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This article was downloaded by: [York University Libraries] On: 14 November 2014, At: 04:48 Publisher: Routledge Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK Teaching in Higher Education Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/cthe20 Creating rainbows from words and transforming understandings: enhancing student learning through reflective writing in an Aboriginal music course Katelyn Barney a & Elizabeth Mackinlay a a Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies Unit , The University of Queensland , St Lucia, Queensland, Australia Published online: 06 Apr 2010. To cite this article: Katelyn Barney & Elizabeth Mackinlay (2010) Creating rainbows from words and transforming understandings: enhancing student learning through reflective writing in an Aboriginal music course, Teaching in Higher Education, 15:2, 161-173 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13562511003619995 PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the “Content”) contained in the publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis, our agents, and our licensors make no representations or warranties whatsoever as to the accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Any opinions and views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors, and are not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Content should not be relied upon and should be independently verified with primary sources of information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for any losses, actions, claims, proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to or arising out of the use of the Content. This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. Terms &

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Page 1: Creating rainbows from words and transforming understandings: enhancing student learning through reflective writing in an Aboriginal music course

This article was downloaded by: [York University Libraries]On: 14 November 2014, At: 04:48Publisher: RoutledgeInforma Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registeredoffice: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK

Teaching in Higher EducationPublication details, including instructions for authors andsubscription information:http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/cthe20

Creating rainbows from wordsand transforming understandings:enhancing student learning throughreflective writing in an Aboriginalmusic courseKatelyn Barney a & Elizabeth Mackinlay aa Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies Unit , The Universityof Queensland , St Lucia, Queensland, AustraliaPublished online: 06 Apr 2010.

To cite this article: Katelyn Barney & Elizabeth Mackinlay (2010) Creating rainbows from words andtransforming understandings: enhancing student learning through reflective writing in an Aboriginalmusic course, Teaching in Higher Education, 15:2, 161-173

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13562511003619995

PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE

Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the“Content”) contained in the publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis,our agents, and our licensors make no representations or warranties whatsoever as tothe accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Any opinionsand views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors,and are not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Contentshould not be relied upon and should be independently verified with primary sourcesof information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for any losses, actions, claims,proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoeveror howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to orarising out of the use of the Content.

This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Anysubstantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing,systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. Terms &

Page 2: Creating rainbows from words and transforming understandings: enhancing student learning through reflective writing in an Aboriginal music course

Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-and-conditions

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Page 3: Creating rainbows from words and transforming understandings: enhancing student learning through reflective writing in an Aboriginal music course

Creating rainbows from words and transforming understandings:enhancing student learning through reflective writing in an Aboriginalmusic course

Katelyn Barney* and Elizabeth Mackinlay

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies Unit, The University of Queensland, St Lucia,Queensland, Australia

Reflective journal writing is acknowledged as a powerful method for promotingstudent learning in higher education contexts. Numerous scholars highlight thebenefits of reflective writing and journaling for students and teachers in a widerange of teaching areas. There is however, little discussion of how reflectivewriting is used in teaching and learning in Indigenous Australian studies. Thispaper explores how reflective writing can help students think critically about thecomplexities of researching and writing about Indigenous Australian perfor-mance. We discuss ways of incorporating and enhancing reflection in teachingand learning Indigenous Australian studies and examine how the use of reflectivewriting in Indigenous Australian studies can engage rather than educate;democratise rather than dictate knowledge; critically question and reflect uponrather than control and censor what we can know; and actively transform insteadof passively inform.

Keywords: reflective writing; indigenous Australian studies; Aboriginal musicperformance; student learning

Introduction

The phone rings. I (Kate) can tell by caller ID that it’s Liz. She’s probably at the airportin Darwin on her way to Brisbane.Kate: Hi Liz. How are you?Liz: Okay. Just thinking about everything we need to do when I arrive. I guess when I getto Brisbane we better finish writing our paper for the teaching and learning conference.What should we try to emphasise about the value of reflective writing in teachingIndigenous Australian studies?Kate: Well, it will be good to discuss how students have embraced reflective processes inour classroom and how this way of teaching, learning and thinking is useful,challenging, beneficial and inspiring for students.Liz: Yes, I agree. And despite reflective writing being used in many IndigenousAustralian studies classrooms across Australia, there has been little research on this.Kate: That’s true. Where should we begin?Liz: Let’s start by describing the Aboriginal music course we have been teachingtogether.

