Reflecting on Reflective Practice

The article titled above by Lynda Finlay (2008) has been thought provoking rather than outlining aspects that relate to my practice!

Questions that arose for me to consider   

• Do I really do reflective practice as “defined” (several definitions) in the paper? And if so do I do it “in action” “for action” or “on action” (Pg. 4), consciously or subconsciously, structured or thoughtless, critically or mindlessly?
• Do the benefits outweigh the negatives? And if so at what point should I use it with staff I manage?
• If I promoted this practice, what model would be suitable, how would I avoid confusion and how could I ensure it isn't detrimental to the ongoing progress of myself and my staff as it is something they will need to embrace as quoted in the article “An honest self-appraisal conducted in conjunction with peers is one of the hallmarks of an effective promoter of reflection”!
• Educators are not the easiest in the world to convert- don’t we know it all and how dare someone tell me something new as the belief is “I have years of experience and what I do works, why should we reflect, evaluate, change and adopt new methods”?

The model that I tend to use is Rolfe’s Reflective model which is based around Borton’s 1970 Developmental model

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Being a technologist ongoing evaluation has become part of my practice. My curriculum leader and I regularly do this practice especially with our Level 3 NCEA students as we were the first to develop and deliver a totally on-line course. We had no experience in the delivery platform, do design thinking was used as a structure and ongoing discussions and tweaking goes on regularly as our learners keep changing and so does their needs.

What: Te Aho O Te Kura Pounamu as the name suggest Pounamu is a metamorphic rock, hence as an organisation we are in the process of metamorphosing from blended to fully digital delivery. Our Year 9 and 10 courses have now being delivered online for the last two years and the cohorts have been surveyed and results have been shared with the relevant teaching areas.

So What: These results have started dialogue in our areas and staff are starting to reflect, amend, create, critique the materials that are available based on the feedback. For my area Technology, there is a strong request for collaborative opportunities, not surprising at all since we are now often being reminded that Collaboration is the way of the future and one the key 21^st century learning tools.

Now what: As an organisation we have started sharing the online tools and tricks that are working and highly engaging in our areas. We are now collaborating for the next stage as NCEA level 1 is being adapted and delivered online this year. We have to explore tools collectively on the OTLE platform that makes assessment, interaction with students, our peers and delivery of content efficient and effective as bear in mind we have rural students where connectivity is highly expensive and unreliable as well as students in different time zones globally.

At this point in time this simple model is sufficient as we have a lot to learn, reflect and adapt in our teaching practice and mind set. In the future the NZ Teaching as Inquiry Model could be a model we adopt as it is locally developed and takes the issues relevant to our practice.