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Today, I am presenting at the 10th Annual NJ Best Practices Showcase on using blogging as a reflective process for my students. You can view the presentation on my Slideshare page. NJEDge.Net and the host school, the College of St. Elizabeth, are also recording the presentations and hoping to post them to the new NJVid site. In this post, I want to go into a bit more detail than I can do in my presentation about reflective practice itself. Though I reference the book The Reflective Practitioner: How Professionals Think in Action by Donald Schön, what I am discussing does not appear in his book since blogging did not even exist in 1995 when the book was published. He was an MIT social scientist and consultant, and in that book he examines five professions (engineering, architecture, management, psychotherapy, town planning). The book is very much about how professionals go about solving problems. He introduced reflective practice as a continuous process that involves the learner considering critical incidents in his or her life's experiences. The concept immediately gained traction in teacher education, and also health professions and architectural design. For a teacher-in-training and active in the field, the process of studying his or her own teaching methods and determining what works best for the students is essential. I think it is important that all students (practitioners-in-training) also consider their own experiences in applying knowledge to practice, especially while being "coached" by professionals (instructors,mentors) in their discipline. Education is my focus here, but all three disciplines also make use of portfolios of a kind. If you use portfolios (paper, electronic or objects), you are probably already using reflection as a part of that practice.

Introduction: Many of the courses at UAL require you to produce sketchbooks and engage in reflective writing. You can use this site to develop your ideas about these practices by: * Listening to staff and students talk about their approaches * Reading short guidelines in a variety of formats * Viewing examples Both sketchbooks and reflective writing provide evidence of how your work has evolved. Remember that they are not always separate entities: some reflective learning journals contain visuals, while many sketchbooks include reflective writing.

donald schon (schön): learning, reflection and change Donald Schon made a remarkable contribution to our understanding of the theory and practice of learning. His innovative thinking around notions such as 'the learning society', 'double-loop learning' and 'reflection-in-action' has become part of the language of education. We explore his work and some of the key themes that emerge. What assessment can we make now?

Enhancing Learning through Technology (ELT) We are increasingly aware of how technology can enhance the student learning experience. Our work with institutions indicates a shift towards an overarching approach which uses technology to enhance core activities, e.g. using technology in assessment to improve feedback to students. This shift has been taking place within institutions over the past few years since the release of the original 2005 HEFCE e-learning Strategy, as reflected in the Welsh HEFCW (Higher Education Funding Council for Wales) Enhancement of Learning Strategy. More recently, on 26th March 2009 HEFCE released their Enhancing Learning and Teaching through Technology (ELTT) Policy Statement. This Policy Statement includes an Implementation Framework to support our stakeholder institutions for the development of their own L&T strategies - this Framework was developed through evidence collected from a range of Academy and JISC programmes. To reflect this emphasis, and in line with our remit to support the student learning experience, the Academy has developed an Enhancement of Learning through Technology (ELT) programme. We are in the process of developing this website to reflect this shift and to map our menu structure onto the HEFCE Implementation Framework, i.e. to support institutions on the interpretation of the Framework - to be completed by mid June 09 (JISC are undertaking a similar exercise). We are also developing an additional resource through EvidenceNet. Currently, to support institutions and in collaboration with the JISC we have developed a joint search tool, as below - Academy resources can also be accessed using the menu on the left.

Last week I went to the annual conference of the Practice based Professional learning unit at the Open University; mainly to see David Boud, whose research I've quoted from extensively in my work on reflective practice and experiential learning. David's paper was on assessment, experience and reflection, and was very provocative and challenging in terms of his interpretation of the role of assessment. He posed a simple question to the audience: 'If we were going to modify assessment as if making a contribution to their ability to learn after their course rather than during it was the primary need, how would it be different?' His focus was then on how to reshape assessment policies so that their main intention was to help the learner build their capacity for self and peer judgment to further their lifelong learning.

CSALT What is CSALT? CSALT is the Centre for Studies in Advanced Learning Technology. Established in 1992 the Centre for Studies in Advanced Learning Technology (CSALT) at Lancaster University is one of Europe's leading academic research groups in the field of technology enhanced learning (TEL) applied to adult education and training. The Centre carries out basic and applied research with an emphasis on the development of theory that can be used in real settings. Its members are also closely involved in the education and professional development of workers in the e-learning industry, and in consultancy. Our research has a strong focus on adult education especially in higher education and industrial contexts. Our interest is not in the technology per se, but in the social, psychological and organisational issues which are thrown into sharp relief during the design and introduction of new technology-enhanced learning environments. CSALT: * is focused on research into networked learning and the design of advanced learning technology(ALT), * is made up of staff with expertise in eg, online tutoring, computer supported collaborative learning, cognitive psychology, design of learning technology and simulation based training, * runs an innovative Doctoral distance learning programme on the design and use of technology enhanced learning * develops course designs that support e-groups and communities, * is based in the RAE grade 5 Department of Educational Research at Lancaster University, UK. This site reflects primarily the interests of CSALT in the Department of Educational Research. Other members of the university wide CSALT are part of the Department of Management Learning, in particular the Networked Management Learning research group and the Learning Technology Group.

Practice and Evidence of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education\nThis journal offers an opportunity for those involved in University learning and teaching to disseminate their practice. It aims to publish accounts of scholarly practice that report on small-scale practitioner research and case studies of practice that involve reflection, critique, implications for future practice and are informed by relevant literature, with a focus on enhancement of student learning. This publication thus offers a forum to develop and share scholarly informed practice in Higher Education through either works in progress or more detailed accounts of scholarly practice. There will be opportunities for discussions/comments regarding works in progress to be shared with journal readers on the journal site. The journal is published twice a year (April and October).

The Knowledge Media Laboratory works to create a future in which communities of teachers, faculty, programs, and institutions collectively advance teaching and learning by exchanging their educational knowledge, experiences, ideas, and reflections by taking advantage of various technologies and resources. The KML is currently working with its partners, including Carnegie Foundation programs, to achieve the following goals: * To develop digital (or electronic) tools and resources that help to make knowledge of effective teaching practices and educational transformation efforts visible, shareable and reusable. * To explore synergy among various technologies to better support the scholarship of teaching and learning. * To build the capacity for faculty and teachers independently to take advantage of information and communications technologies that enable them to re-examine, rethink and represent teaching and student learning, and to share the outcomes in an effective and efficient way. * To sustain communities of practice engaged in collaboratively improving teaching and student learning by building common areas to exchange knowledge and by building repositories for the representation of effective practice.

"Learning Histories" are used in action research projects to enhance organizations' learning capabilities. The approach documents change as it facilitates individual and organizational reflection. Findings and progress in creating learning histories, as well as questions and issues regarding their future use in system-wide learning efforts, are described.