Summary Post

Schoe (1983) contends that reflective practice uses many methods for one to understand the difficulties of decision-making in the organization. What’s more, Cooper et al (2017) believes that reflective practice is a core competency and is necessary for effectiveness within the organization. As such, organizations who employ critical reflective practice will see to the goals being met which will lead them to be successful.

This course has lead me to the realization from sitting in the student’s seat that there is a need for further development as a teacher. Being unsure, unclear, not confident and frustrated are all signs that my knowledge, skills and attitudes must be developed further. I have knowledge in understanding the key terms associated with reflective practice; I am aware of the core values or standards of reflective practice, but there is still a necessity for me to acquire a greater understanding of how to effectively integrate technology into reflective and reflexive practice. Though there is some knowledge there is still a need to know when and how to use them to be a teacher, whether in the classroom or the workplace, with reflective practice.

Critical reflective thinking maybe considered as my strongest skill as I am able to self-assess, self-correct, monitor and problem solve. An example of my critical reflective thinking is, I was faced with a dilemma where an employee had forwarded some documentation to be checked and approved, when I saw it my first reaction was, “seriously after all this time and you still can’t get it right”, but knowing that this is not the correct way to proceed with it, I went away to reflect on why it maybe that it was presented this way and what can I do differently to ensure it does not happen again. Well, I must say that days later I had not spoken to the person, but eventually I did and informed her of what is expected informally, I further intend to guide her as she continues to do the job assigned.

They were many lessons learnt and benefits to be derived from this course. One of the things that stood out to me most is that one of the primary task of being an effective teacher is to unlock the potential of others, the butterfly story demonstrates that sometimes we have to step back and let others do what they need to do. In practicing effective reflective-reflexive practice this is one of the things I intend to do by having my employees prepare action plans to be used to guide the process and see the weaknesses and areas where there is a need for improvement in an effort that we can be successful within the organization.

At the beginning of this course we were asked to conduct a VARK test and the BIG 5 personality test. What I have gathered from this exercise is the fact that we need to understand that everyone learns differently and as such we must be able to understand their needs and be able to effectively cater to everyone. Additionally, people come with all types of personalities and therefore we need to “know” who is who and how to treat each person. This is especially way beyond reflective practice whether in the organization or the classroom.

I clung to the Kolb’s Experiential Model as I saw how it was beneficial for me in the organization as we could engage in the entire cycle before completing our reflection and putting plans in place to improve. However, my colleague, Raylene was quick to point out that perhaps another model could also be used in my instance. This led me to realize that not all models would fit a particular situation and in some instances more than one model can be used. To emphasize this point further as I created my lesson plan for my grade 5 students, though Kolb’s Model is considered my favorite model, it is not quite relevant for children at that age and so I leaned towards the Rolfe’s Model as a guide to their reflections.

When I commenced my journey, there was little technological competency and I had no idea what were some of the tools, let alone technology, that could be used to promote reflective/reflexive practices in education. As I extended my knowledge, by putting myself to the test, I came up with many ways of allowing for critical thinking to be present. The “Hmmm” board and the Reflection Wheel are two of the tools which can be used for younger children for them to discuss their feelings and their thoughts. What I have learnt as I interacted with my colleagues is that they are many and depending on the audience targeted they can be retrofitted to suit. One such that I will take away is that of blogging, no longer will I frown on it as being something that a “geek” would do but see the benefit of how it can allow for others to share their experiences and knowledge with others.

As I took a look at the technology, I see how the Edmodo tool can be used not only for younger children but it is well suited for all ages. Even though Michael, provided us with a good explanation on how twitter can be used and Lorraine as she demonstrated the benefits of Instagram, I am still unsure and that would be as a result of me not changing my mindset on what I perceive their purpose to be, that of informal interaction. Flipgrid, Vlog and Wikis are some of the technology used by my colleagues that I will definitely investigate further as I attempt to broaden my scope of all types of technology that can integrate reflective practice. One of the reason this is especially important to me, is recognizing the climate we are currently in and the fact that the teachers are so lost as to how to use the recommended Google Classroom, even though it is not for reflective purposes, it has led me to believe that you must be well versed in numerous ways of getting the tasks done, noting further that all students are different and learn differently. I believe that reflecting is continuous and as such moving my competencies from emerging to transforming will occur overtime.

They were two highlights for me in this course, creating the lesson plan and engaging in the group presentation as we contributed to the development of our very own model. As I speak about the lesson plan, I see why it is absolutely necessary that you prepare these as this can act as a guide to what is expected of you and how you will get these things done. Funny enough, for me this lesson plan can then be used to aid in reflection at the end of the course, as you revisit based on results coming from students, that is, if there is a need to add more assignments or perhaps “cut” back on the number that is given. What’s more, I am extremely proud of the video which I created to demonstrate the lesson plan. My proudness comes as I was able to utilize technology to complete the said assignment. One may laugh and say “ammmm” what about it, but the fact that I was able to use something more than power point is in fact a great accomplishment for me. The model that was created by my group was done after extensive review of various models, considering the target audience and what it is that we would want them to reflect on. I thoroughly enjoyed working with my group members, Michael, Raylene, Lorraine and Janine in developing the below model.

