Reflective Practitioner Research Articles

Pre-Service EFL Teachers as Reflective Practitioners: Student Portfolios as Evidence of Emerging Professional Identities

Pre-Service EFL Teachers as Reflective Practitioners: Student Portfolios as Evidence of Emerging Professional Identities

Strengthening the process of implementation of coaching in medical education settings

The branch of medicine is quite complex and it requires a wide range of teaching–learning innovations, student support activities, and faculty motivation to ensure that the goals of medical education are accomplished. The purpose of the current review is to explore the role of coaching in improving the learning and skill acquisition in the field of medical education. An extensive search of all materials related to the topic was carried out in the PubMed search engine and a total of 22 articles were selected based on the suitability with the current review objectives. The ultimate aim of coaching in medical education is to unearth the real potential of the students to optimize their performance by helping them to learn instead of teaching them. Coaching is a strategy to help medical students to become competent and reflective practitioner. In addition, coaching plays an important role in the refinement of technical skills (like surgical skills) and nontechnical skills. To conclude, coaching in medical education has significant scope to improve the learning outcomes among students and even make them lifelong learners. The need of the hour is to implement a coaching system in each of the medical colleges after considering the local logistics and with the active support of faculty members.

Use of Metacognitive Techniques in Occupational Therapy Education: A Scoping Review

Efficient and effective occupational therapy curricular and course design is essential to develop competent and reflective practitioners. The intentional use of metacognitive strategies could improve the development of higher-order thinking and learning outcomes. The study explored the use of metacognitive strategies to improve learning and higher-order thinking in students within occupational therapy higher education. A targeted search for occupational therapy journals only was the primary method to identify studies. Arskey and O’Malley’s (2005) five-stage framework guided this scoping review. All studies demonstrated some aspects of metacognition, this included thinking about their learning, reflection, self-assessment, or sense-making. Through the PRISMA process, the initial search yielded 260 studies; 27 duplicates were removed for a remaining total of 233 studies. Thirteen articles were included in the final study. The identification of the studies’ purpose, pedagogy, metacognitive strategies, and the level of Bloom’s taxonomy for the strategies was included in the analysis. Written reflection, peer-to-peer debate, self-directed learning, critical thinking, self-assessment, and reflection observation were the metacognitive strategies described in the articles. The metacognitive strategies were not specific to a pedagogy. Rather the strategies varied in use; however, all focused on learning outcomes to develop higher-order thinking skills and life-long learners. The selected studies reported improved learning outcomes and described metacognitive strategies. Transparency and intentionality in occupational therapy higher education related to metacognition may improve learning outcomes leading to practitioners whose self-reflection and critical thinking improve client and system outcomes.

The role of action research in the prevention of violent communication of students

Modern educational work requires dedication, improvement and innovation of educational practice. Being a pedagogical worker (educator, teacher) reflective practitioner is a challenge of the postmodern age in the field of upbringing and education. The aim of this article is preventive action in the aspect of violent communication through the application of action research. A total of fifteen students participated. The research included certain phases and steps that we purposefully followed. We first noticed the educational problem and focused our attention on designing activities and content. With a range of detailed and selected activities (lectures, problem situations, workshops and interactive games), we tried to act preventively in the field of violent communication. Finally, in the summative evaluation of the program effects process, an overview of the results is given before and after the research. The obtained results show that the applied contents and activities had a positive effect on students in the field of reducing and preventing violent communication. Orientation towards the development of non-violent communication must take an honorable place in the modern system of upbringing and education, because in that way forms of violent and forms of successful communication can be reduced and eliminated.

Permission to Learn: Intentional Use of Art and Object-mediated Strategies to Develop Reflective Professional Skills

Reflective practice is considered a highly valued graduate attribute in the field of occupational therapy. Occupational therapy educators influence and shape how students develop into reflective practitioners. Reflective practice requires a set of complex thinking skills that are typically focused on personal experiences and can be broken down into pre-requisite skills that aid in the teaching and learning process. This article introduces a six component Permissions model used with graduate level students during their first semester that combines experiential learning and pre-requisite skills of reflective practice. The model includes three broad domains: self-awareness, observation, and effective communication and six pre-requisite skills including: a) permission to slow down when necessary; b) permission for tolerating ambiguity; c) permission to notice, think, and ponder; d) permission to speak up; e) permission to listen with careful consideration of other’s thinking; and f) permission to respectfully build or challenge the ideas of others based on visual evidence. Using experiential learning methodologies of Lego Serious Play and Visual Thinking Strategies, faculty actively and explicitly teach the Permission model skills while simultaneously helping students to see the relevancy and transferability of the pre-skills to more advanced professional skills.

