2c - Reflective Theory Evaluation

It has been a while since my last blog - I have been very busy personally and professionally with a lot to reflect on.

After trying out different ways of writing journals - it has been an interesting journey and I have found out more about myself as a practitioner. 

"Turning experience into learning"  - (Boud 1995) - before I began this course I would spend the majority of the time going through the motions. Not really reflecting or turning any experience I had into learning. The different methods I have applied this past month have really made a difference and not only made me learn from my experiences, but learn more about myself as a professional.

I found Gibbs cycle very helpful - The constant cycle of reflection means that we constantly find ourselves improving/learning. I no long see processes as "failing" but and opportunity now to do better and learn from the experience.

Multiple Intelligences

Howard gardner looked into the ways that people engage. It is interesting as I feel as people we all develop and learn in different ways. I decided to research this further.

After looking on other blogs and the ideas of other students on the module I can see we all adapt to ways that work for us. Honey and Mumford (1982) have built a typology of Learning Styles around this sequence, identifying individual preferences for each stage (Activist, Reflector, Theorist, Pragmatist respectively)

• Activist - Learning by doing and experiencing
• Reflector - observes and reflects 
• Theorist - wants to know the theory behind things
• pragmatist - Likes to trial things and see if they work

I believe I took the approach of an activist by way of personality and approach - even as a child I have always preferred doing and experiencing. Although this is how I would describe myself, during this course I have learnt to adopt other approaches. I have started using the Pragmatist approach in many ways as I do like to trial different things and see if they work both for example - trying out new sales techniques at work - a new running technique at the gym and seeing what works for me best. By writing my journals I have reflected on my day to day professional life and used the Gibbs learning cycle to learn from my experiences. Learning the theory behind my reflection and all the different theorists I have come across has made me apply theory to every day life.

Going back to Gardner and his theory of  having different "lenses" I agree that you don't have to be one specific type of learner but you can adopt all types of learning to benefit you.



Online reflection and offline reflection 

"Reflection - on - action is accomplished "offline" at a time where full attention can be given to analysis and planning for the future without the imperative for immediate action" (kottcamp, 1990) 

This is important to us as performers as Kottcamp points out that it is harder for us to reflect in the moment as we use to adapting in the moment.

There are many who would disagree with Kottcamp's view that 'reflection-on-action' is easier than 'reflection-on-action'. Dance teachers and choreographers, for example, often find it easier to implement changes to choreography as they go along. This might be because they can see that their initial idea is not working on their pupils, or  it might be because they have had a new inspiration during the lesson and want to explore it.
Many in performing arts might find 'reflection-in-action' easier because they are used to adopting 'on the spot'. I emphasis the word 'might' because, like Gardner, I agree with the concept of multiple intelligence leading to different ways of learning; we all think and act in different ways.