Sunday, August 19, 2007

Reflecting on reflection

"have you any dreams you'd like to sell?" - Fleetwood Mac
"The mirror stares you in the face and says baby, uh uh it don't work" - Earth, Wind and Fire

I love reflective practice. The paragraph below is from 'Engaging from the Inside: Reflections on the Value of Social Cognitive Theory for Learning in Online Discussions' by Susan Greener, Asher Rospigliosi and Simon Shurville. We have been invited to upsize the presentation into a journal article.

Why should we reflect? We reflect as part of our natural thinking behaviours (Hall’s “everyday reflective practice” (1997)) as part of what makes us human. From a pedagogical perspective, Schon (1987) emphasizes the ideas of “reflection in action” and “reflection on action”, distinguishing between that which is done in the midst of action and can alter our responses and behaviours in real time, and that which takes place after an action is completed, where new views of reality can be made, producing post facto learning. Here reflection takes on a purposive flavour, a tradition, which includes Dewey and Habermas advocating a deliberate and systematic approach to reflection (Dewey 1997; Morrison 1995). It is this purposive approach to reflection, which can underpin transformational learning (Mezirow 1978; Moon 2000) and develop knowledge (Dewey 1997).

I think reflection is a really important part of 'Critical Technical Practice', which is my prefered mode of work. I was introduced to this concept through Agre (1997a, 1997b) who writes extensively on establishing a critical-technical practice in computing.

Critical-technical practice has four parts:

1. Once a problem presents itself, the practitioner searches the literature—formal, informal, printed, e-published, blogs etc—for insights
2. The practitioner applies insights to the problem in a practical setting
3. The practitioner evaluates and reflects upon the solution and any changes in methodology
4. The practitioner may share the results with their community of practice in the literature.

There are some potential pitfalls for this approach:

Since the literature in question might originate from an associated or foreign discipline, colleagues in one’s own discipline might not take it seriously or feel offended and threatened by its introduction.

Some practical colleagues do not see any advantage to bringing ‘book learning’ to the work place
Public reporting on failure or success can be seen as damaging to an organisation or wasteful of the manager’s time.

Somehow, then, the practitioner either needs to ensure that this method is applied in a way that is non-threatening to their colleagues and their own career or to plan a career change in the immediate post critical-technical practice future.


References

  • Agre, P. (1997a) Toward a Critical-technical Practice: Lessons Learned in Trying to Reform AI. In Bowker et al (1997).
  • Agre, P. (1997b) Computation and Human Experience. University of Oxford Press.
    Also available at http://polaris.gseis.ucla.edu/pagre/critical.html.
  • Bowker, G., Les Gasser, B., Leigh Star, S. and Turner, R., (1997) (eds.), Bridging the Great Divide: Social Science, Technical Systems, and Cooperative Work. Lawrence Erlbaum.
  • Dewey, J. (1997). How We Think.Dover edition reprint of 1910 edition. New York, Dover Publications Inc.
  • Greener, S., Rospiglosi, A. and Shurville, S. (2007). Engaging from the Inside: Reflections on the Value of Social Cognitive Theory for Learning in Online Discussion. In the proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on e-Learning, Columbia University, New York, USA.
  • Hall, S. (1997). Forms of reflective teaching practice in higher education. in R. Pospisil and L. Willcoxson's Learning Through Teaching. Proceedings of the 6th Annual Teaching Learning Forum, Murdoch University, Perth, Murdoch University.
  • Mezirow, J. (1978). "Perspective Transformation." adult education 28(2): 100-109.
  • Moon, J. (2000). "Reflection in Learning & Professional Development ".
  • Morrison, K. (1995). "Dewey, Habermas and reflective practice." Curriculum 16(2): 82-94.
  • Schon, D. (1987). Teaching artistry through reflection-in-action. Educating the reflective practitioner. Translated by D. Schon. San Francisco, CA, Jossey-Bass Publishers.

Journal of Learning Design


"I didn't know it would be so long ... Learning how to love you " - John Hiatt







I'm impressed by "The Journal of Learning Design [which] is a new educational journal which moves beyond a focus on technological applications in educational settings, to encourage more critical analysis of approaches to the design of learning environments and the extent to which they result in enhanced learning outcomes for learners. Traditional, didactic, delivery-focussed models of teaching in higher education still prevail, whether in the lecture theatre or in the online environment." from http://www.jld.qut.edu.au/. There is a full text archive online.