Reflective practice in work integrated learning
Introduction Video
To get the full benefit of Work Integrated Learning, it’s important to build in opportunities for reflection. By the end of this module, you should be able to define and identify different approaches to reflective practice, explain the benefits of reflective practice for WIL, and explore strategies for bringing reflective practice into WIL experiences.
There are some really helpful resources in this module, and it should take you about an hour to complete. Be sure to take notes and make some bookmarks.
- Define and identify different approaches to reflective practice
- Explain the benefits of reflective practice for work integrated learning
- Explore strategies for bringing reflective practice into work integrated learning experiences
Reflection
We’ve all had moments, in our personal, academic, and work lives, where a situation has surprised, intrigued or upset us. Often, in those moments or a short time later, we will pause and think to ourselves, “What just happened there? Why did that situation unfold the way it did? and “How did my actions or my beliefs contribute to that situation?”
This moment of pause, combined with the thoughtful analysis of what took place is an example of reflection.
Reflection is important in all aspects of our lives, but is especially valuable to you in WIL experiences.
Reflection has been described as the process of “extracting learning from the day-to-day activities of work.” and researchers have found that students who reflect on their work experiences are more confident in their abilities, make stronger connections between what they are learning in school and on the job, and perform better than their less reflective peers.
Defining Reflection
“Reflection is about learners processing their experience in different ways and exploring their understanding of WHAT they are doing, WHY they are doing it and HOW it is impacting others.”
(Boud, D. 1999. Avoiding the traps: Seeking good practice in the use of self-assessment and reflection in professional courses. Social Work Education: The International Journal 18, no. 2: 121 – 32).
Reflection includes making sense of past or current experience as well as re-imagining future experiences.
Five Elements of Reflection
While thinking is certainly an important part of reflection, not all thinking can be called reflection.
- Self-awareness:Being self-aware is having the ability to notice your feelings, your reactions, your habits, your behaviors, and your thoughts as they relate to a particular situation.Practicing self-awareness is the first step to being able to question our typical ways of thinking or behaving in a situation. When practicing being self-aware, we should do our best to be non-judgemental.
It’s not about giving ourselves or others a hard time or about feeling guilt, but rather about carefully interpreting our thoughts and actions.
- Notice your feelings, reactions, habits, behaviours, and your thoughts.
- Question your typical ways of thinking and behaving.
- Be non-judgemental.
- Description:
When we reflect on a specific situation, it is important to be able to describe that situation in as much detail as possible while remaining as neutral as possible. We may think about:
- What took place?
- Who was present and what did each person say or do?
- What external conditions might have influenced the situation?
- How could my words or actions have been perceived by others?
- Critical analysis:In the critical analysis phase of reflection, we challenge our own perceptions and assumptions. We attempt to analyze the situation from multiple perspectives.
- How might my boss, my teacher, my partner, my friend, or whomever was involved in the situation have been thinking about what happened?
- How might this have influenced their reactions?
- When I think about what happened from their perspective, does it challenge my own feelings about the situation?
- Review:Having described and critically analyzed a particular situation, at the review stage we think about what we might do differently the next time.What concrete actions or thoughts might lead to better outcomes in the future?
- What might we do differently the next time?
- What concrete actions or thoughts might lead to better outcomes in the future?
- New learning & next steps:With the benefit of reflection, we can take our experiences — even the most difficult ones — and convert these into learning opportunities.We now have a plan of action for how we might be able to better prepare for and respond to a similar personal or workplace situation in the future.
- What can I learn from this?
- What is my plan of action?
Source: Time to reflect – why does it matter in the workplace?
Current Reflective Practice
Having reviewed expert definitions of reflection, it can feel like reflection is a very formal or difficult process. That is not the impression that we want to leave you with!
Most people reflect quite frequently, and often in very informal ways and places. People might reflect over their morning coffee or during their commute to work or school. You might reflect as you exercise or while listening to your favourite music. You might prefer to reflect with others — over lunch with a trusted friend or chatting online with your social network.
Take a moment to think about where and how you currently practice reflection in your everyday life. This will be important because it will help you to understand the conditions that best support your personal reflection. It might be important for you to try to replicate or put these conditions into place when you reflect on your WIL experiences.
To help you reflect on your reflective practice, answer the prompts below.
- How do you currently practice reflection in your everyday life?
- How often do I reflect?
- When do I prefer to reflect?
- morning
- afternoon
- evening
- at night
- Products of reflection: “Example: I keep a journal (physical or virtual), I have a creative outlet for my reflections (i.e. art, poetry), Other? None?
