On the general topic of reflection I really enjoyed this presentation (here's the abstract below) 

________________Evidence of Personal Development Planning in Assessed Student Writing
Hilary Nesi
Personal Development Planning (PDP) is intended to enable young people to ‘reflect on their own learning, performance and/or achievement’ and ‘plan for their personal, educational and career development’ (Higher Education Academy, 2005). Reflective writing tasks are one way of encouraging PDP, but problems arise when such writing is subjected to assessment. Students may feel that acknowledgement of genuine deficits and personal inadequacies will jeopardize their academic and professional careers; moreover genuine reflection may touch on problems outside the students’ personal control, such as poor teaching and inadequate resources. This paper presents findings from functional analysis of reflective writing elements in the British Academic Written English (BAWE) corpus, a collection of about 3000 good quality university student assignments, distributed fairly evenly across four broad disciplinary groupings and four levels of study. Students from 13 out of the 34 contributing departments submitted to the corpus assignments we classed as ‘reflective recounts’ (telling the story of their personal and educational development over a period of time) or ‘self-evaluations’ (discussing their suitability for a particular role or career). Other assignments in the corpus belonging primarily to other genres (e.g. discussion essays, model evaluations, literature reviews) include a reflective element, often bolted on at the beginning or end of the main body of writing. This paper identifies the contexts for reflection in the corpus, and, drawing on Hunston & Thompson (2000), discusses the representation of value-systems in such writing, and the extent to which the reflective elements demonstrate genuine reflective practice, contributing to the aims of PDP. It also considers what advice writing tutors might offer students in terms of the expression of personal stance, and the possible conflict between personal reflection and traditional methods of academic enquiry.
References
Higher Education Academy (2005) PDP update: policy and practice http://www.ukcle.ac.uk/resources/pdp/varnava.html
Hunston, S and Thompson, G (eds.) (2000) Evaluation in Text: Authorial Stance and the Construction of Discourse. Oxford: Oxford University Press.________________________

at last year's Writing Development in HE conference.
The full presentation is available @  http://www.writenow.ac.uk/wdhe/presentation/NesiH.pdf

I found this and Hunston & Thompson (see below) a really good starting point when working with a Radiotherapist this year introducing reflective writing for first years & MSc students. 
While I found these texts gave me a way in, I think the students found examples of professional reflections written by staff to be most useful - second years ended up asking for copies. 

Reflective writing linked to PDP seems to occur across nearly all the professional courses here so I was intrigued to see the recent appearance of 

Applied Research Group: English Language in the Professions and in Higher Education (ELPHE) http://www.coventry.ac.uk/elphe

This looks like an interesting extension of BAWE (British Academic Written English) corpus research.

Cathy Malone 
Sheffield Hallam

 


From: learning development in higher education network [[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of John Hilsdon [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Wednesday, March 25, 2009 4:58 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: reflexive v reflective

… and if Stevie, an educationalist, has experienced such problems on an MA, what must it be like for our undergrads …?  A few years ago I had so many nursing students coming to see me to ask how to ‘do’ critical reflection that I undertook a small research study in an attempt interpret what was going on. The main findings I came to were that a) there was widespread confusion among the students about what reflection ‘really’ is (much of which centred around issues of writing conventions such as the dreaded pronoun use) , and b) such unclarity or contradictoriness around the criteria for assessment of reflection that it was not uncommon for students to fabricate their reflections .. defeating somewhat (though perhaps not entirely) the object of undertaking a reflective task!

If anyone wants to read it, let me know – or you can find it in the Journal of Practice Teaching in Health and Social Work 6(1) pp 57-70 Hilsdon, J. 2006 “Re-Thinking Reflection.”

John

From: learning development in higher education network [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Farrell, Stevie
Sent: 25 March 2009 12:38
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: reflexive v reflective

Hi Margaret

As a tutor and student I find your review very accurate and useful.

I've had many years now of successful writing in academic life and therefore until now, the idea that reflective writing could be so problematic was something I didn't think of as widespread.  I have just been on the receiving end of an MA assignment that was 'reflective'.  Having done this kind of assignment all through my PGCE I was therefore shocked to read that on this occasion, mine was too informal.  Having managed the balance between academic/reflective very well in the past - and being part of a team who write and teach about reflective writing - I feel like I'm wandering in a conceptual maze regarding reflection....it seems, especially by this discussion, that reflection means many things to many people.  I wonder then, how we students can match a criteria that isn't in the actual written details?

This is not intended as a insult or an attack on the lecturers concerned.  I hold them in very high esteem and the course is an incredibly well structured and delivered one, with academic staff who really know their subjects and are very responsive to calls for support.  It is rather, highlighting how concepts of reflective, reflexive etc are causing problems through their nature of being open to different perceptions.

My grade was very good, but I worked extremely hard, felt I'd guaged the quality of my work accurately, and did expect more.  And more importantly, I know now that I have to find out what is meant by this term before I submit any further work.  It's been an 'eye opener' for me.

Stevie
________________________________
From: learning development in higher education network on behalf of Margaret Herrington 634
Sent: Wed 25/03/2009 12:10
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: reflexive v reflective

Isn't it interesting how the confusing use of terminology in HE curricula usually lands on Learning Development or 'Support' staff doorsteps? These terms are not easily interchangeable. Reflective covers a multitude of interpretations in HE at the moment. Some staff still ask students to 'reflect' without any kind of clear contextual definition,rationale, scaffold or scope.I lost count of the numbers of students I saw for whom this loose use of terminology was the main problem they had with writing assignments

Reflexive, too, is rarely explained outside particular disciplines...and appears to be defined differently too.?
For me it is the explicit recognition of the presence and role of self ( with all that entails) in investigation and interpretation. As already noted this has particular value in research activities...not as a compensation for the absence of 'scientific method' but because interpretation of 'data' is governed by who is doing it- their histories and present stories. Researchers working reflexively recognise and acknowledge this. If readers of research are to make judgements about the new knowledge generated they need to know what has led to particular interpretations. Though especially important in qualitative research it is also vital in quantitative work (how quantitative data is sought and handled is not simply a technical matter)

Also, having worked in teacher education, I think reflexivity is helpful to new teachers in interpreting what is happening within their practice. ...and this is where reflective practice pops up again. It is possible to find bits of reflexivity within reflective pieces!

Margaret


Dr M Herrington
Visiting Professor of Education
University of Wolverhampton
0116 2597361
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