Uncovering the Nexus between Language Culture and Identity Difference in the Context of Ethnic Self-Experience

<span id="docs-internal-guid-c9874ff2-7fff-dd39-ea90-dabf70760907"><span>In this study of the language user, the connection between language culture and identity difference is examined from the ethnic context of language learning. This study aims to reveal the connection of those notions that is essential for language learners and will contribute to the development of language education. The research method of this study is autoethnography research. The author’s critical reflection as a reflective practitioner was used to elicit data by remembering and writing his personal experience. Then, the elicited data was analyzed using the theory of representation system, language culture, and identity difference. The findings of this study show that language, culture, identity, and difference have a robust linkage. The individual’s different culture and identity significantly affect the way he/she uses the language in certain contexts. Therefore, uncovering the interconnection of language culture and identity differences from critical self-reflection on ethnic-based experience may enrich a better understanding of the language learning process.</span></span>

Planning in the Era of Disruption: The Needs for Reflective and Responsive Planners, Challenges for Planning Education in Indonesia

Caves, R., & Wagner, F. (2018). Are planning programs delivering what planning students need? Perspectives on planning education from practitioners. In A. I. Frank & C. Silver (Eds.), Urban planning education: Beginnings, global movement and future prospects (1st ed., pp. 323-336). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-55967-4_21 Kasali, R. (2017). Disruption. Gramedia Penerbit Utama. Schon, D. A. (1991). The reflective practitioner: How professionals think in action. Ashgate Publishing. Setiawan, B. (2018). The roles of planning education in the decentralization and democratization era: Lessons from Indonesia. In A. I. Frank & C. Silver (Eds.), Urban planning education: Beginnings, global movement and future prospects (1st ed., pp. 219-231). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319- -4_15

Reflecting on Early Help with Migrant Families: A View from Practice

This paper describes a practitioner reflection on early help for migrant families with no recourse to public funds. We used Maclean’s ‘weather model’ to examine the positives and challenges of the work. The reflection led to positive changes in programme delivery, but also highlighted tensions between following a structured practice manual and allowing practitioner autonomy, and the friction that ‘hostile environment’ restrictions caused between statutory and voluntary sectors, and between service users and local authority social workers. We suggest that the experience highlights the need for future service development which includes the voice of social workers.

Cultivating faculty readiness to reflect: reconstructing Dewey’s attitudes for reflection as character strengths

ABSTRACT This article presents a reconstruction of John Dewey’s attitudes for reflection as character strengths for the purpose of assessing faculty readiness to reflect. As the editor of an academic journal that uses the Guide for Reflective Practice (GRP), I determined the need to assess faculty readiness to write reflectively. In Deweyan terms, readiness involves having certain attitudes that position the reflective practitioner to be effective in reflection. These attitudes are open-minded, wholeheartedness, and responsibility. We reconstruct these attitudes as character strengths, and we show how the specific Deweyan attitudes align with a modern character strengths classification. We then outline steps to use the prominent character strengths assessment tool (VIA-IS) to assess faculty character strengths and provide small-dose strategies to enhance existing character strengths for the purpose of engaging in effective reflection. This inquiry is preliminary. As such, we recommend future empirical research into the efficacy of the VIA-IS and small-dose strategies to assess and enhance faculty readiness for reflection from a Deweyan perspective.

Conceptualizing and Engaging in Reflective Practice: Experienced Evaluators’ Perspectives

The purpose of this study was to determine professional evaluators’ perceptions of reflective practice (RP) and the extent and manner in which they engage in RP behaviors. Nineteen evaluators with 10 or more years of experience in the evaluation field were interviewed to explore our understanding and practice of RP in evaluation. Findings suggest that RP is a process of self and contextual awareness, involving thinking and questioning, and individual and group meaning-making, focused on facilitating growth in the form of learning and improvement. The roles of individual and collaborative reflection as well as reflection in- and on-action are also discussed. Findings support a call for the further refinement of our understanding of RP in evaluation practice. Evaluators seeking to be better reflective practitioners should be competent in skills such as facilitation and interpersonal skills, as well as budget needed time for RP in evaluation accordingly.

