work while preparing the presentation we were supposed to learn from each other through discussion and reflective listening and all group members were supposed to work on a specific task within a specified time frame. My group and I were to prepare a presentation on Marks and Spencer and present it to the board of the company. Though we worked together as a group however we identified later that there were few shortcomings; communication amongst us was smooth and we had group conversations but still there are areas which I realise now that need improvement. We came from diverse backgrounds and we were supposed to work in a manner that the differences amongst us do not become hurdle in the learning process; however the situation was just the opposite. Instead of coordinating and assisting others we lack collaboration. Though apparently we communicated well and seem to be well-conversant however there was an obvious distance. Though we were supposed to divide our tasks in a way that there are members in group that work as presenters, supporters and facilitators so that each and every role is performed well; however we didn’t do any such thing. No members were assigned the role of the presenter to present ideas and listen to others’ ideas and to perform action planning and controlling task, no one is assigned the role of supporters to identify issues and challenge problems, and no one performed the role of facilitator to control the process and create an effective learning climate. Instead of assigning all these roles to different members and working in an effective manner we just split the parts to be presented into categories and then each person just picked an area in which he / she has expertise. This is good as one can work comfortably if they are well acquainted with the area / responsibility assigned to them. However, there are some conditions attached to working in this way; to enhance learning all members must sit together and discuss their areas of expertise with those weak in it so that everyone knows about every bit of the presentation. But since we didn’t share our expertise with others and worked in isolation this has led us in a wrong direction. Though the way we used to divide parts of our presentation ensured the work is distributed fairly so no one complained of excessive workload however the element of learning was affected adversely. This has helped in achieving the deadlines we set for ourselves but again learning element is missing because everyone was working on their own without taking into consideration the ideas and suggestions of others. This gap and lack of coordination led us to a situation where we lose track completely. Just around one and a half weeks before the presentation we found that we had totally misunderstood what was required from us and our presentation was going in a wrong direction. With just ten days left, we had to redo it properly. This time we first discussed what was required from us and then proceed on how to do it. This shows that our group meetings were not as productive as they should have been because none of us figured out in the first place what was needed from us and also we failed to realize that we were going in the wrong direction. Basically our presenter failed to control the focus of discussion which is the reason why we were diverted from the real problem; however we were able to finish the presentation within the given time. We worked with real issues and after consideration and discussion were also able to find answers to the problems. To see whether we were able to find effective answers, we need evidence which will appear in the form of increase in productivity as a positive change in organizational culture enhances productivity. Reflecting on this group work I feel that the work completed within the group has allowed me to learn the issues of working in a team. It clarifies the importance of understanding the value of performing ones task properly in order to facilitate group work. My experiences of working in this group have taught me that though we presented as a team but we were just doing our own individual tasks. However, this should not be like this, it should not be taken as individual tasks rather we should come together to work and give time in understanding each other’s views better. Constant interaction among group members is very important to ensure the work is going in the right direction. In this way we might have kept track of the required things and might not have lost the direction. There are different areas where I believe improvement can be made. First is the interaction among group members; though we have interacted with each other but not as frequently as we should in order to ensure we are on the right track. Secondly, we should not only be concerned about our own individual tasks rather we should have helped others in achieving their goals and solving their problems. In this way a better understanding would have developed that would have helped us achieve our common goals more effectively. Johnson (1995) explained that involvement of all members in decision making is important to ensure commitment and encouragement. I believe this is also lacking in our group. There was effective communication where we exchange ideas but there is a lack of acceptance where we leave final decisions pertaining to everyone’s individual tasks on their own. Decisions should be made collectively so that ideas become more refined and a better understanding of the task is gained. In our case, we left decisions on individuals due to which we lost track and ended up in a wrong direction. Change management is also a very important area in team work where individual members should be tolerant towards change (Johnson, 1995). In order to bring change in our approach towards the team work we need to synchronise to perform better. Based on this reflection on action learning exercise, I believe we all should be more social and accommodating where we interact with each other more frequently and listen and accept each other’s’ ideas (Johnson, 1995). We should not only work in good coordination but we are also supposed to perform our roles as evaluators and completer as highlighted by Johnson (1995) that these roles are important in order to ensure teams work efficiently and effectively. There should be a well coordination among individual members of the team and team roles should be defined properly where some members keep track of the tasks and some members keep track of the deadlines and outcomes. In this was change is possible and things can be managed effectively. This exercise of reflecting on my experience of working in a team provides a point of reference for development where I can polish my skills that will help me in my personal as well as professional growth. This reflection has given me a record for future reference where I can relate to where I went wrong and what could have been better if things were done otherwise. This has helped me solve problems I faced during my group work and how those can be resolved. Upon relating things that I learnt through experience with the things that are available in the theory, I gained more deep understanding of how things work and how I can make them work in my favour. Overall, this reflective learning and writing exercise has allowed me to ponder on what I did and what I should have done to make things more easy and productive for myself and for my team. References Brigden, M. N., & Purcell, N. (2014). Focus: Becoming a reflective practitioner. The Higher Education Academy. Available: [Accessed: April 15th, 2014] Dilworth, R. L. (1998). Action Learning in a Nutshell.  Performance Improvement Quarterly 11, (1): 28-43. Finlay, L. (2008). Reflecting on ‘Reflective practice’. PBPL paper 52. Available: [Accessed: April 15th, 2014] Fry, H., Ketteridge, S., & Marshal, S. (eds.) (2008). A Handbook for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education. 3rd Ed. London, Kogan Page. Griffiths, D., Ingle, J., Massey, A., & Pokorny, H. (2008). Learning (and staying) Together Beyond the Classroom: experiences of action learning sets. Investigations in university teaching and learning 5 (1): 42-51. Johnson, J. (1995). How Teams Work. UK: Select Knowledge Limited. Osterman, K. F., & Kottkamp, R. B. (1993). Reflective Practice for Educators. Newbury Park, California: Corwin Press Inc. Scharp, K. (2008). Lockes theory of reflection. British Journal for the History of Philosophy 16 (1): 25-63. Surgenor, P. (2011). Tutor, Demonstrator & Coordinator Development at UCD: Reflective Practice. UCD. Available: [Accessed: April 15th, 2014]. Read More