- Where do I reflect best? “Example: In a quiet or noisy space? In a private or public space? In a virtual space? Other?
- What am I doing when reflecting? “Example: I am active (e.g., walking, exercising, knitting)? I am physically still? Other?
A thought experiment
So why are we emphasizing the importance of reflection as you prepare for your WIL experience? What is the value of reflection to students who are engaging in WIL activities? To begin exploring these questions, consider the following scenario.
(Inspired by: Di Stefano, Giada, Francesca Gino, Gary P. Pisano, and Bradley Staats. “Making Experience Count: The Role of Reflection in Individual Learning.” Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 14-093, March 2014. (Revised June 2016.) http://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/dow...ame=14-093.pdf)
Shai, a Motive Power Technician student, is currently out on her co-op term at a local auto-mechanic shop. Under the guidance of her workplace mentor, she has replaced five sets of brake pads in her first month of work. Together with her mentor, Shai is planning her next few shifts. Imagine she was given a choice in planning her agenda for the next two weeks. She could:
- Change 10 more sets of brake pads over the next two weeks.
- Unfortunately, this assumption is incorrect. Research has demonstrated across a number of different work-based situations that individuals who choose to combine practice with deliberate reflection outperform those who repeatedly practice a skill alone.
- Change 5 more sets of brake pads over the next two weeks, taking the remaining time to deliberately reflect between brake pad changes on what went well and how she could improve? (Correct)
- The research suggests that taking time to think through and reflect on recent experiences will enhance performance significantly more than simply engaging in more work for that same period of time.
In terms of improving her future performance and developing her skills as a mechanic, what would be the optimal use of Shai’s time?
(Inspired by: Di Stefano, Giada, Francesca Gino, Gary P. Pisano, and Bradley Staats. “Making Experience Count: The Role of Reflection in Individual Learning.” Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 14-093, March 2014. (Revised June 2016.) http://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/dow...ame=14-093.pdf)
Interview with Dr. Giada Distefano
Giada DiStefano is a researcher who studies the impact of reflection on workplace learning. Watch this short interview with Dr. DiStefano and identify at least two concrete benefits of reflection for learners in workplace settings. Click the link to open the video in a new browser window.
View video at:
The power of reflection at work, by HEC Paris Prof. Giada Di Stefano
Benefits of reflection in the workplace
Research shows that the benefits of reflection in the workplace are enormous, for both individuals and for the organization as a whole. Keep this in mind as you participate in your WIL experiences. It can be difficult, particularly when you are working in a fast-paced environment and are being asked to absorb lots of new information and develop new skills, to make time for reflection. But remember that individuals who take time to reflect on their learning perform better, recall important information more effectively, are more confident, and feel more motivated to continue learning. Taking time for reflection is important and will help you to transfer the skills that you have developed in the classroom to your WIL experience and the skills that you gain in your WIL experience back to your academic work.
With respect to work-related learning and skill development, people who take time to reflect:
- Feel more confident and competent (DiStefano et al, 2016)
- Are more motivated to continue learning (DiStefano et al, 2016)
- Perform better and retain ideas and skills more effectively (DiStefano et al, 2016)
- Understand workplace task(s) or process(es) better (Zollo and Winter, 2002; Kale and Singh, 2007)
- Better predict how their actions will impact desired work-related outcomes (Kale and Singh, 2007)
- Contribute to better team performance in the workplace (Schippers, Homan, and van Krippenberg, 2013)
The D.E.A.L Model for Reflection
So, what are some concrete strategies that you can apply to integrate reflection into your WIL experience? The D.E.A.L. model is a simple approach that you can apply to any situation. It combines all of those important aspects of reflection that we described earlier – self-awareness, description, critical analysis, review, and next steps – and distills them into a simple set of questions that will help you to reflect critically on any experience.
D.E.A.L. is an acronym that stands for DESCRIBE, EVALUATE, and ARTICULATE LEARNING.
Describe
- What took place?
- When and where did the experience in question take place?
- Who was and was not present?
- What did you and others do/not do?
- What did you see, hear, etc.?
Evaluate
- In what ways did you succeed or do well?
- How did this experience make me feel (positively and/or negatively)?
- In what ways were you challenged?
- How has your perspective/thoughts changed in light of you experience?
- What did you see, hear, etc.?
Articulate Learning
- What did you learn?
- How did you learn it?
- Why does it matter?
- What will I do in light of it?
Applying the DEAL Model?
Let’s practice applying the DEAL model.
