TutorialTutorial 7 content
2
Reflective writing workshop
Assessments 2 & 3What is reflective thinking?
Reflecting is like observing, remembering and re-running your own actions after something has
occurred. It is yo
...
TutorialTutorial 7 content
2
Reflective writing workshop
Assessments 2 & 3What is reflective thinking?
Reflecting is like observing, remembering and re-running your own actions after something has
occurred. It is your personal response to something which may include:
• why it happened
• how it happened
• whether it was successful or not
• how you might do it differently in the future or what you learnt from it
Why reflect? It is helpful to:
• analyse your learning experiences to make meaning from them, to learn from ‘mistakes’ and to identify what you
still need to know
• make links between theory and practice
• integrate new knowledge with prior learning
• understand how your personal beliefs, attitudes and assumptions underpin your responses to situations
3The basis of your thinking
You need to think not only about what happened in the given situation but also:
• What are your personal beliefs, values, attitudes and assumptions?
• How do these shape your response to the situation?
• Based on these responses, what were you expecting to happen?
4How to approach a reflective assignment
It can be quite a challenge to think reflectively and even more of a challenge to write
reflectively. The first step is to think about what happened in the given situation. Then you
will need to evaluate why things happened as they did and what you learnt from the experience.
5How to complete reflective writing
1. You need to describe what happened, but more importantly, to demonstrate what you have
learned from a particular experience.
2. It is helpful to ask yourself the following relevant questions and record your responses:
• Why did X happen? What did I do in X situation? What were the positive and negative outcomes in
the situation? How might I do things differently next time? What did I expect to happen? What
have I learned and how does this knowledge contribute to my development?
6The language of reflective writing
• The language of reflective writing is somewhat different to standard academic writing. It is
acceptable to use the first person (I, me, my, we) and so on as this makes sense when writing
about your personal experiences.
• The tone of the writing is more informal than academic writing as you are almost ‘having a
conversation with yourself’ when you write. However, avoid being too ‘chatty’.
• Always write in complete sentences in clear language.
• Make sure that you evaluate your experiences and do not just describe them. Use examples
to make your point, refer to the academic literature, and use appropriate discipline
terminology.
7Incorporating research to support your arguments
Assume you have taken part in a role-playing exercise to simulate a board meeting. Afterwards
you are asked to reflect on your experiences.
• Do some research about board meetings (e.g. about the best way to conduct a board meeting
or how to deal with interruptions during a board meeting). You should now compare this
scholarly evidence with your personal experiences in the exercise. If what happened in the
exercise did not match the evidence then you should write why you think the situation played
out differently. Also, include how research helps to inform what you reflect upon.
89
Analysis of a piece of reflective writing
In our team, we experienced great difficulty in the ‘storming’ stage
(Tuckman, 1965). I had expected that everyone would do what was
needed without being asked. However, people wouldn’t turn up for
meetings or wouldn’t do what they were asked to do. In the end, the
team called a meeting and agreed that clear guidelines had to be
written with instructions for each task that was allocated. We found
in the next few weeks that this method reduced the amount of
tension in the group, and we were able to refer to the written
document to check that everyone did what was promised. I have
learned from this experience that in a team situation, it is better to
establish written guidelines for procedures and tasks from the
beginning; if it is left until there are disagreements and tension, it is
very hard to recover the spirit of goodwill in the team.
You can see that the student has referred to research (Tuckman’s
model of team formation, particularly the storming stage) (Tuckman,
1965), and he/she analysed their own experiences, including their
expectations of team work.
There are several sentences of reflection on:
• what the issue was (people would not turn up for
meetings)
• what was done about it (a team meeting was called with
agreement reached on guidelines for the project tasks)
• how the new strategy improved the situation.
The final sentence explains what the student learnt from the
experience and how they would do things better in the future.10
Working in your team, evaluate the following example, particularly identifying these key elements:
• Student’s beliefs about the issue
• Use of research
• Reflections on what happened
• What the student learnt
Activity11
Example
Last week’s lecture presented the idea that science is the most powerful form of evidence. My
position as a student studying both physics and law makes this an important issue for me and one I
was thinking about while watching the ‘The New Inventors’ television program last Tuesday. The
two ‘inventors’ (an odd name considering that, as Smith (2002) says, nobody thinks of things in a
vacuum) were accompanied by marketing representatives. The conversation seemed quite
contrived, but also was funny and enlightening. I realised that the marketing people used a certain
form of evidence to persuade viewers like myself of the value of the inventions. To them, this value
was determined solely by whether something could be bought or sold—in other words, whether
something was ‘marketable’. In contrast, the inventors seemed quite shy and reluctant to use
anything more than technical language, as if this was the only evidence required and no further
explanation was needed. This difference in their behaviours forced me to reflect on the aims of this
course—how communication skills are not generic, but differ according to time and place.12
Analysis of components
Last week’s lecture presented the idea that science is the
most powerful form of evidence. My position as a student
studying both physics and law makes this an important issue
for me and one I was thinking about while watching the ‘The
New Inventors’ television program last Tuesday. The two
‘inventors’ (an odd name considering that, as Smith (2002)
says, nobody thinks of things in a vacuum) were
accompanied by marketing representatives. The
conversation seemed quite contrived, but also was funny
and enlightening. I realised that the marketing people used a
certain form of evidence to persuade viewers like myself of
the value of the inventions. To them, this value was
determined solely by whether something could be bought or
sold—in other words, whether something was ‘marketable’.
In contrast, the inventors seemed quite shy and reluctant to
use anything more than technical language, as if this was the
only evidence required and no further explanation was
needed. This difference in their behaviours forced me to
reflect on the aims of this course—how communication skills
are not generic, but differ according to time and place.
Student’s beliefs about the issue
Use of research
Reflections on what happened
What the student learnt13
Next week
• Tutorial: Negotiation Simulation 3 (Assessed)
• 1st mandatory Group Planning Form needs to be submitted14
References
Tuckman, B. W. (1965). Developmental sequence in small groups. Psychological Bulletin, 63(6), 384.
Keates, C. (2018, July 18). Tips on how to write a Reflection. Retrieved from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TyTrg37kfpQ&feature=youtu.be
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