The research site is a course called ABTS2102 ‘Aboriginal Music: Performing Place,

Power and Identity’. It is an embodied and experiential class grounded in

*Corresponding author. Email: [email protected]

Teaching in Higher Education

Vol. 15, No. 2, April 2010, 161�173

ISSN 1356-2517 print/ISSN 1470-1294 online

# 2010 Taylor & Francis

DOI: 10.1080/13562511003619995

http://www.informaworld.com

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Page 4: Creating rainbows from words and transforming understandings: enhancing student learning through reflective writing in an Aboriginal music course

ethnomusicological and anthropological frameworks. As such, it strongly focuses

on fieldwork, observation and participation and most significantly includes many

Indigenous Australian performers as guest lecturers to provide students with an

opportunity to talk and think about Indigenous Australian performance. Students

thereby enter into a personal and ‘live’ dialogue, and critical engagement with

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander musics and performers. Liz began teaching

this course when she joined the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies

Unit at The University of Queensland as an associate lecturer in 1997. In 2006,

Kate joined Liz as co-teacher of the course and they redesigned the course to

be a three weekend intensive programme in association with a music festival.

This further enhanced the experiential and embodied nature of the course as it

provided students with a vibrant, exciting and valuable fieldwork experience where

lecturers and students could watch performances by Indigenous performers,

listen to Indigenous performers talk and participate in workshops where appro-

priate on specific topics. In 2006, the course was taught by Liz and Kate alongside

Woodford Folk Festival and then in conjunction with the Dreaming Festival in

2007.

ABTS2102 begins with a weekend of lectures and tutorials that introduces the

major concepts and ideas fundamental to Indigenous Australian performance

practices. The following weekend, students and staff attend the festival. One week

later the class meets again to debrief, discuss, reflect and come to an understanding

of the performance of Indigenous Australian music and dance. By combining

reflective journal writing, experiential learning, independent research and lectures,

the course aims to raise students’ awareness of the diversity of Indigenous

performance and encourage students to consider how Indigenous Australian

performers simultaneously resist and use colonialist constructions of Aboriginal

and Torres Strait Islander performance.

A reflective journal was introduced as a compulsory part of the course to give

students a space to develop their ideas, to personally engage and reflect on their

experiences at the festival; help them think about their positioning in relation to

Indigenous Australian performers; work through difficult issues surrounding

working in Indigenous studies, and consider their expectations and assumptions

of Indigenous Australian performance. The experience led us to think more about

how student learning about Indigenous Australian issues and musics can effectively

be enhanced and promoted through reflective writing. We found that despite the

broad range of literature highlighting the benefits of reflective journal writing and

the widespread use of reflective writing in other Indigenous Australian studies

courses, there is little research relating to how reflective writing enhances students’

learning about Indigenous Australian studies.

In this paper, we explore various ways of incorporating and enhancing

reflection in teaching and learning Indigenous Australian studies and examine

how reflection can assist students and teachers in exploring their assumptions,

expectations and positionings in relation to Indigenous Australian music. Our

discussion draws on reflective writings by students, focus group interviews and our

own conversational reflections. Ultimately, we aim to be reflective both in content

and intent to use ‘the page as a meeting place in which ideas can intermingle and,

in developing, give rise to new ideas for new learning’ (Moon 2006, 17) and thereby

162 K. Barney and E. Mackinlay

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increase students’ understanding of the impact of colonialism on Indigenous

Australian peoples and their music making today.

Learning through reflective journals

One form of reflective writing, the ‘journal’, is proposed by numerous scholars as

being a tool for facilitating student learning in higher education (Clarke 2004;

English and Gillen 2001; George 2002; Ling 2005; Moon 2006; Morrison 1996;

Patton 2006). English and Gillen (2001, 1) pose the question ‘Why is journal writing

such a powerful vehicle for fostering adult learning?’. They note that ‘the answer is

simple: journal writing provides those occasions that can help one ‘‘to find out

what’s in your heart and at the bottom of your mind’’’ (Bender in English andGillen 2001, 1). Moon (2006, 26) argues that journal writing is a process that

enhances learning in a number of ways: by slowing down the pace of learning,

increasing the sense of ownership in learning, acknowledging the role of emotion

in learning, providing a learning experience that deals with situations that are

not straight forward and enhancing learning through the process of writing (Barz

1997, 52).

