7.2 Professional Learning

The relationship between reflection, action and learning in your own contexts of work (which may include the current context of study on H808).

Part 1

Dealtry

A – A learning task in an area you know well (low risk)

B – A familiar learning task but applying it to a new situation (moderate risk)

C – An unfamiliar learning task but in a familiar work situation (moderate risk)

D – New learning in a new part of the organisation (high risk)

		Situation
		Familiar	Unfamiliar
Learning task	Familiar	A Using blog to post answers to activities	B Building a set of activities for Robotics sessions
	Unfamiliar	C Preparing lessons for Programming higher level	D New role as elearning support teacher

If a learning task is in an area I know well, is this still a learning task? will this still be considered as learning?

Attaching this to my context in a school. I think that teachers tend to take the low risk route, where they give their students a learning task in which they are familiar with…or not?

Part 2

Which box – A, B, C or D – best describes the kind of reflective practice that you encounter in your own or your colleagues’ work?

	Action	Reflection
Immediate	A Immediate action that follows workshops, often characterised by an instrumentalist approach to instruction	B Reflection-on-action, most usually by experienced practitioners with relevant and immediate opportunities for reflection
Deferred	C Action following reflection does not happen because there is no immediate opportunity to put anything into practice	D Reflection following action is often prompted by formal assessment processes – this also happens after a period of rumination

Which best describes the kind of reflective practice that you encounter in your own work?

Which box best describes the relation between the reflection you are doing here in H808 and your (past or future) actions in your work context?

The reflection I encounter in my own work cannot be directly related to any one of these boxes. Different situations in my context, which may involve action or reflection, immedietly or deferred…informally or formally. Many times the reflective practice being encountered is C because my context is not HE, which is the context on which H808 is based on. When teaching, I have access to reflection-on-action although this cannot be regarded as immediate. Reflection on my classes happens automatically after a lesson, and I feel that this is ingrained that what has happened in a lesson with a particular class will have an effect my interaction with this class next time round.

Readings

Clegg

Professional development – two main components; active and reflective. Finding a balance between these two components may make the professional development/learning experience ‘meaningful and of value’.

Dealtry

http://www.emeraldinsight.com.libezproxy.open.ac.uk/journals.htm?issn=1366-5626&volume=16&issue=1/2&articleid=882316&show=html&PHPSESSID=jve5g8u5kjddev97b7oj0blrn2

Prefer Dealtry paper as for my undestanding it provides a clearer and meaningful message to the reader…although examples through managment are notexamples I can relate with…