Access To Higher Education: Reflective Practice

Firstly this assignment is based on three models of reflective practice, Kolb’s, Gibbs and John’s with an explanation of the structure of each model. To understand all three of the models they will all be described in detail explaining how they should be utilized. This assignment will also seek to critically evaluate all three of the models. All of these models can assist someone to reflect on some everyday situations and seriously think about what to change when things go wrong and how to put them right on another occasion.

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Starting with Kolb’s model of reflective practice, this model has been structured on four stages of learning which are, concrete experience, reflective observation, abstract conceptualisation and active experimentation. Concrete experience is having an experience which can be evaluated, reflective observation is looking at the experience to see what was done, abstract conceptualisation is learning from the experience and active experimentation is planning and trying out what has been learned. (Mcloud 2010) There are also other parts to Kolb’s model that focus on the way someone will learn, these are diverging, assimilating, converging and accommodating. Diverging is to feel and watch, assimilating is to think and watch, converging is to think and do, and accommodating is to feel and do. (Kolb 1984)

With Kolb’s model it is suggested by him that whoever is using it should think about what they are doing and reflect on this by reviewing what they did. Using the information and learning from their experience. (Arora 2008)

The end outcome should be to learn from their experience and to turn the negatives into positives. Anyone using this model should plan what they could do next and think about how they could improve their experience.

Kolb’s model of reflection has been criticized because of insufficient attention to the process of reflection itself, ‘it’s lack of empirical support, it’s very rigid and sequential nature and it’s simplification of the learning process in general’. (Smith 1996)

This model of reflection will not suit everyone’s learning experience as it does not take into account the abilities of different learners and can also seem a little complicated to follow with the use of some uncommon words that are not understood by all individuals. According to research Kolb’s model of reflective practice does not show the full extent of reflection. (Boud et al1983)

Now we move onto Gibbs model of reflective practice which is based on six questions: Description: What happened? Feelings: What did you think and feel? Evaluation: What did you find good and what was bad about the experience? Analysis: What do you make of the situation? Conclusion: What should you do to make the experience better? Action plan: If it happened in the future what would you do?(Gibbs 1988) With the Gibbs model of reflective practice it is suggested by him that whoever uses this model should describe what happened and think about what they were feeling to evaluate the situation and work out what went well and what did not go well. The person using this model should analyse what sense they can make of the situation and decide what they could have done to make the situation better. (Jasper2003) It is also suggested that anyone using this model should develop an action plan to improve the situation if it should happen again. Gibbs model of reflective practise is described as self-explanatory and easy to use. (Jasper 2003)

Gibb’s model does not give the learner enough specific questions to answer and does not give them enough scope to be more critical of themselves. ‘‘It also does not consider whether there is a difference between teaching practice and the requirements or expectations of learners’’. (Jasper 2003) (Jasper 2003) explains that Gibb’s ‘‘model comes from an educational context as opposed to a practical context’’. (Jasper 2003) The learning styles of many reflective models have still not been proven according to some and may be of no benefit to some learners. (Barrett 2013)

Finally, John’s model of reflective practice is based on five questions with sub headings. Reflection: What were you trying to achieve? Influencing factors: What things like internal and external knowledge affected your decision? Could you have dealt with it better: What other choices did you have and what were the consequences? Learning: What will change because of this experience? Description of the experience: How has this experience changed your way of knowing? (Dran 2011)

It is suggested by Johns that anyone using this model of reflective practice should work out why they did what they did and if anything swayed their decision to do what they did as well as what other things they could have done instead. It is also suggested by Johns that the person using this model thinks about what will change because of the experience and if it has changed their view of what they did.

