Reflective Thinking and Writing

Academic Learning Development

learningadvice@westminster.ac.uk
 Workshop Outline

1. What is reflection?
2. Why reflect?
3. Reflection during your studies
4. Reflection for assignments
5. Reflective and critical thinking
6. Reflective writing
7. Using reflection models
8. Overcoming problems with
reflection
9. Reflection on the session
 What is Reflection?
• Consciously looking at and thinking
about our experiences, actions,
feelings and responses and then
interpreting them, in order to learn
from them (Boud et al., 1994).

• We can do this by asking ourselves

questions about:
– what we did
– how we did it
– what we learnt from doing it.
 Why Reflect?

▪ Explore situations from different perspectives

▪ Explore and clarify your feelings, reactions and responses to
issues
▪ Look at how we can adapt to situations
▪ Consider our strengths and weaknesses
▪ Explore gaps in our knowledge
▪ Develop an understanding of how we learn and what we know
(metacognition)
▪ Look at the relationship between theory and practice
▪ Learn from our experiences and actions
 Reflection during your studies

– Reflection is a way to explore and clarify your response

to ideas, opinions, situations, and challenges.

– It can give you new perspectives on yourself and your

work.

✔ Make time to "pause and reflect"

on a regular basis.
Reflective questions for use at the end of
the week…

1. What experiences have you had this week that confirm

that this is the right course for you?
2. Have you collected any evidence of competence this
week?
3. Did you identify any gaps in your knowledge this week?
How will you tackle these?
4. Did you identify any skills you found difficult to master
this week? What could you do about this?
Activity
Look back on your week and take a
moment to reflect.

You could consider...

– Did you identify any gaps in your knowledge this
week? How will you tackle these?
– Did you identify any skills you found difficult to
master this week? What could you do about this?
 Reflection to clarify your thinking

Before you start writing an assignment you will need to explore

and clarify your response to the question

What can we do to avoid personal bias in our essays?

We can reflect…
⮚ Consider the origin of our assumptions
⮚ Use probing questions to examine our thinking
(e.g. Who? What? Why? When? How?)
⮚ Consider other viewpoints/perspectives
 Reflection and Critical Thinking

It is generally believed that the thinking process

involves two aspects:
1. reflective thinking
2. critical thinking

They are not separate processes;

rather, they are closely connected
(Brookfield 1987).
Critical thinking Justify actions, solve
problems, deeper meanings,
changes
Assumptions
Attitudes, values,
beliefs

Revisit
experiences

YOU
Reflective thinking

Mezirow 1990, Schon 1987, Brookfield 1987 The thinking process Available at The
Learning Centre http://www.lc.unsw.edu.au (online) Accessed 2-5-12
Forms of reflective writing

It may be structured or unstructured

– diary
– study or work journal
– blog
– assignment

* Check the assignment brief and/or module

handbook. You may have specific guidelines to follow.
Reflective writing is:
– your response to experiences,
opinions, events or new information
– your response
to thoughts and feelings
– a way of thinking to explore your
learning
– an opportunity to gain self-knowledge
– a way to achieve clarity and
better understanding of what you are
learning
– a chance to develop and
Reflective writing is not:
– just conveying information,
instruction or argument
– pure description, though there
may be descriptive elements
– straightforward decision or
judgement (e.g. about whether
something is right or wrong, good
or bad)
– simple problem-solving
– a summary of course notes
– a standard university essay
Comparison between reflective writing and
core academic writing
 Similarities

Reflective writing, just like core academic writing…

– requires research and development
– depending on task, focus on the question and answer the
question
– critical thinking and analysis are important
– the writing should be organised into paragraphs with
accurate sentence structure etc
– use a formal style
– discussion should be clear and coherent
 Differences

Unlike core academic writing, reflective writing…

– connects with personal feelings and behaviour
– includes observation and evaluation
– may be quite descriptive, using 1st person
– used in specific ‘genres’, e.g. critical incidents,
journals
 Reflective Assignment Preparation
– Collect evidence
• Your reflections on experience (e.g. journal/log-
book) or your reflections on material you have
seen/read (news/internet articles)
• Academic evidence (e.g. published case studies,
academic research and theories)

– Be selective:
• Consider important happenings (‘critical
incidents’)
• Focus on a few significant aspects
 Connecting Reflection to Theory
When writing reflective assignments you may need to
consider how you can relate your experiences to theory
and ideas from your course.

For example:
‘Once we had agreed upon our aims and
objectives, the group began to work
together. This is not unusual, as Appleby
(2008) maintains, group cohesion often
follows once a sense of shared intentions is
established.’
 Using Theory in Reflection
– The purpose is to show that you can see the link between theories, evidence,

ideas and approaches you read about, and their relevance to your personal

experience.

– To do this you need to understand the content, and then reflect on the implications

for you and your practice.

