Resources for Reflective Learning
This is a section of 50 pages from Moon, J (2004) A Handbook of Reflective and Experiential Learning , Routledge Falmer, London. You are welcome to use this material freely, but it would be good if you referenced it.…. There is more detail on the exercises in the book, but some are self evident
Introduction
On these pages are exercises, material for handouts and examples that are designed to support the introduction and use of reflective and experiential learning. The instructions for the use of these materials in within the text, mainly in Chapter 11, with some further references in Chapter 13. Copyright restrictions have been waived, so these may be copied freely for use with learners.
Below the resources and their subject matter are listed with the page number that is their main reference in the text of the book.
Resource 1 The processes of writing reflectively: a map of reflective writingp
Resource 2 Reflective Writing - some initial guidance for students (handout)p
Resource 3 A comparison of Reflective Writing and Report or Essay Writingp
Resource 4 Samples of Reflective Writingp
Resource 5 The Park - an exercise in reflective writingp
Resource 6 The Presentation - an exercise in reflective writingp
Resource 7 Questions to support reflective writingp
Resource 8 Dialogues – an exercise to expand reflective thinking and writingp
Resource 9 A Framework for Reflective Writingp
Resource 10 The Dance Lesson - an exercise in reflective writingp
Resource 11 Strategies for enhancing learning from everyday experience p
Resource 12 An exercise on judgementp
Resource 13 Footprintsp
Resource 14 Poetry as a form of capturing experiencep
Resource 15 Instructions for using The Park, The Presentation and other such exercises
Resource 1 The processes of writing reflectively: a map of reflective writing
Start reflection process
A purpose for reflecting guides selection of an event / issue and other aspects of the processes
Perhaps review of new
purpose against original
The description of event or issue focuses the considerations: - eg:
a) a statement of observations
b) comment on personal behaviour;
c) comment on reaction / feelings;
d) comment on context.
Additional ideas are fed in – eg:
a) further observations;
b) relevant other knowledge, experience, feelings, intuitions
c) suggestions from others;
d) new information;
e) formal theory;
f) other factors such as ethical, moral, socio-political context.
Reflective thinking occurs– processes of relating , experimenting, exploring, reinterpreting from different points of view, or within different contextual factors, theorizing, linking theory and practice; ‘cognitive housekeeping’, etc.
Other processing may occur such as testing of new ideas in practice and / or representation: eg in a first draft, or graphic form / in discussion etc.
A product results - something is learned or there is a sense of moving on – eg identification of an area for further reflection or a new question is framed.
There is more reflectionThere is resolution / completion
From Moon. (1999a)
Resource 2 Reflective Writing - some initial guidance for students (handout)
Jenny Moon, University of Exeter
Introduction – reflection and reflective writing
Reflection lies somewhere around the notion of learning and thinking. We reflect in order to learn something, or we learn as a result of reflecting. Reflective writing is the expression on paper/screen of some of the mental processes of reflection. Other forms of expressing reflection are in speech, in film, in graphic portrayal, music etc. The expression of reflection is not, however, a direct mirror of what happens in the head. It is a representation of that process within the chosen medium - and reflection represented in writing, for example, will be different to that encompassed in a drawing. In other words, in making a representation of reflection, we shape and model the content of our reflection according to many influences. Factors that could shape your reflection into reflective writing might include:
-the reason why you are writing reflectively (personal reasons – eg in a diary or for academic purposes etc)
-whether others are going to see what you have written and who they are (eg no-one else; a tutor who will mark it; a tutor who will not mark it, friends etc.);
-your emotional state at the time of writing, and emotional reaction to what you are writing (eg - a disturbing event that you do not want to think about or something you did well and want to enjoy in the rethinking process);
-related to the above, how safe you feel about the material and anyone seeing it;
-what you know about reflective writing and how able you are to engage in it (see below)
– and so on. It is also worth noting that you will learn not only from the ‘in the head’ reflection but from the process of representing the reflection itself. Also, you will learn different things according to the manner in which you represent your reflection. For example, what you would learn from drawing a picture to represent reflections will differ from what you will learn in writing about the same content. It is a part of the process of writing reflectively to be as aware as possible of the influences that are shaping the writing that you actually do.
What is reflective writing?
We will start from what reflective writing is not. It is not:
-conveyance of information, instruction or argument in a report, essay or ‘recipe’;
-straight-forward description, though there may be descriptive elements;
-a straight-forward decision eg about whether something is right or wrong, good or bad etc.
-simple problem solving like recalling how to get to the nearest station.