Creme argues that journals effectively promote student learning because

they call for ‘different ways of thinking [about] the subject from the traditionalessay: more open ended, questioning and exploratory; raising rather than

answering questions; enabling exploration of connections between ideas encoun-

tered in the course and the writer’s experience’ (2005, 289). O’Rourke agrees and

suggests that ‘writing about new information or ideas enables students to better

understand and remember them, and that articulating connections between new

information or ideas and existing knowledge secure and extends learning’ (1998,

404). O’Rourke (1998, 404) also notes that the journal ‘can help students move

from surface to deep learning both within and across modules’ and is ‘a powerfultool for developing student confidence and cognitive ability in ways which embed

and extend learning in the core modules comprising their programmes of study’

(1998, 403).

While there are many different approaches to reflective journaling, Morrison

(1996) and Greenwood (2002) both highlight that journal writing encourages an

analytic approach and clarifies ideas, perceptions and attitudes. This brings into focus

connections and meanings that would have otherwise remained hidden. Hartley

(1998) and Clarke (2004) also found that the writing reflective journals helpedstudents raise awareness and evaluate their own learning. Of particular relevance to

ABTS2102 is that reflective journals are increasingly used as a means for accounting

for and realising learning in fieldwork (Moon 2006, 59).

Ethnomusicology has long used journal writing, fieldnotes, observations and

ethnographic writing techniques as tools for puzzling out, questioning and working

towards an understanding of music cultures. Kisluik and Gross (2005) use reflective

writing and journal entries to explore teaching, learning and performing BaAka

(pygmy) music in a university context while Marsh (2005) discusses the use of fieldworkprojects to encourage pre-service student teachers to take a more active and personal

approach to teaching music cross-culturally. Similarly, Southcott (2003) outlines the

inclusion of reflective journals in a European Perspective on Music Education course

at Monash University. Taking the ABTS2102 students to the Dreaming Festival

Teaching in Higher Education 163

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provides students with a fieldwork experience and the writing of a reflective journal

could be viewed as a form of fieldnote. Barz (1997, 45) writes that fieldnotes are ‘a site

for personal reflection’ and ‘inscribe action while simultaneously affecting and

reflecting on that action’. This is comparable to Schon’s (1983) discussion of

reflection-in-action. Similarly, Kisluik also emphasises the value of writing fieldnotes

as a tool for reflection which ‘creates a conversation within which learning is located’

(1997, 32).

Journaling is suited to ABTS2102 because the course involves talking about

sensitive issues that many students find challenging and confronting including the

history and violence of colonialism, the racism inherent within non-Indigenous

imaginings of Indigenous Australian people and performance, the continued oppres-

sion of Indigenous people today, and students are required to consider their

positioning in relation to this. This is, as hooks (1994, 154) describes, ‘difficult

material’, which moves away from that ‘cozy, good feeling’ into the realms of awkward

memory and knowing (McConaghy 2003, 11). Both Indigenous and non-Indigenous

students can find themselves ‘exploring, experiencing and processing emotions,

memories, and other aspects of themselves that were previously unknown’ (Butterwick

and Selman 2003, 14). Savin-Baden aptly comments that ‘learning is about engaging

different dimensions of ourselves in the learning process. Emotions and feelings are

often the ones that are most neglected in learning’ (2000, 55) and hooks also notes that

the ‘restrictive, repressive classroom ritual insists that emotional responses have no

place’ (1994, 155). Reflective journaling aims to provide an opportunity for students

and lecturers to write about and discuss with each other the kinds of emotional and

intellectual discomforts they are experiencing, and through this discursive exchange,

create the possibility to replace old ways of knowing and being with something new

(Boler 2004, 129).

Reflective writing in Indigenous Australian studies

Reflective writing is used in many Indigenous Australian studies classrooms in

preference to other approaches. Reflective approaches strongly resonate with the

autonomous, embodied and experiential nature of teaching and learning about

Indigenous cultures. However, despite the possibilities for transformative teaching and

learning, there has been limited research on the application of reflection in Indigenous

Australian studies and there is very little study of the effectiveness of this approach in

relation to Indigenous education globally.

When approached from a critical pedagogical perspective, Indigenous Australian

studies necessarily addresses emotionally difficult topics related to race, history, the

on-going power of colonialism and our identities as Indigenous and non-Indigenous

Australians in relation to these. Reflective writing holds possibilities for opening up an

engaged, dialogic, reflective and critical classroom to help students think about

difficult issues, the traumatic history of colonialism, their identities and positioning.

