Reflection is an everyday process. We reflect on a wide range of situations and problems on a day to day basis. Reflection is a huge part of work based learning. It allows us to think deeper into certain situations and enables us to think about what worked well/ didn't work well and decide how to change the situation for the better. Reflective practice teaches us to discuss how different circumstances make us feel and to see a particular situation from the view of somebody else. There are many different reflective theories which I will be discussing.
Throughout my years training at college, I was unknowingly reflecting all of the time. Not necessarily written down reflection, but during dance classes almost every lesson I would reflect upon my own work and think about what worked well and how to improve myself. Although I had been reflection in that way, I had never before kept a journal so doing this was all new to me. Learning from experience is a way of turning information into knowledge and this work based learning course relies heavily on this method of work.
David Boud refers to reflection as a key tool for understanding and learning from experience, he writes about looking at our own experience's and comparing them to other peoples existing understanding to learn something new. I found his example of learning from experience (the meaning of bachelor) really helpful as it gave me full understanding of this way of reflection. Boud's theory really got me thinking about how much we learn on a daily basis without even realising. This helps me on my BAPP journey to reflect on my experiences as a means to learn something new. Since starting my journal I've learnt a lot about myself, I wasn't aware of my attitude when going in for a dance audition, after evaluating myself I realised that I need to change my outlook on auditions and go into them with a lot more confidence and fight rather that going in already defeated! So next time, that is exactly what I will do! I'm so glad I was writing my journal at that time because if I wasn't I wouldn't have reflected and evaluated myself so much, but because of this course its given me the kick up the bum I've needed to go into those auditions and believe in myself! I've got an audition at the end of may so I will be sure to right a journal about that days events and compare it to the last audition!
Reflection can also help people in the process of change. Dewey was interested in experience and believed there were different levels of experience. He thought that the quality of education was linked to the engagement with, and consciousness of the experience (Dewey, 1916) for example the higher the education the better the experience and engagement; therefore enabling you to learn more. Like Dewey, Kurt Lewin was also interested in a social change in experiential learning he came up with a theory he called 'spiral steps' a way of dividing a certain experience into individual steps: action, evaluation, planning and action. This is a great way of breaking the situation down and working out a better outcome.
David Kolb developed the learning cycle. By using this theory we can identify the experience and realise the tools we need to be able to reflect on the experience. The learning cycle is on-going, with one point leading on to the next, therefore there is no beginning and end, but it is up to us to decide where we start to learn something new. The different points of the cycle are:
- Concrete Experience
- Reflective Observation
- Abstract Conceptualisation
- Active Experimentation
After watching a few different videos and reading up on information I started to use trial and error, and put into practice what I had learnt from research (Active experimentation) because I have used a lot of web 2.0 site in the past I realised it wouldn't be much different to setting up something like a facebook account therefore I would end the cycle using concrete experience. The way in which I learnt to set up my blog is the same way I would learn a new dance sequence; I find it helpful to learn from others for example the teacher and would then carry on the cycle from there.
Howard Gardner introduced the idea or multiple intelligences (Gardner, 1983) he thought people were intelligent in a number of different ways. He discussed the ideas of VAK learners. Gardner developed these 3 different learning styles but he also believed we should not limit ourselves to being just one kind of learner, but to realised there are different ways in which people prefer to learn. For myself I believe I am a Auditory learner, l learn best by being told the information where as other people will prefer to learn through sight or learn through experience.
Honey and Mumford created four stages, this was inspired by Kolb's cycle:
- Having an experience
- Reviewing the experience
- Concluding from the experience
- Planning the next steps
Donald Schon introduced reflection-in-action (RIA) and reflection-on-action (ROA) this is the idea that you can reflect in the situation or the reflection can come after it has happened. RIA is most common in artists whereby we realise something is not working so we change the steps there and then where as ROA is used mostly by academics who go away and look back at what has happened afterwards.
Kottcamp uses the terms on-line (RIA) and off-line (ROA) he discusses how RIA is harder to achieve but most powerful for improvement and ROA is done at a time when full attention can be given to analysis and planning for the future (Kottcamp, 1990) I believe both of these ways of reflection are equally important. Being from an artistic background I have always used RIA therefore it is second nature for me but I realise for this course it is particularly important to use ROA which I am less familiar with.
Kottcamps theory got me thinking about his stereotype of dancers, he believed dancers were Kinaesthetic learners but this is not necessarily true for all dancers. Although I am a Kinaesthetic learner when I am learning a dance sequence, I am also a Auditory learner when learning academically which brings us back to Gardners theory that we don't have to limit ourselves to being just one type of learner.
Tactic knowledge is the fact that we can know more that we can tell (Polanyi, 1966) Tharp explains the idea of muscle memory when demonstrating a dance as tactic knowledge. As dancers we are not used to explaining the steps therefore when asked to do so we may hesitate or second guess ourselves. We are not confident in using language to interpret something we know nonverbally (Tharp and Reiter, 2006) Tharp also talks about being a choreographer, and the importance of being able to 'come up with the goods' therefore she has to develop a different reflective practice to be sure she is in touch with the muscle memory.
Tufnell and Crickmay discuss how our body is the ground from which all our knowing of the world begins (2004) Without the sense of the body we loose connection to what is around us. This shows that reflection does not have to happen as a written process but it is important to be able to do so.
Reader 2 has given me a greater knowledge and understanding of the different types of reflection. Its helped me within the course to analyse and evaluate my own experience to create a better outcome. It has taught me to be more positive and confident in certain situations. It has helped me not only with my BAPP course but also in my personal life.
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