Think of a recent situation that surprised, intrigued or upset you and reflect on the situation by responding to the DEAL questions on the previous slides. You can print this page off when you’re done and keep it for your records.
When you’re done, consider: Did you find the DEAL questions helpful? Did they help you to see the situation in new ways? Did they help you to extract new learning from the situation?
Strategies for Reflection
In addition to asking yourself the right questions, there are a number of other concrete strategies that can support reflection.
Set aside time: Perhaps the most important is setting aside consistent time to reflect. Reflection does not need to be a long process – even five to 10 minutes of daily reflection can be beneficial. Taking into consideration the nature of your WIL experience, the culture of your workplace, and your own personal reflection preferences, when might you best be able to make time for reflection on WIL? Is there a consistent time that will work for you or do you anticipate having to fit reflection in whenever you get a chance?
Take notes: Given the pace of many WIL experiences, it may be difficult to find opportunities to reflect in the moment, when a situation is fresh. If you expect that reflecting-in-the-moment will be challenging, make a point to jot down notes when WIL situations surprise, challenge or intrigue you. In your notes, describe the situation in as much detail as possible. These details will make it far easier to evaluate and articulate learning from the experience later in the day or week when you might have more time to reflect critically.
Reflect creatively: When we think about reflection, thinking and writing frequently come to mind. However, some of the best reflections are expressed creatively – through poetry, images, doodles, songs or other creative forms. Representing reflections in this way can often help us to make unexpected connections and develop new ideas. When you are reflecting, feel free to express yourself in ways that feel comfortable and authentic and that help you to express your feelings and ideas most authentically.
Reflect actively: Exercise can put us in a better state of mind and helps to inspire fresh thinking and new ideas. Consider combining your reflection time with your exercise time. During your WIL experience, is there an opportunity to get outside and go for a short walk once or twice a day? Do you hit the gym at the end of a work or school day? Consider taking 10 minutes of your treadmill time to review and reflect on WIL related experiences.
Reflect with others: Trusted friends, coworkers or academic peers can support your reflection by listening to your experiences and helping you to consider alternative perspectives and options. Consider setting up consistent meetings, perhaps over coffee or lunch, with a critical friend who can help you to think through various WIL experiences.
Workplace Reflection
- Privacy
- Confidentiality
- Professionalism
When reflecting on your workplace experiences, it is VERY IMPORTANT to keep privacy, confidentiality and professionalism in mind.
Whether you intend to share your workplace reflections with others or to keep them to yourself, it is wise to strike a respectful tone and, where possible, to anonymize individuals who might be involved in the situations that are described. The focus of your reflections should always be on what you can learn from a situation, rather than on criticising someone else’s actions.
Regardless of the type or format of your WIL experience, it is crucial that you enquire about and abide by any privacy policies that may impact whether and how you share your workplace reflections, particularly if you intend on sharing your reflections using an online platform like Twitter or a blog. For example, in many organizations, sharing images of colleagues or clients is expressly forbidden without their prior written consent. Confidentiality and privacy requirements are particularly stringent in health- and justice-related fields. Please consult with your workplace supervisor or the faculty member overseeing your WIL experience before sharing any workplace reflections publicly.
Reflection Plan
Research has shown that deliberate, consistent workplace reflection rarely happens unless we embed it into our routine. We need to make a habit of reflecting on our work, and for that, we need a PLAN.
Review the reflection preferences that you described earlier in this module, and think about the WIL experience that you are preparing for. If you are not preparing for a specific WIL experience, consider the professional field that you hope to enter at the end of your program.
When, during a typical workday, do you think you will have time to reflect? What format of reflection might work best in your work environment? How can you best capture your thoughts and reactions to different situations while on the job?
Keeping all of this in mind, use the space to develop a personalized reflection plan. Briefly describe your personal plan for consistently engaging in reflection throughout your WIL experience.
Remember to include details about the frequency of reflection (how often and for how long); timing and location of your reflections (when and where will you reflect?); how you plan to keep track of your thoughts and reactions to various WIL situations (journal? audio notes? other?); and the outputs of your reflection (written? digital? creative product? other?).
Briefly describe your personal plan for consistently engaging in reflection throughout your WIL experience.
Module Complete
Funding for the development of this resource provided by the province of Ontario, via eCampusOntario
With contributions from the following Ontario Colleges
- Niagara College Canada – Centre for Academic Excellence NC Libraries + Learning Commons
- Georgian – Co-operative Education and Career Success
- Algonquin College – Cooperative Education Learning and Teaching Services
- Lambton College – myCareerCentre
Module Development: kylemackie.ca
