what is reflective writing and why is it important

what is reflective writing and why is it important

The Importance of Reflective Writing

1. Introduction

The purpose of this essay is to demonstrate the reflective techniques in writing and how it can be developed in a fresh (focused, reflective, effective, successful, and helpful) way. This writing will illustrate the understanding of the technical, professional, and personal goals that this course has revealed to me as well as the strategies to achieve them. It will answer the questions such as what is reflective writing, technical and professional it is. With several examples for the reader to envision the concept of reflective writing. In general, the reader will learn what I got out of IST 7000. Reflective writing is evidence of reflective thinking. In an academic context, reflective thinking usually involves: 1. Looking back at something (often an event, i.e. something that happened, but it could also be an idea or object). 2. Analysing the event or idea (thinking in depth and from different perspectives, and trying to explain, often with reference to a model or theory, e.g. what happened, what was I trying to achieve, what are the significant factors, what were the alternatives?). 3. Learning from the event or idea (this is the crucial part of reflection). What sense can I make of the situation? What have I learned from this? How can I use this to learn more in the future? How can I use this to improve a situation? Reflective writing is thus more personal than other kinds of academic writing. We all think reflectively every day, of course. But good reflective writing also involves adopting a more formal and sometimes objective style, analytic, demonstrating clarity of understanding and avoiding the use of emotive, informal language. Written reflections often begin with a description of an event or idea, then move on to an analysis of its meaning for the writer, and finally to a consideration of what future action the writer may take as a result of the learning.

2. Understanding Reflective Writing

In the statistics evaluation, medical students were given an exercise testing their ability to identify the level of evidence in a research paper. To aid their understanding of what defines evidence level, we would like to have them write reflections on this exercise, linking each aspect of evidence with a specific example from the paper. This will allow the students to generate a clear definition of each evidence level, and the resulting concept map will serve as a guide for future attempts at evidence classification.

First, students must attend to the task of finding out what actually happened. This may seem obvious, but it is too easy for them to be concerned only with what they were trying to do, or what they think should have happened. Donald believes that getting students to generate a concrete description at this stage will improve their subsequent attempts in similar tasks by providing them with a better encoding in long-term memory. She suggests a model where students compare a target script to actual events, construing discrepancies between the two as error. An improvement of this model would be to have students construct a concept map of the target script which serves as a reference point.

A great deal has been written on the psychology of writing, but most of the theories are not easily transferred to practical classroom strategies. We draw on the work of cognitive psychologist Janet Donald to explain the three main components of an effective strategy for using writing to promote improvement, illustrated with examples from an evaluation of an online resource for a statistics course.

The process of writing, then, is critical to learning. If it is to foster the kind of learning that leads to improvement, it is not enough for a student to say, “I have learned from what I have done.” Without guidance in reflective writing, some students may not push themselves to find more abstract general learning from the experience, or may come away with a superficial understanding that fails to alter the way they act in the future.

3. Benefits of Reflective Writing

Reflective writing offers the opportunity to identify and further develop the important insights, perceptions, and realizations gained from an experience. There is no one correct way to reflect; the articulation of personal understandings about what has been learned is characterized as substantial. This can lead to changes in opinion, attitude, and behavior. Making sense of an experience in ways that can significantly influence our behavior involves looking very carefully for change and making connections between how we were, how we are, and how we will be. The process of reflection can provide a way for individuals to reveal feelings that may have been suppressed and the exploration of new ideas. Reflection can be used as an assessment of what is going on ‘around’ the learner. By developing the habit of asking ‘what’s going on here?’ it can be used for ongoing monitoring of events while deciding what action may need to be taken. This can be particularly useful in the clarification of unclear or confusing situations.

4. How to Engage in Reflective Writing

Reflection is a means to make sense of an event in order to learn from it. This learning can be about you, about your practice, about the complex factors affecting your work, and about the way you approach problems. If the event in question was a success, you still have something to learn. Effective reflection is a transformative process and what is learned can often lead to changed actions and new understandings of oneself. You may want to record your “learning” in a diary or use your new insights as a springboard for further development.

b. Be open to learning.

This would seem an odd bit of advice, but it is precisely at times when we are the busiest that we stand to gain the most from a few moments of quiet. We need to create some ‘space’ for ourselves to think about what has happened in order to begin to understand the significance of it. You might find it useful to “schedule” a time for reflection – thinking back over the day on your way home from work, during the lunch hour, or last thing at night. You will often need at least 20-30 minutes of uninterrupted time to start getting to grips with an event. Make sure that you are comfortable and in a quiet place and try to free yourself from distractions. For example, you will have little chance of reflecting effectively while cooking a meal, going to fetch a child from school, or sitting in front of the TV.

a. Begin by stopping.

Getting started is often the most difficult. Here are some things to get you thinking about reflective writing.

5. Conclusion

Although many students initially find reflective writing difficult, with time and practice they start to see the benefits to their personal and professional development. It is a form of experiential learning, even if it is not graded or seen by anyone else. The process can help to make sense of seemingly random life experiences. This can be done more easily when a structured process is used. Gibbs (1988) reflective cycle is a good start as it is clear, concise, and memorable. This is important when reflection is often an informal and private process. Going through the cycle helps the student evaluate their experiences and how they reacted to them. A clear structure streamlines the writing process, and this can be refreshing for students who are used to fudging assignments until the early hours of the morning. Having a reflective tool can provide students with a purpose. For instance, they may have completely dismissed a group project as a waste of time, but after running through a reflection activity, they may find that they, in fact, learned a lot about working in a team and will consider attending a similar group in the future. Reflection can bring newfound clarity to old situations.