Online Module 1 Session 2 – Reflection

The Online Module 1 session was a good opportunity to share some of the experiences the Module 1 students have had with reflection and looking at the module as a whole and not individual tasks.

These are the key things that really sparked some new ways of thinking for me:

1.    How does reflection and theory relate to my professional practice?

2.    Looking for different ways of reflection – not always obvious ways.

3.    There is no right or wrong – it’s ok to not know the answers!

“How is reflection useful in terms of tools, you and others, for your professional practice?”

I have always been conscious of the fact that the reflection in my journal should relate to my professional practice and this is what I have been trying to focus on whilst writing my entries. However, sharing our experiences and trying to analyse how these link to our practices, made think in a different way; it is not about reflection on it’s own, it is about how it applies to your work place, it is all interlinked. I realised that I had been linking the tasks and the theories in the Reader to my work, but not until I actually verbalising an example in the session (writing from a colleagues point of view). This made me realise that I will need to stop treating the reflection as a separate exercise or task. I am looking forward to exploring this more in the rest of the module.

“Another View”

One person in the group said that by challenging yourself with the different ways of reflecting, you actually question yourself more and doing this reveals new concerns and interesting points. I thought this was a stimulating comment. Now looking back on my previous posts, I think I was too quick to discount the value of Another View reflection. It was explained in the session that this type of reflection could help see things in your day that you were focusing on subconsciously. With this in mind, I now think I need to try this form of reflection again; I need to be more open to new ways of thinking by using my imagination, as I can not predict what will be surface from doing this exercise.

“There is no right or wrong”

For me, this was the biggest ‘aha’ moment of the session. The structure of the course is so different to the education that I have experienced in my life so far, that I was always worried about ‘getting things wrong’. This session reassured me that it is ‘ok’ to not understand certain things or know the answers straight away. The process of actually trying to puzzle through these moments and explaining it by linking it to my professional practice is the right thing to do.

To me, this felt like the pressure that I was putting on myself had been lifted, leaving me more freedom to experiment with different ways of thinking and reflecting, not just ‘ticking boxes as Adesola has said. I have to find a way to be ok with this and let my thoughts emerge throughout the course to develop my professional practice. This is something that I think I will find challenging, but I am looking forward to this.