Reflection…
One of my biggest concerns about taking the PGCAP qualification is that I felt I may struggle to be able to relate and understand some of the non-technical (yet very valid) teaching and learning techniques, particularly that of reflective learning. I’m sure that part of my lack of understanding will be unfamiliarity with the terminology and perhaps I’m already doing lots of these things, but I know them by a different name.
Today was my first lecture for the Engineering Construction module and the particular topic that I was delivering is all about sustainability. The design of the lecture notes and accompanying presentations is intended to establish a principle where the students are able to define a set of sustainable values that they can embrace when they design to and that they can perhaps extend to other parts of their life.
I’ve been reading through a few[1,2,3] texts about reflective learning and practices to try and understand a little better how I could perhaps start to integrate this into my lectures. Clearly I’m going to struggle in lectures where I ask the students to undertake an engineering calculation where the answer is a finite number, but a module where they have to establish a set of principles and then apply them to various scenarios sounds ideal.
I decided that I’d set their homework for this week to try and promote an element of reflection, bearing in mind that my understanding of reflection is in its infancy and very likely to be clumsy and I’m seeking to improve this with practice and as I progress further into the PGCAP course I’m hopeful that I’ll start to embed this without even perhaps realising it’s reflection, simply a tool I can employ to help with my teaching.
The assignment that I’ve set a group of 120 or so students this week is to calculate their individual carbon footprints using the WWF carbon footprint calculator and to then to reflect about how they could reduce their carbon footprint using the carbon reduction tools that are available.
I think this will help them to understand that some measures to reduce their carbon footprint are quite extreme and can impact the quality of life, whereas other carbon reduction techniques are quite straightforward and very easy to implement into even the busiest and financially constrained of lives.
I’ll be really interested to hear next week what sort of solutions they come back with… and how hard they think some of the carbon reduction techniques would be to implement into their lives. I was never encouraged to think like this during my Civil Engineering degree, but then I didn’t really study any non-engineering subjects and I’d have relished being able to study sustainability… it always comes back to one of my favourite quotes by Ghandi “Be the change you wish to see in the world”.
[1] McDrury J, Alterio M. Learning Through Storytelling in Higher Education: Using Reflection and Experience to Improve Learning. London: Kogan Page Limited; 2003.
[2] http://www.itslifejimbutnotasweknowit.org.uk/files/whatisreflectivepractice.pdf
[3] http://www.cumbria.ac.uk/Public/Education/Documents/Research/ReflectiveTeachingGuide.pdf
Hi Neil,
I am really pleased you have started reflecting on your teaching practice. You seem to focus on reflection itself not just for your own learning but have started exploring how you could perhaps use reflection in your own teaching with your students. This is excellent. I always say, teaching is learning and I can see that there will be loads of benefits from this approach. So, well done for this.
You also raise an interesting point about the terminology used on the PGCAP and in education more wider and you are right that some of the terms might or are alien but in fact they are just labels for things you are already doing or know what they are. And I think you have started realising this. While you shared with us openly that reflection is something you struggle with, I can see that you have made a really good start.
You have started moving away from just describing an experience and looking deeper into the how and why and being self-critical too, which are vital ingredients of reflection. There is evidence of some analysis and rationale as well already and this is really good Neil.
I would be very interested to find out what made you decide to ask your students to use reflection for their own learning. Perhaps you could expand on this a bit further and bring in some of the literature you already mention to strengthen your viewpoint. Some of the literature is there already. Remember that we are using the Harvard Referencing System and that it will be very useful to explain why you refer to specific papers/literature and make clear links between your thinking and what the research says. Also the student voice and this of colleagues might also be useful to explore.
Remember reflection is messy and beyond linking to theory there is room for externalising feelings, analysing these but also learning to step back from our experiences. You have started doing some of these. We reflect to learn something through it and in many cases this means a change and/or action. But before we do that and because reflection is a process activity, I would say, we should also consider options before acting. We are going to look at reflection next Tuesday and there are already resources available in Blackboard. Also check our reading list for this module. Please feel free to access these in advance of the session.
Keep reflecting and developing your reflection. Having a focus in each of your entries will help you to deepen this activity and maximise learning.
Well done so far!
Chrissi
Hi Neil,
Good evening! I’m really looking forwards to hearing how your students get on too, and you seem to have taken to reflection like a duck to water. The subject of sustainability is interesting too. Are you involved with the Salford House4life project? It might be a useful trigger to get the students reflecting even more, and maybe working with public health and occupational therapy? Anyway, I’m off to consider creativity in teaching, have a good weekend, and see you on Tuesday
Sarah
Hi Neil,
I’ve enjoyed your reflection and let me know how it all goes. I’m from the business school and not at all technical so loving this…real challenge!! How do you put your photo on??
See you Tuesday,
Kate
Hi Neil!
Your post clearly demonstrates your commitment to all the professional values which are articulated in the UKPSF and which underpin teaching and support learning in higher education.
I believe this and your other posts particularly show your commitment to the professional value 3, i.e. to “Use evidence informed approaches and the outcomes from research, scholarship and continuing professional development”. This course has made me see quite clearly how teaching cannot just be made of “talking along”, but needs to be a continuous professional inquiry. We must be curious about teaching as much as about the subject that we teach. We cannot be “just” lecturers, we must strive to be good lecturers; that is, lecturers like you who actively think about teaching and learning and who want to keep their enthusiasm for teaching and education.
The standards quoted in the UKPSF might be short statements, easy to overlook – or underestimate in importance. These standards, however, are indeed the hallmarks of a good teacher, the critical thinker (like our students are required to be : ), rather than the technician, encapsulated in Donal Schoen’s term “the reflective practitioner” (Schoen 1983). It’s the quality which our skilled mentors in our PGCAP cohort have displayed – the ability to articulate the good practice, to explain beyond the anecdotal level why strategies work in the classroom – in short, to construct a conceptual framework that allows us (by way of subconscious imitation sometimes : ) to transfer the knowledge to one teaching situation to another, and to know why we are choosing to do so. It is absolutely clear from the positioning of the UKPSF Professional Values – the way they impact on the Core Knowledge and the Areas of Activity by shaping the activity and the understanding and knowledge in an almost unconscious way – that research and evidence must go hand in hand with teaching as a professional activity. As much as this should be the case in our professional worlds of engineering or interpreteing.
So, to conclude with some encouraging words (although I’m not really applying the Open University’s recommended feedback sandwich as my feedback here was all positive : ) well done and keep up with your inspirational work and.. reflection! : )
Fabrizio
Ps. I’m lucky I wasn’t in your class, though, because if I had to calculate my individual carbon footprints, with all the planes I have to take for work, the WWF calculator would probably explode or suggest I plant a forest the size of the Amazon .. : >