BMSW 4001

Academic and Employability Skills

Reflective writing
(for term 1)

1
 Overview
• What is reflection?
• What is reflective writing?
• What is a reflective report?
• Multiple perspectives in reflective writing
• Why reflect?
• Example frameworks/models of reflection:
 Gibbs ‘Reflective Cycle’ (1988)
 Kolb’s ‘Experiential Learning Cycle’ (1984)
 Driscoll’s Model (1994, 2000)
 What is reflection?

Reflection is a purposeful activity in which

you analyse experiences, or your own
practice/skills/responses, in order to learn
and improve.
 What is reflective writing?
Reflective writing is evidence of reflective
thinking.

In an academic context, reflective thinking

usually involves:

1. Looking back at something (often an

event/idea, something that happened).

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 2. Analysing the event or idea (thinking in
depth and from different perspectives, and
trying to explain, often with reference to a
model or theory from your subject).

3. Thinking carefully about what the event or

idea means for you and your ongoing
progress as a learner and/or practising
professional.

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 What is a reflective report?
• a piece of writing that summarises a student’s
critical reflection on a subject.

• provides an opportunity for you to gain further insights from

your work through deeper reflection on your experiences, and
through further consideration of other perspectives from
people and theory.

• While traditional academic writing discourages first-person

accounts, reflective reports rely on them.

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 Multiple perspectives in reflective writing
• Whilst your reflective writing will be based on personal
experience, it will also need to draw on other sources and
types of evidence if you are to better understand your
experience.

• Possible sources of evidence for reflective writing:

 Other things I know
 Personal aspirations
 Work-based issues
 Application to other modules / learning
 Academic theory

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 Why Reflect?
“It is not sufficient simply to have an
experience in order to learn. Without
reflecting upon this experience it may
quickly be forgotten, or its learning
potential lost. It is from the feelings and
thoughts emerging from this reflection
that generalisations or concepts can be
generated.”
(Gibbs, 1988)

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 Common Frameworks (models)
of Reflection
• Gibb’s ‘Reflective Cycle’ (1988)
• Kolb’s ‘Experiential Learning Cycle’ (1984)
• Driscoll’s Model (1994, 2000)

…..there are more reflective frameworks!

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 Gibb’s ‘Reflective Cycle’ (1988)

Image source: https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/nmp/sonet/rlos/placs/critical_reflection/models/gibbs_cycle.html

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 Description:
• What happened? Don’t make judgements yet or
try to draw conclusions; simply describe.
Feelings:
• What were your reactions and feelings? Again
don’t move on to analysing these yet.
Evaluation:
• What was good and bad about the experience?
Make value judgements.
(Gibbs, 1988: 46-47)

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 Analysis:
• What sense can you make of the situation?
Bring in ideas from outside the experience to
help you. What was really going on? Were
different people’s experiences similar or
different in important ways?
Conclusions (general):
• What can be concluded, in a general sense, from
these experiences and the analyses you have
undertaken?
(Gibbs, 1988: 46-47)

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 Conclusions (specific):
• What can be concluded about your own specific,
unique, personal situation or way of working?
Personal action plans:
• What are you going to do differently in this type
of situation next time? What steps are you going
to take on the basis of what you have learnt?

(Gibbs, 1988: 46-47)

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 Kolb’s ‘Experiential Learning
Cycle’ (1984)

Also in Morgan,
2017 – page 33!

Image source: http://cei.ust.hk/files/public/simplypsychology_kolb_learning_styles.pdf

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 Concrete experience
• A new experience of a situation is
encountered, or a reinterpretation of existing
experience.
• Life is full of experiences we can learn from.
Whether at home or at work or out and about,
there are countless opportunities for us to
'kick-start' the learning cycle.

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 Reflective Observation
• …of the new experience. Of particular importance are
any inconsistencies between experience and
understanding.
• Reflection involves thinking about what we have done
and experienced. Some people are naturally good at
this. Others train themselves to be more deliberate
about reviewing their experiences and recording
them.

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 Abstract Conceptualisation
• Reflection gives rise to a new idea, or a modification
of an existing abstract concept.
• When we pass from thinking about our experiences to
interpreting them we enter into the realm of what
Kolb termed 'conceptualization'. To conceptualize is
to generate a hypothesis about the meaning of our
experiences.

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 Active Experimentation
• The learner applies them to the world around them to see what results.

• In the active experimentation stage of the learning cycle we effectively

'test' the hypotheses we have adopted. Our new experiences will either
support or challenge these hypotheses.