– To make this happen, you need to reflect on the points of connection. Your

reading explains, interprets, provides evidence for, and makes you rethink or

resolve issues. You can draw on it or apply it to your experience and with it your

beliefs, knowledge, values and opinions.

– How you organise you writing can help you do this. After you have been immersed

in reading, try making the conscious effort to reflect on the link between your

experience and the theory, evidence, policies or studies you are reading.

– You can then use these topic areas that link theory/evidence/practice as a basis
 Using Theory Model

– https://www.bradford.ac.uk/academic-skills/media/l
earnerdevelopmentunit/documents/workshopresou
rces/confidenceinreflection/Thy,-scs-and-evi-in-Ref
-W-Ass-Booklet---Student.pdf
 Reflective Writing Style
Often uses first person and third person
- Your experience = first person (‘I felt’)
- The academic material = third person (‘Smith proposes that’)

Often uses past and present tense

- When writing about reflections use the past tense (‘I felt’)
- When referring to the theory use the present tense (‘Smith
proposes that’)

Weaves together your experience and discussion of academic

material/theory
 Gibbs’s Model of Reflection

Feelings
Description
What were
What
you thinking
happened?
and feeling?

Action Plan Evaluation

If it arose What was
again, what good and bad
would you about the
do? experience?

Analysis
Conclusion
What sense
What else
can you
could you
make of the
have done?
situation?

Gibbs, G. (1988) Learning by Doing: a guide to teaching and learning methods. Oxford: Further Education Unit.
 Describe – Interpret - Outcome
Description
What happened?
Interpretation
What is most important / interesting / useful /
relevant about the experience/outcome?
How can it be explained?
How is it similar or different from other events/
experiences/ approaches/ theories?
Outcome
What have I learned from this?
Have my ideas changed?
 Example: Describe – Interpret - Outcome

Specific tasks were shared out amongst members of my team. Initially, Describe
however, the tasks were not seen as equally difficult by all team members.
Cooperation between group members was at risk because of this perception of
unfairness. Social interdependence theory recognises a type of group Interpret

interaction called ‘positive interdependence’, meaning cooperation (Johnson &

Johnson, 1993, cited by Maughan & Webb, 2001), and many studies have
demonstrated that “cooperative learning experiences encourage higher
achievement” (Maughan & Webb, 2001). Ultimately, our group achieved a Outcome
successful outcome, but to improve the process, we perhaps needed a
chairperson to help encourage cooperation when tasks were being shared out.
In future group work, on the course and at work, I would probably suggest
Source: Maughan, C., & Webb, J. (2001). Small group learning and assessment. Retrieved August 01,
2007,
this.from the Higher Education Academy website: www.ukcle.ac.uk/resources/temp/assessment.html
 Reflection Activity:

Reflect on your participation in a recent seminar…

– Describe what happened – What did you think? How did you
feel?

– Interpret what happened – why did it happen? Can it be

related to other events or previous/later experience? Are there
different viewpoints to consider? Could you be wrong?

– Outcome – have you learnt something from this reflection?

Have your ideas changed? Is more reflection needed?
 Common Problems with Reflection

– unsure of writing style

– feeling uncomfortable expressing thoughts
– unable to think of ideas, events or issues
– not able to accept strengths
– unwilling to discuss ideas with others
Overcoming problems with reflection:
Identifying what you have learnt

Working backwards…

– Identify what you have learnt

– Examine how you got there
 Activity:

Identify what you have learnt…

– Make a list of three things which you have learned about

yourself from one of the following:
a) your course
b) a particular experience, e.g. preparing an essay, giving a
presentation
c) an incident
 Overcoming problems with reflection:
Free writing
 
Moon (1999) suggests using free writing activities to get
your ideas flowing.

– If you are finding it difficult to get started with

reflective writing, try thinking of a topic and write
continuously on that topic for five minutes.
– It is likely that once you begin writing, you will
surprise yourself at how much you do.
 Activity:
Free writing about your emotions

Spend five minutes free writing about one or more of the

following emotions:

– Pain
– Anger
– Joy
Overcoming problems with reflection:
Sharing your experiences

– Consider different perspectives on an issue

– Consider different approaches that have worked for

others
 Conclusion: Reflection

Reflection can help you:

⮚ Explore and clarify
⮚ Link theory and practice
⮚ Learn

Strategies to aid reflective writing:

✔ Reflection models e.g. Describe-interpret-outcome
✔ Free writing
✔ Working backwards (identifying what has been learnt)
✔ Sharing/responding
 Academic Learning Development
Skills Resources
– You can find workshop slides, help-sheets and useful
materials on our 'Skills Resources'' Blackboard page.
 Academic Learning Development
▪ Appointments with a learning adviser
▪ Skills workshops and other activities

Bookings:
https://engage.westminster.ac.uk/ALD