In the context of your higher education programme, reflective writing will usually have a purpose (eg you will be writing reflectively about something that you have to do or have done). It will usually involve the sorting out of bits of knowledge, ideas, feelings, awareness of how you are behaving and so on. It could be seen as a melting pot into which you put a number of thoughts, feelings, other forms of awareness, and perhaps new information. In the process of sorting it out in your head, and representing the sortings out on paper, you may either recognise that you have learnt something new or that you need to reflect more with, perhaps further input. Your reflections need to come to some sort of end point, even if that is a statement of what you need to consider next.
It is also worth recognising that reflective writing may be a means of becoming clearer about something. For example, you might use reflective writing to consider the kind of career direction that you might take. Into the ‘melting pot’ you might then ‘put’ ideas, information, feelings, other people’s perspectives and advice. A metaphor for reflection or its expression in reflective writing in this context is ‘cognitive housekeeping’ to imply its nature as a sorting out, clarifying process.
From what has been said above, it will be obvious that reflection is not a straight-forward and ‘tidy’ process itself. When you have to represent the process for someone else to read, you will inevitably tidy it up – but if a tutor is expecting reflective writing, s/he will not be looking for a dry ‘single-track’ account, or just a conclusion. It is also all right to use the first person – ‘I’ - in reflective writing.
Let us assume that you are reflecting on a presentation that you have just done in class. We said, above, that reflective writing is not a ‘straight-forward’ description. You will probably have to describe what you are about to reflect on and perhaps relate it to the purpose for which you are reflecting. But reflection is more than that. You might want to evaluate your performance in the presentation, for example. This may be represented by you questioning yourself, perhaps challenging yourself. You may consider your reactions, and even the manner in which you have intially viewed the situation and written about it. Your writing may recognise that others may have different views of the same event. So with regard to the presentation, you might think about the performances of others – and so on.
Some subject matter for reflective writing
Reflective writing may apply to anything that is relatively complex. You might reflect on:
-how to go about your dissertation topic;
-how well you wrote an assignment;
-experiences gained in your part time work;
-what your essay title means and how to go about writing it;
-how to present some project work;
-how you want to behave differently in some context;
-the way in which your non-work activities relate to the programme that you are on;
-the quality of a relationship with someone (to do with your programme or home or family etc);
-how well you got on in your programme last semester;
-your process in solving a difficult problem (eg in academic work);
-what you need to do to improve your study processes –
and anything and everything….
You will often find there to be unexpected rewards in working in this manner. You will find out things that you had not considered, you even find that your academic writing becomes more fluent; you may find that you can solve problems more easily when you have reflected on your processing of similar problems.
The quality of reflective writing
It is worth thinking of the quality of reflective writing as being on a continuum from rather superficial writings that are largely descriptive, to much deeper writings in which the questioning is more profound. Neither is necessarily right or wrong – they are just different. Reflective writing will need be ‘pitched’ according to the purpose for which the task is done. Those who are learning to become counsellors and need to question their motives for the way they work will require to take a much more profound approach, for example, than most others in higher education programmes. The challenge is at least to ‘go beyond’ descriptive writing. The questions below help to give a picture of the difference between descriptive and more profound reflection.
A final note
‘Reflection’ is a word in every-day language but that in some contexts it is a subject of academic study, with many books and papers devoted to it. The material in this paper is derived from three books Moon, J (1999, 1999a and 2003), which provide an introduction to the literature for those who are interested in taking this further.
Moon, J (1999) /Reflection in Learning and Professional Development, Kogan Page, London
Moon, J (1999a) / Learning Journals: a Handbook for Academics, Students and Professional Development, Kogan Page, LondonMoon, J (2003) / This book – title needs to be put in here
Handout developed by Jenny Moon, University of Exeter
Resource 3 A Comparison of Reflective Writing and Report or Essay Writing
Undergraduate report / essay writing / Reflective writingThe subject matter is likely to be clearly defined. / The subject matter may be diffuse and ill-structured.
The subject matter is not likely to be personal. / The subject matter may be personal.
The subject matter is likely to be given. / The subject matter may be determined by the writer.
The purpose of this kind of writing is set in advance, usually fairly precisely in a title / topic / There may be purpose, but it is more of the nature of a ‘container’ or direction, not a precise title that predicts the outcome.
Most of the ideas drawn into an essay / report will be predictable and will be determined by the subject matter / Ideas will be drawn into reflective writing from anywhere that the writer believes to be relevant. What is drawn in will be determined by the sense being forged by the writer
There will be a conclusion / There may be a conclusion in that something has been learnt, or there may be a recognition of further areas for reflection.
