1. Reflective
Journal

2. Learning Outcomes
• Explain the purpose of
reflection
• State the benefits of
maintaining a reflective journal
• Give examples of reflective
models

3. Reflection
What is reflection?
“Reflection is an important human
activity in which people recapture
their experience, think about it, mull it
over and evaluate it. It is this working
with experience that is important in
learning”.
(Boud, Keogh & Walker, (1985),pg 19)
• How can reflection help me in practical
class?
• We all reflect to some extent while
working, for example, if something goes
wrong in marking out or cutting the joint
we make a mental note of it and try not to
repeat the same mistake the next time.
• This is reflection in it’s simplest form.

4. Reflective journal
• What is an reflective journal?
• A Journal is keeping a written record of
events.
• A reflective journal is also about reading
back over past entries and writing about
newly acquired knowledge.
• A reflective journal is a very effective tool
in developing learning and deepens the
learning experience.
• There are many models used for
reflection.

5. Schön
• In practical class you are learning the
skills of jointing techniques. Schon’s
reflective methods best apply in this
situation.
• Schön’s (1983) reflection-in-action
(thinking while doing the task) as you
need to reflect if the task in hand is going
well or if you need to stop and re-evaluate
what you are doing.
• In“reflection-in-action”, “doing and
thinking are complementary. Doing
extends thinking in the
tests, moves, and probes of
experimental action, and reflection
feeds on doing and its results. Each
feeds the other, and each sets
boundaries for the other”
(Schön, 1983, p. 280, as cited in
Visser,W.(2010) pg 21)

6. Schön
• Schön’s reflection-on-action (thinking
after-the-event) allows you to evaluate
what you have just completed ask what
you would have done differently and
allows you to make decisions on what you
will do the next time around.
• Exercise
• Think about your practical class last
week.
• Is there anything that you would do
differently next time around.
• For Example:
• The sequence in which you approached
each task.
• The method used to complete each task.
• The pace at which you worked.
• The end result.

7. Schön
• Exercise
• In answering those questions what can
you do if anything to improve on last
weeks work.
• As you are „learning by doing‟ you
need to reflect on what you are doing as
you are doing it and how you could
possibly do it differently the next time
around.

8. Schön’s views on professional
practice
• Schön believes that as students progress
in professional life that they will be more
capable of being able to think on their
feet and develop their practise as they
draw on past experiences. Schön’s
argument was as follows:
• Professional practice is
complex, unpredictable and messy. In
order to cope, professionals have to be
able to do more than follow set
procedures. They draw on both practical
experience and theory as they think on
their feet and improvise. They act both
intuitively and creatively. Both reflection-
in and on -action allows them to
revise, modify and refine their expertise.
(as cited in Finlay, L. (2008) pg4)

9. Kolb’s Reflective Cycle
1. Experiencing:
Immersing yourself
in the task
4. Planning Kolb's 2. Reflection:
What will happen What did you
next, What do you Experiential
learning notice?
want to change?
3. Conceptualisation
What does it mean?
Kolb’s Experiential learning is going a
step further than Schön’s. The
reflection -in-action was only taking place
when things were going wrong, with Kolb’s
the reflection takes part on an ongoing bases.

10. Kolb’s Reflective Cycle
• Using Kolb’s reflective cycle allows
you to plan ahead.
• By thinking back on how things
progressed the last time around
you are now in a position to plan
your work better.
• Example:
• I cut the tennon too narrow.
• Why did this happen?
• Was it because I did the groove
first?
• Planning
• Next time I’ll cut the cheeks of the
tennon first before grooving.

11. Gibbs (1988) Reflective Cycle
Description
– What
happened?
Action Plan
– What Feelings –
could you What were
do next you feeling?
time?
Conclusion
Evolution –
– What else
What was
could you
Good/Bad?
have done?
Analysis –
What sense
could you
make of the
situation?
Gibbs model is a never ending cycle
whereby theory and practice
constantly feed from each other

12. Gibbs (1988) Reflective Cycle
• By starting off using basic reflective
models you should progress to a deeper
reflective process.
• The more you engage in reflection the
deeper your learning experience
becomes.
• You begin to use your own system for
analysing tasks and can apply your
learning to any task given instead of just
similar tasks.

13. Gibbs (1988) Reflective Cycle
• In professional practice tasks do not
always follow set procedures.
• You need to draw on both practical
experience and theory to think on your
feet and improvise.

14. Blogging
• Online blogging can be used as an outlet
were you can express your thoughts and
ideas in a fairly quick manner.
• It is a place were you can keep all these
ideas and resources together.
• It can be used to hold online discussions
with other members of your class or
programme.
• It can also allow you access to the wider
community, help you make contacts, with
people in the industry.

16. Performance Check
• Outline the purpose of
reflection
• List the benefits of maintaining
a reflective journal
• Identify three reflective models

17. References
• Boud, D., Keogh, R. & Walker, D. “Promoting
reflection in learning: a model.” In
Boud, D., Keogh, R. & Walker, D. (eds.)
Reflection: Turning Experience into
Learning, New York: Nichols, 18-40, 1985
• Finlay, L.(2008) Reflecting on ‘Reflective
practice’. UK http://www.open.ac.uk/cetl-
workspace/cetlcontent/documents/4bf2b488874
59.pdf
• Moon, J,A. (2006) A Handbook for Reflective
Practice and Professional Development.
Routledge .USA.
• Schön, D. A. (1983) The Reflective Practitioner:
How Professionals Think in Action. New York:
Basic Books.
• Visser,W. (2010). SCHÖN: DESIGN AS A
REFLECTIVE PRACTICE issue 2 of Collection, on
"Art + Design & Psychology," pp. 21-25.
http://hal.archives-
ouvertes.fr/docs/00/60/46/34/PDF/Visser_Coll
ection2_Schoen.pdf

18. Resources
Resources for online blogging:
• www.blogger.com
• www.penzu.com
• www.posterious.com
• www.tumblr.com