Reflective JournalReflective Journal

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

1.0 Introduction..........................................................................................................................2

2.0 Reflective Learning..............................................................................................................2

3.0 Enquiry Based Learning (EBL)...........................................................................................3

4.0 Reflective Frameworks........................................................................................................3

4.1 The ‘What’ Framework................................................................................................4

4.2 Gibbs (1998) Reflective Cycle.....................................................................................4

4.3 Kolb’s (1984) Model of Experiential Learning...........................................................5

4.4 Johns’ (2000) Model for Structured Reflection...........................................................6

Limitations of Self-reflection.............................................................................................7

5.0 Discussion on Group Processes...........................................................................................7

6.0 Reflection on Workshop......................................................................................................8

7.0 Conclusions........................................................................................................................10

References................................................................................................................................11

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1.0 INTRODUCTION

This reflective journal reflects upon the workshop held on the topic of 'how can HR processes

influence internal communication to promote employee satisfaction?” My subtopic was

‘employee engagement’. In this report, I described and analyse my feelings, experience and

action plan throughout the workshop under the light of reflective theories. Starting from the

reflective learning generally, I described four specific models of reflection which are often

used to reflect upon personal past experiences. In addition, this report contains a critical

discussion on group processes explaining how the group was formed and progressed. A

critical reflection on presentation is also the part of this report where I used Gibb’s reflective

cycle to share my emotions and behaviour throughout the presentation and how I learned

from the event. Finally, a conclusion section contains main points and a useful discussion on

what I learned throughout the whole process and how it will impact my future.

2.0 REFLECTIVE LEARNING

Reflective learning represents reflective thinking and reflective writing. The academic

reflective thinking and writing includes:

o Looking at previous events or incidents

o Analysis and evaluation of those evident in different aspects and describe them

critically in conjunction with a reflective theory or model

o Carefully devise a solution about the situation if it comes again during personal or

professional life (Surgenor, 2011)

Based on these points, it can be said that reflective writing is more personal as compared to

other types of academic writings. However, it is encapsulated within some reflective

academic models for properly describing and analysing the situations, and reflecting upon

personal experiences. Generally, a most common method of reflective writing is the use of

reflective journal. Reflective journal not only carries incidents and response to those

situations, but it also gives a different viewpoint of any initial thought. In addition, it is also

beneficial in many other ways including: providing understanding and insights of an event,

enhancing confidence of the writer, establishing a base for critical thinking and problem

solving, enables emotions feelings and creativity, and making clear professional and career

related goals and objectives (Stevens and Cooper, 2009). In the opinion of Maughan and

Webb (2001), reflecting writing and thinking can be an unstructured procedure where the

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writer needs to show some skills for reflection on past events by underpinning strong and

weak points and ‘good’ or ‘bad’ emotions.

3.0 ENQUIRY BASED LEARNING (EBL)

The term Enquiry based learning (EBL) is used to explain a way of learning and development

which is primarily based on self-direct research or enquiry by a student. In fact, EBL is a

student-oriented approach to learning and development which augments the experience of

learning through self-reflection. Student-centred learning and research skills are the basics of

establishing the self-belief and self-reliance of students in order to identify and solve the

problems (Hepworth and Walton, 2009). Today employers are always in search of students

with greater communication, learning, interpersonal, generic, and self-management skills.

Also, they look for individuals who can work independently and as a part of the team with

transferable research skills. EBL in this regard, provides a chance to students to enhance their

research skills by linking theory with practice when they are in university. Teachers at the

university following the approach of EBL enable students to perform their research in order

to engage them creatively with learning practices. In addition, the research tasks permit them

to study of different issues that arise during learning and development (Hepworth and

Walton, 2009).

Apart from the benefits of EBL, certain drawbacks are also attached with it. For instance,

Ward (2001) indicated that the key issue with EBL is its constructivist approach which

requires additional time of students in designing and conceiving activities. Some other

disadvantages are referred in the study of Santrock (2001) who stated that students can finish

up with the wrong outcome or they may not achieve desired results due to inefficient ways

adopted. In order to overcome this issue, the researcher emphasised on the need of providing

facilities of learning and guidance to teachers who can then put the students into the right

direction.

