Wednesday, April 11, 2007

progress on data collection in 2007

I now have seven participants taking part in my research. They are associated specifically with a course of study into which the reflective framework has been woven to ensure it is used as part of several assignments.

The workshop in March was very useful both for talking to prospective participants and also for trialling the reflective framework template. I presented a short overview about reflection and explained how the reflective framework and template could work.

Basically there are three levels as you can see on the diagram: 1. Take notice and describe the experience - free writing stage; 2. Analyse the experience - why the actions and decisions, what reactions and 3. Take action - what was learned and how will the learning be used.

During the workshop, participants practised doing some reflection about a holiday experience and used the template to write in. They all found the first stage relatively easy, once they had decided what to write about - reflection in itself, but found stage two and three more problematic. Once they used the framework once, however, they could see how they actually reflected on different levels.

After the initial practice using the framework about a personal experience, they then wrote a reflection relating to the type of work they do and the professional development they were undertaking as part of their study.

I was very happy with the first results of trialling the framework. It became obvious during the workshop how important support and guidance in "teaching" reflection actually was to ensure that practitioners did it well and to a level which was satisfactory for them.

During the workshop, participants also filled out a survey. The questions gathered information about both their professional experience and about their experience with using reflective techniques. Following the workshop I recorded my reflections about how it all went. Now I feel as if I am on my way with regard to data collection. I will be collecting the reflective assignments of the participants and analysing them to see how they are using the reflective framework.

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