Essays / reports are more likely to be ‘one off’ – finished and handed in. / Reflective writing may be part of a process that takes place over a period of time.
There is likely to be a clear structure of introduction, discussion and conclusion / There is not necessarily a clear structure other than some description at the beginning and some identification of progress made. Structures, such as questions to prompt reflective activity may be given.
The writing style is likely to be relatively objective – probably without use of the first person. / The writing style is likely to be relatively subjective, with involvement of the first person
An essay or report is a usually intended to be a representation of learning. / The intention underlying reflective writing is likely to be for the purpose of learning.
An essay / report is likely to be the product of a thinking process, tidily ordered. / Reflective writing usually involves the process of thinking and learning, and it is therefore not necessarily ‘tidy’ in its ordering.
Material developed by Jenny Moon, University of Exeter
Resource 4 Samples of Reflective Writing
An experience in an work experience placement on a Business and Management programme (level 1) – reasonably reflective writing
The placement is in The Black Bull in Grentown. The student, Barry, has been at the placement for only a few days. He has been asked to wait on the tables at lunchtime.
Today the pub was full and many people wanted lunch. I think that Mr Freddings (the manager) was a bit caught out because it had been very quiet the last few days and he had told two of the regular lunchtime staff not to bother to come in until later. I helped out in the kitchen this morning – washing up and doing some cleaning up. Jan, the cook, said that I would be needed to wait at the tables. I was a bit shocked because I had not done this before. I was embarrassed when she took me out and told me what to do in front of some of the customers, but I suppose I did need to know. I was left in a situation in which some customers knew that I am new to this, and others did not. On the whole, I decided to pretend that I had been doing it all my life. Jan told me how to write down what people order very quickly, and told me her type of shorthand which I have been trying to use. On the whole it seems to work, - I did make one or two mistakes when I had to go back to the customers and ask again what they wanted again. One customer was really nice when this happened because she had seen me being taught what to do. Another, a bit later, was quite abrupt. I guess that I had become a little over-confident by then. I backed off and realised that I have a lot to learn even in this simple matter of taking orders and bringing out the food.
A bit later there was a difficult incident that I got involved in. There was a party of three women – I think that they work at the big company that makes furniture up the road. They had booked but were a bit late and, because it was quite busy by then, we had to tell them that they would have to wait for their meal for a bit. They grumbled and then ordered. Then it got really busy and cook could really hardly cope so it made it even longer that they had to wait. She asked me to go and tell them they would have to wait even longer. She told me what to say – to be polite but firm and not to get drawn into stuff about how they had booked – because, as she said, it was their fault because they were late. Anyway, the women treated me as if it was my fault. I fell apart a bit, not sure what to say apart from sorry lots of times. I got away and went back to the kitchen. By then Mr Freddings had come in and he and Jan had decided to offer the women some food that could be served up straight away. I wished they could have thought of it earlier. Again, I had to take out the message. The women were cross and made a huge fuss about not wanting the food on offer, and said how the pub had gone down-hill and it used not to be like that. I just had to stand and listen and wished I had not pretended to have been there all my life. It all made me feel upset especially when, at last, grudgingly they said they would have the food.
I brought out their meals and now they were all smiles because they thought they had got a bargain because what they had been given was more expensive. They were nice to me then and left quite a tip. I think I learnt quite a bit about waiting all in a short time.
These are some of the things that I learnt from today…(she lists 6 topics)……………………
Reflection on study habits over the last semester – reasonably reflective writing
The student, Kerry, is in level 2 on a Biology programme. She has been asked to reflect on her progress in study in the previous semester by her tutor and to bring the piece she has written to the tutorial. This is part of the personal professional planning initiative in the university.
In the summer at the end of my first year of uni, I travelled all around Europe. I had always wanted to do that and felt that I had to come back before I was ready. I got back to uni two days late and I felt unsettled for a while after because it seemed that everyone had got into ruts of studying before I could. I missed a few lectures in the first two weeks – none of it seemed to have any meaning. I thought about leaving but my parents were wild when I said that that I thought I had better try to settle down.
We had lots of work to do at that stage for the first genetics module. You can’t afford to get behind in that and I was behind. I had to go to Dr Spolan and tell him I couldn’t do it. He was really helpful which made me feel a lot better. He said he knew several of us would have difficulty and set up a surgery with some of the postgraduate students. Mostly they were good, though sometimes they did not have much idea of just how hard I found it. Somehow they could not always explain. Anyway, I seem to have caught up now and passed the exam.