Practice in a Time of Uncertainty: Practitioner Reflections on Working With Families Experiencing Intimate Partner Violence During the COVID-19 Global Pandemic.

This paper reports findings of a qualitative study examining the perceptions of 21 Australian women professionals who conduct home visiting with families experiencing intimate partner violence. There is scant evidence documenting how home visiting professionals adapted practice to address the safety concerns of women and their children within the context of the pandemic. Practitioners noted an increase in the risk level and complexity of intimate partner violence (IPV), including the ways that perpetrators weaponized the pandemic to exert power and control over women and children. Practitioners reported on their rapid adaptation of practices, to ensure the continuation of services which included moving to online delivery methods, wearing PPE, and negotiating practice from a distance. While responses to these changes were mixed, most reported their desire to continue to use online platforms post-pandemic, reporting increased safety, flexibility, and accessibility for the majority of clients. This research addresses a gap in respect of professionals' perceptions of the issues facing survivors of IPV and of their professional practice during the COVID-19 pandemic. As policies, practices, and protocols continue to adapt to the challenging environment posed by the pandemic the experiences of professionals and service users are critical to inform these changes.

Towards reflective project management

This qualitative study set out to explore the relationship between the practice of reflection in a project management MSc. programme and reflective practice in the workplace. We propose that students who learn and practice reflection in an academic programme can transfer these skills to reflection-in-action (Schön, 1983) in their project management roles, thereby contributing to the development of reflective project managers. Reflection in the context of post-project reviews forms an essential element in project management. Research has shown that this element is often the exception or omitted altogether due to time constraints (Anbari et al., 2008; Fuller et al., 2011; Nicolaisen & Driscoll, 2016). This study proposes that students who learn and practice reflection in an academic programme can transfer these skills to the project management workplace. Guided by the principles of phenomenography, online survey data were collected from 30 students and postgraduates along with 10 faculty members. The study found that despite initial apprehension students considered the reflective learning process to be useful and three quarters felt they could apply the reflective learnings to their practice after the first module of use. Towards the end of the programme almost half indicated their intention to continue with reflective writing practice post-graduation. Instilling the practice of reflecting on an education programme has two goals. Firstly, to reflect on the learnings of the programme work, at and across modules. Secondly, to bring those learnings forward to a real-world environment, encouraging not just our own development as reflective practitioners, but also the development of reflective project teams. To support these goals, we propose a new model: the reflective learning portfolio-in-practice.

Virtual Focus Group Discussions: the new normal way to promote reflective practice

ABSTRACT Academic institutions were not spared from the onslaught of the global pandemic as they were forced to implement radical changes in academic policies. Adapting to the new normal way of learning, teacher education institutions should provide experiences and opportunities among student teachers (STs) to become reflective practitioners. Virtual Focus Group Discussions (VFGDs) offer a venue for STs to discuss their practicum experiences with their peers and teachers in the new normal set-up. This study aimed to find out how STs described their experiences in conducting VFGD for reflective practice; and to uncover their perceptions in the use of VFGD as a means to promote reflective practice and as part of teacher training. Qualitative action research design was utilized, following the plan-do-study-act (PDSA) cycle that will help teachers improve their practice. Graduating elementary educators were the participants. The findings discussed the reflective practice of the participants and the conduct of the intervention. This provides teacher educators and future researchers with a guide in conducting the same or similar experiences among STs undergoing their practicum.

Therapists’ Perceptions of Participating in a Large Research Study: Benefits, Challenges, and Impact on Practice

Aims: Clinician participation in research is important to expand clinical research. However, there is limited understanding of the impact of such participation. The purpose of this survey-based study was to describe school-based physical therapists’ perceptions of the impact, benefits, and challenges of research participation. Methods: Participants were school-based physical therapists (n = 67) who had been research personnel in a year-long study. Participants completed a questionnaire regarding their experiences participating in the study. Results: Most therapists (59%) perceived that participating in the study improved their competency as a school-based PT a small extent. Participation impacted some therapists a moderate to a great extent in their student assessments (43%), decision-making (28%), and team collaboration (25%). Almost all therapists (96%) responded that they would participate in research again. Researchers identified three themes regarding benefits of participating in research: 1) research and promoting the growth of the profession, 2) support for and expansion of my school-based practice, and 3) reflective practitioner. Researchers identified four themes regarding challenges of participating in research: 1) administrative aspects; 2) time; 3) training; and 4) implementing the tools. Conclusions: Findings from this study support therapist participation in research, and have implications for clinicians, supervisors, and researchers.