One weakness of this model is that ‘the outside framework does not leave any room for learners to use their own awareness, standards and priorities and some learners and practitioners doubt the value of reflection’. (Davis 2005)

Reflective practice can often be interpreted in the wrong way. (Loughran, 2000) It could be seen that if practitioners are extremely busy they may find the pressure of completing reflective models a little tiresome. There are also some ethical concerns, which may breach confidentiality and privacy so anyone using reflective models of practice should take this into consideration. It should be noted that dealing with emotions in this way can be upsetting and do more harm than good. (Davis 2005)

Boud and Walker (1998) are unsure of reflective practice as a required part of a course. Another criticism on the impact on someone using a model of reflective practice is that the practitioner always wants to find ways of doing things better which can lead to them feeling down hearted and unworthy. If a practitioner is to assume that the word ‘critical’ has the same meaning as ‘negative’ then this could make them feel very low indeed and also extremely worthless. (Quinn 1988/2000). Quinn (1988/2000) suggests that ‘the inappropriate use of reflective Models may actually devalue practitioners’ professional work instead of promoting it.

It seems that not everyone would like to utilize the same model as we all adapt to each situation differently and the learning process is not the same experience for everyone, just as all models of reflection are different models of reflection so are we as humans. If used correctly in the right situation these models of reflection can be very valuable however used badly can be detrimental to our thought process and feelings of usefulness. (Quinn 1998/2000)

Table of References

www.academia.edu/1057509/Experimental_learning_.termpaper (Accessed 30 May 2014) Davis. C. et-al (2005) Changing practice in health and social care sage publications London Thousand Oaks New Delhi in association with the Open University p85 www.docstoc.com/docs22730941/JOHNS-MODEL-OF-STRUCTURED-REFLECTION (Accessed 10 June 2014)

http://ebookily.org/doc/example-of-gibbs-1988-reflective-cycle-in-nursing (Accessed 12 June 2014)

Finlay.L.Reflectingon‘Reflectivepractice’http://www.open.ac.uk/opencetl/files/ecms/web-content/Finlay-(2008)-Reflecting-on-reflective-practice-PBPL-paper-52.pdf pp 10 11 12 (Accessed 2June 2014)

www.3.hantsgov.uk/reflection-2.doc (Accessed 2 June)

McLeod S. A. (2010). Kolb – Learning Styles. www.simplypsychology.org/learning-kolb.html (Accessed 10 June 2014)

http://prezi.com/qsys43dbyzy9/gibbs-criticalreflectionmodel/ (Accessed 1 June2014)

http://www.scribd.com/doc/48449899/BREAKING-BAD-NEWS-REFLECTION (Accessed 12 June 2014) http://www.scribd.com/doc/69580365/Johns (Accessed 10 June 2014)

http://www.silkysteps.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7386 (Accessed 12 June 2014) http://www.ukessays.com/essays/education/an-overview-of-peer-reviewing-education-essay.php (Accessed 12 June 2014)

www.ulh.nhs.uk/for-staff/educationtrainig/clinical-education/leadership-in-practice/gibbsreflectivecycle.pdf (Accessed 1June 2014)

http://wikipedia.org/wiki/Reflective_practice (Accessed 3 June 2014)

http://www.worc.ac.uk/adpu/documents (Accessed 30 May 2014)

Part B Without realising at first Gibb’s model of reflection was the one out of all the models which I automatically started to and still continue to use. I found the model very user friendly, and this is a reflective model that is in plain speaking English without the use of any uncommon words. It has made me think seriously about situations in my studies and made me realise what I am doing wrong and what I should think about to improve the way I study. Sometimes I do things and do not really think about what I am doing however this model of reflection has taught me to actually stop, think and reassess a situation.

Here is an example of Gibb’s model of reflective practice applied to my own learning experience.

Description: What happened? I was given assignments to complete. Feelings: What was I thinking and feeling? I was feeling a little daunted and unsure of the work ahead of me. Evaluation: What was good and bad about the experience? I thought the assignments were quite hard to do and found putting things into my own words very hard.

Once I thought I finally understood a little more I felt much better. Analysis: What sense can I make of the situation? I get too stressed and rush myself too much to get my work done all at once. Conclusion: What else could I have done? I could have organised my time better and done my work in small chunks. Action plan: If it arose again what would I do? I will organise my time better and work in small chunks rather than trying to do it all at once.