• To learn from our experiences it is not sufficient just to have them. This
will only take us into stage 1 of the cycle. Rather, any experience has
the potential to yield learning, but only if we pass through all Kolb's
stages by reflecting on our experiences, interpreting them and testing
our interpretations.

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 Basically…

Image source: https://www.bradford.ac.uk/wimba-files/skill-space/Reflective_Writing_HTML/page_04.htm

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 Driscoll’s Model (1994)
Driscoll developed and
matched Borton’s (1970) 3
stem questions of ‘What?’,
‘So what?’ and ‘Now
what?’ to the stages of an
experiential learning cycle.

Image source: https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/nmp/sonet/rlos/placs/critical_reflection/models/driscoll_cycle.html

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 What.. (returning to the event)
• is the purpose of returning to the event?
• happened?
• did you see? did you do?
• was your reaction?
• did other people do?
• do you see as key aspects of this situation?

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 So what… (understanding the context)
• how did you feel at the time?
• how do you feel now? are there any differences? why?
• were the effects of your actions?
• are the positive aspects?
• troubles you? if anything?
• were your experiences in comparison to your colleagues
etc.?
• are the main reasons for feeling differently from your
colleagues etc.?

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 Now what… (adjusting future outcomes)
• are the implications for you, your colleagues, customers etc.?
• needs to happen?
• are you going to do about it?
• happens if you decide not to do anything?
• might you do differently if faced with a similar experience?
• information / skills do you need to face a similar experience?
• are your key learning points from this experience and reflection?

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 Individual task
• Think about a topic from this module
• Write a short reflection (2-3 paragraphs)
• Ideas:
– Comment on today’s lesson/topic: did you know about it before? Did
you find it useful/difficult/challenging/boring? Why?
– Try to remember how you felt about this module at the beginning of
term 1: compare with how you feel about it now
– Briefly summarise and comment on the usefulness of topics covered so
far this term

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 References
• Gaynor, A. (2013) Schön’s (1983) Reflection-in-action and reflection-on-action. Available at:
https://hhs.hud.ac.uk/lqsu/Sessionsforall/supp/Sch%C3%B6n%20reflection-in%20and%20-on%20action.pdf (Accessed at: 8th July
2019).
• Gibbs, G. (1988) Learning by doing: a guide to teaching and learning methods. [London]: FEU.
• Hampshire Online Learning (Year) Driscoll (by Borton) Model of Reflection (1994). Available at:
https://www.hampshireonlinelearning.co.uk/pluginfile.php/4368/mod_resource/content/6/What%2C%20So%20What%2C%20Now%20
What.pdf
(Accessed: 8th July 2019).
• Hampton, M. (2010) Reflective writing. A basic introduction. Available at:
http://www2.port.ac.uk/media/contacts-and-departments/student-support-services/ask/downloads/Reflective-writing---a-basic-introducti
on.pdf
(Accessed: 5th July 2019).
• Leeds Beckett University (2015) Content Preview: Models for structuring reflection. Available at:
https://skillsforlearning.leedsbeckett.ac.uk/preview/content/models/02.shtml (Accessed: 8th July 2019).
• Kolb, D. A. (1984) Experiential learning: experience as the source of learning and development. Englewood Cliffs; London: Prentice-
Hall.
• McLeod, S. A. (2013). Kolb - Learning Styles. Available at: www.simplypsychology.org/learning-kolb.html (Accessed 8th July 2019)
• Morgan, P. (2017) The Business Students’ Guide to Study and Employability. London: Sage.
• Schön, D. A. (1983) The reflective practitioner: how professionals think in action. New York: Basic Books.
• University of Leicester (Year) David Kolb. Available at:
https://www2.le.ac.uk/departments/doctoralcollege/training/eresources/teaching/theories/kolb (Accessed: 8th July 2019)
• Watton, P., Collings, J. and Moon, J. (2001) Reflective writing. Guidance notes for students. Available at:
http://www.learnhigher.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/Reflective_writing_The_Park_WattonCollingsMoon.pdf (Accessed: 8th July 2019)

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 Further Reading
• Getting Started with Reflective Practice (Cambridge International Education – Teaching and Learning
Team) - https://www.cambridge-community.org.uk/professional-development/gswrp/index.html (Accessed:
5th July 2019)
• Sewell, C. (2017) Reflective Practice Workshop. Available at:
https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/bitstream/handle/1810/265159/MEM_ReflectivePracticeHandout_V4_2
0170616.pdf?sequence=1
(Accessed: 8th July 2019)

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