Only Reflect

Tonbridge, 23 June 2012

What was the point of TMA02?Spend 2 minutes discussing with the person next to your experience of doing TMA02

What is the point of TMA07The purpose of this assignment is to encourage you to take a step back from your studies and to assess your own progress as a student. It is directly related to the learning outcome that concerns taking responsibility for your own learning while responding reflectively to tutor feedback. As with Assignment 02, this assignment aims to develop your awareness of the way in which you study and write. It aims to help you to think through your work on The Arts Past and Present as a whole and to reflect further on your future course of study.

What is reflection?

Some definitions• Boud et al. (1985) A generic term for those intellectual

and effective activities in which individuals engage to explore their experiences in order to lead to a new understanding and appreciation.

• Reid (1993), "Reflection is a process of reviewing an experience of practice in order to describe, analyse, evaluate and so inform learning about practice."(p.305)

• Louden (1991) is sober thought out of the stream of action, looking forward or (usually) back to actions that have taken place.

Why should we reflect?• Planning and prioritising• Setting and achieving goals• Dealing with procrastination and anxiety• Recognising and overcoming self-limiting beliefs • Making effective use of available support

The perfect cuppa . . .

this one? this one?

The perfect cuppa • Use a good quality loose leaf or bagged tea• This must be stored in an air-tight container at room temperature• Always use freshly drawn boiling water• In order to draw the best flavour out of the tea the water must

contain oxygen, this is reduced if the water is boiled more than once.

• Measure the tea carefully• Use 1 tea bag or 1 rounded teaspoon of loose tea for each cup to

be served• Allow the tea to brew for the recommended time before pouring• Brewing tea from a bag in a mug? Milk in last is best

Reflecting on your learning needs• What kinds of environments support you to learn at your best?• What kinds of environments inhibit your learning?• What activities help you to learn?• What activities make it hard for you to learn?• What skills do you have that come so naturally to you that you

wonder that others can’t do them?• What skills would you like to develop?• What’s important about learning for you?• What do you believe about yourself as a learner?• Do you have any negative beliefs? Are there things you think you

can’t do?• When you are learning really well what’s your purpose? What is it

all for?

The good, the bad and the ugly• Think of your time on AA100 so far.• What sort of experience has it been?• What has worked well for you?• What might you need to approach

differently?• What do you believe about yourself as a

learner?

Reflecting on reflecting• So, thinking about TMA02 – how did you do it?

Kolb’s Learning CycleConcrete

Experience

Reflective ObservationActive Experimentation

Abstract Conceptualisation

Reflective Observation

How to reflect?• So, thinking about Kolb – how closely did your

experience of preparing for TMA02 (reflective bit) resemble Kolb’s cycle?

Kolb in a digital age?• How does Kolb’s cycle relate to how you learn?• Criticisms:

–Any of four stages could occur simultaneously (Jeffs and Smith, 1999)

–Any of four stages can be bypassed, or repeated several times in any sequence

–Doesn’t acknowledge power of reflection (Boud et al, 1985)

• Does social learning make Kolb obsolete? Do you learn collaboratively

Tips for keeping a journal• Make regular entries (even if they are brief)• Focus on a specific event/issue for an individual • Use questions to help you focus on the task • Take an analytical approach • Try different techniques such as mind mapping,

diagrams, sketches or cartoons. Use colour.• Review entries to find key themes & recognise what

longer-term action you might need to take• Remember that writing itself can be used as a learning

tool: you can use writing to explore ideas as a way of understanding them.

Social learning• Sharing your experience of studying is also reflection.• Social media:

– OU forums – Facebook– Twitter #AA100– Instagram?– Blogs

Tools for reflection• Blogging/a learning journal helps you to keep a record

which is–useful to you–a cue to memory–honestly written–evaluates key aspects of your work–a tool to help you to identify recurring themes–key to developing a plan of action to take–an appraisal of that action.

Metaphors • When you are learning at your best you are like what?• And when you are like X that X is like?• Is there anything else about X?

Preparing for TMA07• Pay attention to the processes you have adopted when

preparing your assignments:– how did you approach the reading for the chapter?– how did you take notes and were you confident about

the notes that you’d made?– how did you begin to formulate your argument?– how did your essay planning go?– did you follow your essay plan?

Getting through the material• How did you approach the reading/listening for this

assignment?– Strategically?– Systematically?– Pragmatically?

• Was your reading:– Critical?– Analytical?– Superficial?

• Did you feel confident that you understood the ‘stuff’?

Thinking about your notes

Making notes• When do you make notes?• Why do you make notes?• How do you make notes?• Why do you make notes like this?• Have you always made notes like this?

What happens next?• What do you do with your notes?• When do you use your notes?• Why do you use your notes?• How do you use your notes?• Do your notes do what you want them to do?• How do you know when they are working?• How do you know when they aren’t working so well?

The perfect cuppa . . .

this one? this one?

Everything else . . .• Time management

–Prioritisation–Perfectionism–Procrastination

• Emotional response to the task: ‘hating Shostakovich’ factor.

How is it going?• ive written 500 words on Shostakovich so far..... its

allpretty crap i think lolhow about you?• Pugin for me - made quite a few notes and done a bit

of surfing I think my main problem is cutting out the waffle! I've just finished a creative writing course so going from being overly descriptive to sticking to pure fact is proving difficult! – Pugin for me too, I'm on the notes and rough draft

stage. Been working really hard on it, so have to take a break today or my brain will explode.

When the TMA is done . . . • How did you feel about doing this TMA?• What do you think you did well?• Which elements did you struggle with?• Which elements would you appreciate feedback on?• What sort of feedback would you find most helpful?

When your TMA comes back . . .

• Read your essay again• Read your tutor’s comments!• Do you understand them all? If not, contact your tutor

for clarification.• Consider how you would re-write in view of your tutor’s

feedback.

Learning is a continuous process

Setting a personal learning goal• What’s one specific thing that you’ll be practicing to

improve your learning?• I will know I’m achieving my goal when (What will you or

others see/hear?• I’ll know I’m not achieving my goal if (What willl you or

others see/hear?

Questions?

Jennie Osborn

Email: Jennie.Osborn@open.ac.uk