At the end of it all I understand the importance of reflecting and how it is critical for the success of any organization and I plan to adopt it not only professional but personally in making changes based on what went before.

I will not let my life happen to me, I will happen to my life. – I will ARRIVE.

Cooper, L and Trubanova Wieckowski, A (2017). A Structured Approach to Reflective Practice Training in a Clinical Practicum – Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Training and Education in Professional Psychology 2017, Vol. 11, No. 4, 252-259

Schoe, D (1983): The Reflective Practioner. New York, USA

Social Learning Tools - Blogs, Twitter and Videos

As a budding educator, I must admit that there is so much more that I need to learn in order to be most effective in providing the necessary skills needed to integrate technology into lessons in an effort to enhance learning. What’s more, as I think about using technology in reflection, I believe there is a little more understanding as to how I can achieve this with the sole purpose of allowing my students to engage in critical thinking reflection no matter the age group. I hope to get to the place where, through reflection in technology I can engage students and allow for collaboration among them which would provide an environment for learning.

I always considered myself to be an expert in PowerPoint and that was the extent of my technological capacity which I know now is not quite enough especially in aiding in reflection. This module spoke to blogs, videos and twitter which can assist in reflection. Before commencing this course, none of these technology tools to which this module referred, would have meant anything to me when speaking about reflection. In one of my classes in my undergraduate studies, I had the opportunity to complete reflections every week, but, these reflections were done the old fashion way, pen to paper.

Out of all these tools learned in this module, blogging remains the way I can definitely see being very useful in reflection. This may be so, as this is the only one to which I am familiar with. I see how it can allow for students to publicly share their thoughts and effectively collaborate with each, all the while learning from each other in a controlled environment.

What was most impactful to me was the article by Boltivets et al. (2018), in which they questioned blogging and its ability to achieve “curricular goals”. Blogging for me, can play an active role in reflection as students are able to provide information and their thoughts on a particular topic in a creative and fun way. In an article by Azizineshad and Hashemi (2011) they sum up blogging as being of a benefit as a teaching tool as it leads to collaboration, discussions and even portfolio material by the student which not only shows what they have learnt but also provides others with their knowledge and experience. On the other hand, it was made clear from some researchers that they do not believe that blogging can lead to individual reflective learning and collaboration as all persons may not have a sense of belonging in a blog space. I laugh as I think about this, because, if not asked to do this in this course, I for one would not have ventured into what I would consider to be the unknown, that of blogging. Being knowledgeable about what it can do, I intend to educate students on the benefits to be derived from such a tool in reflection. Below I have a copy of my blog which I am very proud of, which shows my thoughts on various topics and some of the artefacts that illustrates who I am.

When I saw twitter as a tool used for reflection, I could not possibly understand how, not sure if this is because I do not even have a twitter account or is it because I am thinking this is more a personal form of socializing and may not have a place in education?

Recognizing, as stated by Dewey (1933), that reflection leads to "an act of searching, hunting, inquiring to find material that will resolve the doubt, settle and dispose of the perplexity", I stepped outside of my readings as I dug deeper for an understanding as to why and how to use twitter in reflection. What I learnt was, it can be used to scaffold learning and engage students in critical thinking as noted by Mistry (2011). Hmmmm, though I understand and appreciate that it could be beneficial, I am still not convinced that this is a method I would consider to be used for my students. Twitter for me - not yet. What I need to first do so that I am not one who is considered as stifling students, would be to engage in this form of social networking to gain a better appreciation for what it can do and what I can do to incorporate it in the best possible way into teaching and by extension reflective practices.

I have had the opportunity to prepare and complete many videos, what was confusing to me was how do I reflect on the videos that I did, and similarly, how would I expect students to engage in reflection after completing a video. The Gibbs model, came to mind as this would be able to look at our reflection through the cycle. This would be accomplished by describing what happened, taking a look at what the feelings were at that point, being able to see the good and the bad in the experience, analyzing the situation and concluding by seeing what could have been done differently before putting the plans into action.

As I take a look at this model, one of the elements that stood out to me most is the bad experience I got in completing the video. This was so as I struggled with the form of technology used, this led me to analyze the situation, recognizing that I need to familiarize myself before assignments are due with various forms of technology in an effort to be knowledgeable with these tools. I have shown also what I would do differently as I await the next assignment to put these plans into action.

Below I have shared with you one of my videos that I have created. This video led to much reflection as there is so much that needs to be considered in how this was created. Colleagues, using the Gibbs model, share your thoughts on the reflective cycle using the video as your reflection exercise.

Azizinezhad, M., & Hashemi, M. (2011). The use of blogs in teaching and learning translation. ProcediaSocial and Behavioral Sciences, 28, 867–871.

Boltivets, S., Acharya, S., & Santos, A., (2018) Educational blogging: Implications, benefits and challenges to pedagogical practice.

Dewey, J. (1933). How we think: A restatement of the relation of reflective thinking to the educative process. Chicago, IL: D.C. Health.

Mistry, V. (2011). Critical care training: using Twitter as a teaching tool. British Journal of Nursing, 20 (20), 1292-1296.