4.0 REFLECTIVE FRAMEWORKS

This section includes four models of reflection given by different theorists to promote

reflective practices and writing. These models are:

1. The ‘what’ model (Rolfe et al. 2001);

2. The reflective cycle (Gibbs, 1998);

3. Model for structured reflection (Johns, 2002); and

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4. Model of experiential learning (Kolb, 1984)

4.1 THE ‘WHAT’ FRAMEWORK

Rolfe et al. (2001) developed a model based on the reflective model of Borton’s (1970).

According to them “the advanced practitioner is not only conscious of what he is doing, but

also how he is doing” (p. 128). Their theory is based on three simple questions like what? so

what? and now what? By getting the answers of these questions, one can easily reflect upon

the situation or an event.

As shown in figure 1 that ‘what’ is the descriptive level of reflection where practitioner

describes and reflects on the past event(s). The ‘so what’ level deals with theory and

knowledge building where a personal theory can be developed to understand the incident to

learn a lesson from it. Finally, the ‘now what’ stage is an action oriented level of reflection

where it is described that how effectively the practitioner will deal with the situation if it will

come again in future.

Figure 1: The ‘What’ Model (Rolfe et al. 2001)

4.2 GIBBS (1998) REFLECTIVE CYCLE

Gibb’s (1998) reflective cycle motivates the practitioner to see the situation from different

perspectives and then evaluates it to develop an action plan to deal with similar situation in

future. In addition, it also assists the practitioner to think about how to respond to the

situation through self-reflection (Johns, 2000). The Gibb’s model is illustrated in figure 2

comprising of six stages: description, feelings, evaluation, analysis, conclusion, and action

plan.

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Figure 2: The Reflective Cycle (Gibbs 1998)

The description stage explains the event in detail on which a practitioner is trying to reflect

upon. The questions that need to be answered at this stage include 4W’s such as what, where,

why, and when. Next the feeling stages refers to investigate ‘how’ questions such as how did

practitioner felt about the event and its outcome? At the evaluation stage, the practitioner

makes a judgment about the event by evaluating negative and positive consequences and

considering ‘good’ and ‘bad’ feelings and results and impacts. The analysis stage deals with

the breakdown of the past incident into smaller parts to analyse each of them separately. At

this stage, each component is analysed deeply. The conclusion stage is different from

previous stages as it investigates an issue from different angles. Mainly, a practitioner at this

stage summarises the behaviour of self and other people in order to judge the contribution to

the event. Without detailed analysis, conclusion is insignificant because then it does not

fulfill the purpose of reflection which is to learn from the past experience (Gibbs, 1998).

Finally, during action plan stage, the practitioner asks himself about what he could have done

differently. Based on this thinking, he develops an action plan for the future that what he will

do different in future if the event encountered again.

4.3 KOLB’S (1984) MODEL OF EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING

In Kolb’s (1984) experiential learning model, active experimentation tends to a shift of

learning from one cycle to another. As shown in figure 4 that the model has four key points

and the practitioner can enter any one of these.

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Figure 3: Model of Experiential Learning (Kolb 1984)

The first point, concrete experience is concerned with an event which is selected for the

reflection and it also involves physical activities and hands-on experience. The theory

assumes that a practitioner can enter at any one of four stages but this stage is considered as a

key point of entry. After the initial reflection, the reflective observation deals with looking

back and screening the event from an objective aspect. This provides the chance to the

practitioner to reconsider the event to find the answers of questions what and why he did

something? At the next point the initial reflections are investigated more deeply where

conceptualisation allows the practitioner to interpret incidents and actions to look for links

between them. After developing a deeper understanding, the practitioner translates the

experience into predictions to demonstrate what likelihood of next event is and what will

happen next and what will be the action plan.

4.4 JOHNS’ (2000) MODEL FOR STRUCTURED REFLECTION

Johns’ (2000) model for structured reflection spotlights on the implicit and explicit

knowledge which is used in reflective practice. His model can be utilised as a guideline for

critically analysing an event. Also, experts use this model for general reflection on experience

as well as for making more compound decisions. The model advised students to employ

reflective journal for making notes, for reflective purposes, and sharing experiences which

can provide better opportunity to the practitioner to develop great understanding of reflection.