Prepare and train professionals to deal with odours

In their daily practice, caregivers experience many different smells that evoke different emotions. However, the role of the sense of smell in care is poorly documented in the nursing literature. During initial training, trainers organise support, including with regard to odours, sothat each future carer becomes a reflective practitioner, as adaptable as possible.

Teaching re-seeing: Deploying archives in art and design education

This is a work-in-progress attempt to analyse, digest and ultimately develop a toolkit of methods for using archives in art and design pedagogy. We are interested in strategies that deploy archives in an active way – moving beyond notions of static collections and including an analysis of embedded power and authority. We provide examples from our own teaching practices, discuss them, and frame their elements into a broader approach to archives that may teach our students to be effective re-seers: critical and disruptive thinkers, reflective practitioners, with a sense of agency about their practice. We explore the factors at stake and notice different threads emerging from teaching. We promote an approach to teaching that celebrates an interweaving and intermingling of life, art and education in ways that constantly challenge the status quo.

Designing a Virtual Learning Environment for Critical Media Literacy Education

In this reflective practitioner essay, we describe our redesign of a large undergraduate course, “Education and Film” (EdFilm), which teaches Critical Media Literacy (CML) to 181 students at a large state university. Using Practitioner Inquiry methods, we discuss the significance of the broader social context in shaping our design, show how we used Universal Design for Learning (UDL) to inform five design choices, and share outcomes from the course. Our findings indicate our course redesign increased flexibility and accessibility without sacrificing student learning outcomes. Reflecting on these findings, we argue for a redesign process that puts student learning goals at the center, considers the impacts of social context (especially with regard to social inequalities), and applies UDL to maximize accessibility and social justice.

A nurses’ guide to using models of reflection

Objective: This scholarly paper aims to discuss the importance of reflective practice in nursing, both theoretically and clinically, for undergraduate and graduate nurses. The article also aims to provide direction by comparing and contrasting four reflective models to provide a basis for self-reflection. Primary argument: The Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia requires nurses to be reflective practitioners. Gaining greater knowledge of different models of reflection may aid nurses, both undergraduate and graduate, to enhance their clinical and theoretical knowledge through reflection in their day-to-day practice. Registered nurses may develop their practice through reflecting on their actions, experiences, knowledge, feelings and beliefs to shape their ongoing education and practice. Conclusion: There is an expectation from registering authorities for nurses to be reflective practitioners. This paper provides information on four different models of reflection, discussed in a systematic and logical order, with a view to highlighting the value of their use to support reflective practice. A comparative framework is provided to highlight similarities and differences. A personal reflection, based on a real-life event, using one of the models is included to provide an authentic example.

A Reflective Entrepreneur: Ashok Vasudevan and the Journey of Tastybite

The literature on entrepreneurship acknowledges that entrepreneurs are both thinkers and doers. While scholars have previously explored entrepreneurs’ cognitions and actions, research on entrepreneurs’ reflective practices remains limited. To stimulate greater scholarly attention on exploring entrepreneurs as reflective practitioners, in this ‘Meet the Person’ article we build on two interviews with the celebrated entrepreneur Ashok Vasudevan. From buying the venture off Unilever and eventually selling it to Mars, Ashok’s journey reflects an entrepreneur’s struggles in growing a venture from an emerging economy (India of the 90s). Tearing down entrepreneurship literature’s stereotypical and mythological lore, Ashok’s journey with Tasty Bite is also a case of why “the” theory of entrepreneurship continues to remain elusive. Three key themes from Ashok’s journey (failure, sustainability, and exit) help highlight the rich possibilities that reflective practice offers to entrepreneurship literature. Implications for the advancement of reflective practice in entrepreneurship research, education, and practice are presented.

DAVID BURNS’ TEAM CBT THERAPY AS A TOOL FOR EDUCATIONAL COUNSELORS

In this short article, the authors present their views on the effectiveness of Dr. David Burns’ TEAM therapy as an effective tool for educational counsellors in school settings. The authors are Yehuda Bar Shalom, who is both an academic who works in training counsellors and an educational counsellor in the field, draws from his experience as a TEAM therapist and trainer, and Amy Specter, who is a licensed marriage and family therapist who works at a high school for at-risk youth and also has a private practice working with teens and adults online in California. This paper should be seen as a practice-oriented account of two reflective practitioners.