My job role
I
am a lecturer in the Built and Natural Environment based at the Faculty of
Architecture, Computing, and the Environment (FACE), Mount Pleasant Campus,
University of Wales Trinity Saint David (UWTSD). My role is specifically around
teaching in the built environment and the natural environment.
My lecturing
style and reflecting writing
Facilitation
of reflectivity is vital in education (Pultorak, 1993; Hatton and Smith, 1995).
Furthermore, reflective writing is associated with reflective thinking (Kennison
and Misselwitz, 2002). In my lectures and tutorials, I specifically focus on the
aspect of igniting and reflecting on innovative thinking (and subsequently,
writing) of my students. I do this in a number of ways, for instance, during my
lectures I would always ask students about their existing views about a concept
or topic e.g. what the built environment and the natural environment are. If they
are not actively participating or struggling to think and / or express
(generally after they have run out of their thoughts and points), I shall put
up some exemplary photos e.g. buildings, bridges, rivers, woodlands, etc. This
will stir up their thinking (even further) and they start to mention more
points. I capture students’ points on a white board and / or flipchart and then
put the definition up of the built environment and natural environment from my
PowerPoint slides. They feel a sense of creativity, gratification, and
accomplishment when they learn that they all together almost defined the
concept (I am lecturing on) by themselves. This also helps in keeping my
lectures more like a workshop style rather than a conventional authoritative
one way lecturing. I have learnt from my personal experience that a lecture can
become a means of reflective thinking and writing more effectively via
interactive style of lecturing.
My coursework
design
My
more than usual interactive lecturing style, assists my students on meeting one
of the most crucial criteria (i.e. reflective writing) in the coursework assignments
that I design for them. The reflective writing criterion is generally addressed
under the headings analysis, synthesis, conclusions and recommendations in the
coursework designed by me (which cover a range of elements listed in bullet
points, below). However, the mark weight allocated to this criterion varies
across learning levels from the first years (Level 4) through second years
(Level 5) and third years (Level 6) to MSc (Level 7). Generally, the allocated
mark weight at Level 4 is lowest and highest at Level 7.
Experts of
education
In
my understanding and belief, without analysis and synthesis be it on an
experience, observation or even a case study, learning can not be consolidated,
at least not to the point where a learner is able to apply the learnt to
real-world situations. Gibbs (1988) nicely sums up the significance of
reflective thinking and writing as follows: “It is not sufficient simply to
have an experience in order to learn. Without reflecting upon this experience
it may quickly be forgotten, or its learning potential lost. It is from the
feelings and thoughts emerging from this reflection that generalisations or
concepts can be generated. And it is generalisations that allow new situations
to be tackled effectively.” Furthermore, Gibbs (1988) outlines the stages for a
‘Structured Debriefing’, which are based on Kolb’s (1984) Experiential Learning
Cycle and which encourage deeper reflection and are accommodated varying
degrees in the coursework designed by me:
·
Description: What is the
stimulant for reflection? (incident, event, theoretical idea) What are you
going to reflect on?
·
Feelings: What were your
reactions and feelings?
·
Evaluation: What was good
and bad about the experience? Make value judgments.
·
Analysis: What sense can
you make of the situation? Bring in ideas from outside the experience to help
you. What was really going on?
·
Conclusions
(general):
What can be concluded, in a general sense, from these experiences and the
analyses you have undertaken?
·
Conclusions
(specific):
What can be concluded about your own specific, unique, personal situation or
ways of working?
·
Personal Action
plans:
What are you going to do differently in this type of situation next time? What
steps are you going to take on the basis of what you have learnt?
Evidence of my
reflective teaching and learning
Last
Friday (15 January 2016), I was marking presentations with my colleague for a
module (titled, Project Design; Level 6) which is not taught by me but the
colleague. It was a pleasure for me to see that the students applied
quantitative risk assessment approaches in their presentation (at Level 6)
while they were taught these by me at Level 5 in a different module (on Health
and Safety). I discussed this aspect with my colleague and we agreed that it
was a living and gratifying proof of my teaching, which employed reflective
thinking and writing in my lectures and coursework design at Level 5, had
effectively worked and demonstrated by students even at Level 6 (one year later
in a practical project).
References
Gibbs,
G, 1988, Learning by Doing. A Guide to Teaching and Learning Methods, FEU.
Hatton, N. and Smith, D. 1995, Reflection in teacher Education, Teaching and Teacher Education, Vol. 11,
pp. 33 – 49.
Kennison,
Monica M. and Misselwitz, Shirley. 2002, Evaluating Reflective Writing for
Appropriateness, Fairness, and Consistency. Nursing
Education Perspectives: Vol. 23, No. 5, pp. 238 – 242.
Kolb,
D. 1984, Experiential Learning: Experience as the Source of Learning and
Development, Prentice Hall, New Jersey, USA.
Pultorak,
Edward G. 1993, Facilitating Reflective Thought in Novice Teachers, Journal of
Teacher Education, Vol. 44, No. 4, pp. 288 – 295.