Johns’ model mainly has two aspects: ‘look in’ and ‘look out’. By looking into the situation,

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the practitioner finds a space to focus on self and pays attention to thoughts and emotions

while looking out refers to describing the situation, feelings and favorable and unfavorable

outcomes for the practitioner. Looking out also refers to five sources of knowledge including:

aesthetics, personal, ethics, empirics, and reflexivity (Johns, 2000). ‘Aesthetics’ explains

what and why practitioner was trying to achieve something; ‘personal’ highlights the feelings

within the situation; ‘ethics’ indicates the actions and factors that affect actions; ‘empirics’

describes the improved knowledge and skills; and finally ‘reflexivity’ indicates the future

action plan of future.

LIMITATIONS OF SELF-REFLECTION

The literature regarding self-reflection is full with the examples of improving reflective

experience in education context. However, reflection can be a limiting experience to some

extent in aiding personal development and knowledge expansion. Brockbank and McGill

(2000) refer to the statement of Habermas (1974) where he suggested that reflection needs a

certain level of involvement and independence which can be a threat to self-deception. Price

(2004) highlights a number of limitations of reflective practice in education context.

According to him, it can be challenging for the practitioners to go through the reflective

processes especially if they do not understand the process. In addition, it can be time

consuming and make practitioner unconformable or confused about the experiences or

situations to reflect upon.

5.0 DISCUSSION ON GROUP PROCESSES

In this section, I explained group processes by recalling the activities that were performed

within the group to support workshop progress. Throughout this section, I applied Tuckman 5

stages model such as forming, storming, norming, performing, and adjourning.

The group formation was not formal and we did not follow any theory or model to form or

proceed within the group. We were six group members each with distinctive skills and

abilities. We handed over the responsibility of group leadership to Sandesh Gurung due to his

exclusive tone, and this decision was easily accepted by all group members. In order to avoid

conflicts at later stages, we divided the work into small pieces and equally assigned to all

group members. It was decided that the person responsible for presenting the material will

prepare his/her topic by him/her. Here the division of role and assigning jobs to each group

member shows our approach towards Belbin’s (2012) team role theory where I performed the

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roles of team worker and implementer. As a team worker I completed the work assigned to

me and contributed to the overall success of the group in finalising the presentation work.

However, I was slightly hesitant in crunch situations in order to avoid confrontation. I also

performed the role of implementer by practically and efficiently completing my work on

time. My assignment was to work on introduction and employee engagement topic so I took

the responsibility of doing it by myself. The only help I took from one of my colleagues is to

learn some specific commands and options of MS Power Point.

The storming stage is essential in terms of team growth and some conflicts and unpleasant

situations may arise during this stage (Forsyth, 2009). Although, some topic related minor

issues occurred between members because two members were asking for the same topic. But

both team members were cooperative and thus no major conflict arose or unpleasant event

occurred during the entire group process. The norming stage refers to manage team

effectively with a mutual goal. All the group members shared their ideas to set meetings and

manage time during presentation in order to make the team function. All members took the

liability and showed ambition towards team success in presenting material and showing

enthusiasm. After attending meetings, all the team members were highly motivated and

confident and knowledgeable to perform. At this time, each group member was able to handle

difficulties at his/her end. However, I was required some assistance of my colleague in

checking the presentation slides that I made.

After successfully finishing the delivered tasks and performing the presentation, now it was

the time to adjourn the group by putting closure on the tasks and preparing for the individual

tasks of next assignments. The overall experience of working in a team was excellent and I

really enjoyed and learned working as a team worker and implementer.

6.0 REFLECTION ON WORKSHOP

In this section, I will reflect upon the workshop presentation including the topic. A number of

theoretical models have been reviewed in section 2 and concluded that the output of all the

models are similar to some extent. In this section, I used Gibb’s reflective cycle to describe,

evaluate and analyse my feelings and experience followed by the actions I took to deal with

different situations during the workshop.

I was responsible for introduction and employee engagement topic. The agenda of our group

is to collect most pertinent material from genuine sources of books and journals neglecting

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the online sources. I was confident about this topic as I was aware of it. Also, I did a

presentation previously on a similar topic and felt about it in the same way initially.

Therefore, I was thinking that this time I can use my previous experience and acting skills.

After collecting relevant data I shared the data with my group in order to take their opinion

and after the approval of group leader some data was eliminated and more information was

included.

I used MS Power Point to make presentation slides. For me it was not easy because I am not a

very good user of computer and whenever I used this software in the past something went

wrong. But the problem was that I have never seen anybody else using any different software

for presentation and therefore, it was quite reasonable for me to learn how to properly use

Power Point in a short time. I was somehow familiar with the basic operations of this

software but I often get trouble when using it at the advance level. For example, addition

transition, select different templates, embedding any image or graph, and animations etc.

However, I managed to learn it in few days with the help of my colleague who spend a lot of

time in teaching me some most common operations which are used in this presentation as

well.

On the day of presentation, I really wanted to do it well as I performed previously. In fact, I

was expecting to perform exceptionally well because I was well aware of the topic and I

found it interesting, clear and informative. Also, lecture slides from teacher helped me a lot.

At the time of presentation I started my part and tried to explain in a good way but with the

lack of concentration of audience I felt that maybe I am not performing well. My eye contact

and body language was positive but few people in audience were not attentive which made

me little upset to some extent.

After finishing the presentation, I discussed this with one of my group members but he said

that I looked quite calm and did well throughout the presentation. I am unsure whether he felt

in the same way he described or he was trying to help me in getting my confidence back. I

talked with group leader as well and I noticed that his confidence on me was not great and I

felt a bit cross.

When I looked back to appraise me than I realised that I did not do anything wrong that made

my presentation awful. In fact, it was my inner feeling which distracted me for a while. If I

analyse what I could perform better during presentation, I need to start from the beginning. I

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am unsure how useful was my confidence on my acting skills. In fact, it gave me enough

confidence and stronger believe on myself as I was not depending much on reading the

material but I was relying on explaining the insights of the topic.

I am confident in using Power Point again in next presentations. I not only learned and used it

as a tool but also I felt sufficiently confident in presenting information in an attractive way.

This means that using a tool professionally can make a real difference in boosting the

confidence level. As I am writing this journal and I am feeling that practically how useful it is

reflect upon past events in terms of self-appraisal and self-reflection. This way I can see a

situation from different aspects.

7.0 CONCLUSIONS

Evaluating self strengths and weaknesses is not an easy task but if becomes easy when

linking theory with practice. So it is concluded that reflective theories and model are useful

for reflecting upon feelings and experiences. Gibbs reflective model is applied in this

assignment to reflect on workshop. Also, Tuckman group theory is applied to critically

discuss group processes. I learned that relying more on acting skills can be confusing

sometimes. There is no doubt that previous experience helps but every new experience is

different from previous to some or great extent. This reflective writing is my new experience

and I felt this is fruitful for me to evaluate past experiences. I believe next time I can write

more accurately and critically.

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REFERENCES

Belbin, R.M. (2012). Team Roles at Work. 2nd edition, Routledge

Brockbank, A. & McGill, I. (2000). The requirements for reflection. In A. Brockbank and I.

McGill (Eds.), Facilitating Reflective Learning in Higher Education, pp56-69, UK: SHRE

Forsyth, D. (2009). Group Dynamics. 5th edition, Cengage Learning

Gibbs, G. (1998). Learning by Doing: A Guide to Teaching and Learning. London: Further

Educational Unit (FEU)

Hepworth, M. and Walton, G. (2009). Teaching Information Literacy for Inquiry-Based

Learning. Elsevier

Johns, C. (2000). Becoming a reflective practitioner. Oxford: Blackwell Science

Kolb, D. (1984). Experiential learning. New Jersey: Prentice Hall

Rolfe, G., Freshwater, D., & Jasper, M. (2001). Critical Reflection for Nursing and the

Helping Professions: A user’s guide. London: Palgrave Macmillan

Price, A. (2004). Encouraging reflection and critical thinking in practice. Nursing Standard,

18 (47)

Santrock, J.W. (2001). Educational psychology. USA: McGraw-Hill Inc

Stevens, D.D. and Cooper, J.E. (2009). Journal Keeping: How to Use Reflective Writing for

Effective Learning, Teaching, Professional Insight, and Positive Change. Stylus Publishing,

LLC

Surgenor, P. (2011). Demonstrator & Coordinator Development at UCD: Reflective practice.

UCD teaching and learning

Ward, C.D. (2001). Under construction: On becoming a constructivist in view of the

standards. Mathematics Teacher, 94(2), pp. 94-96

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