Framed in this way, the use of reflective writing in Indigenous Australian studies aims

to engage rather than educate, democratise rather than dictate knowledge, critically

question and reflect upon rather than control and censor what we can know and

actively transform instead of passively inform.

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Reflective activities in ABTS2102

Concerned by the issues raised in education literature regarding the assessment of

reflective journals (Creme 2005; Moon 2006; O’Rourke 1998; Woodward 1998), we

introduced the reflective journal as a compulsory aspect of the course, that is not

formally assessed. Students were required to then draw on their reflective journals to

write a reflective essay. A number of scholars outline this approach as a way of

addressing the problem of assessing student writing that is exploratory (e.g. Creme

2005). Moon (2006) argues that another way of addressing the issue of assessing

reflective writing is developing the assessment criteria with students because ‘learning

can be achieved if learners themselves play a part in the process of developing

assessment criteria’ (111). Therefore, during the first weekend of lectures and tutorials,

we discussed the issues surrounding assessing reflective writing and asked students to

‘brainstorm’ criteria for assessing the reflective essay. A discussion followed and a list

of preliminary criteria was developed. Cannon and Newble argue that, ‘one critical

aspect of organisation is the ‘‘alignment’’ between the goals, the learning and teaching

activities, and the assessment tasks that we set our students’ (2003, xvi; also see Biggs

1999; Laurillard 1993; Ramsden 2003). The assessment was closely aligned with one of

the course objectives that related to reflection and critical analysis of the performance

practices of Indigenous Australian performers.

Research demonstrates that students often need guidance with reflective writing

(Bain 2002; Clarke 2004; Moon 2006; Morrison 1996). To assist students, we

developed learning activities to facilitate and guide students’ reflection, which we

used during the first weekend of the course. Kate first gave a mini-lecture on reflection

and reflective writing. She began by asking students to write down what they

understood by the terms ‘reflection’ and ‘reflective writing’ and we discussed their

perceptions. Kate then introduced students to ideas and quotations from the education

literature about the importance of reflective writing and journaling, how students can

learn from reflective writing, examples of reflective writing from our own writing and

myths and tips about reflective writing. The mini-lecture also included an activity

adapted from Moon (2006) that asked students to read three different accounts of an

incident and identify features that illustrate each account progressively changing to

deeper levels of reflection.

We also developed other reflective writing learning activities to provide students

with the opportunity to practice reflective writing during class. These reflective writing

activities were then discussed together as a group and students were invited to share

their reflections. These activities used were mostly adapted from suggestions and

methods for working on journals and reflective writing exercises found in the

educational literature and Figures 1 and 2 illustrate two examples of these.

One example was ‘day note’ where students were given pads of stick-on paper and

asked to fill in a note on what they were doing or thinking about once every hour.

This provided material to reflect on later in the day (Figure 1).Students were also asked to listen to the George Rrurrambu version of ‘My Island

Home’. As they listened to the song, they were asked to ‘doodle’ on a page (Figure 2).

The following guiding questions were given to them to write about once the doodle

task had been completed: What words come up as you look back over your ‘doodle’?

What thoughts does this ‘doodle’ draw from within you?

Teaching in Higher Education 165

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I see coral, thoughts of movement of sand and the elements. Structure still is in thedoodle though the flowing elements surround the structure possibly representing home(sea) representing your present place in the city. Even though we are in the city thoseelements of home and country flow all around us, you can’t separate yourself fromcountry, part of it always comes with you, it surrounds you.

Figure 1. Example: student day notes.

Figure 2. Example: student ‘doodle’.

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Evaluating changes in reflective teaching and learning processes

The use of reflective writing was evaluated using qualitative methods, drawing on

data from multiple sources and data collection and analysis, which took placebetween May and September 2007. These are detailed in Table 1 and the three

significant findings are explored below.

Findings 1: students’ assessments

Students’ reflective journals allowed space for students to: explore their own

identities in relation to Indigenous Australian music, make connections to

literature, rethink initial reflections and question their understandings of Indigen-

ous Australian performance.

Relating to own identity

Students used their journals to explore their own identities in relation to Indigenous

Australian performers and music making. One student questioned:

Is it my Western traits to think that because this is able to effect white perceptions that itshould be utilised in a bigger way?

Another student made connections to her own life experiences:

I have a place that I consider like my country myself, and I wish I could sing and dancefor it . . . but if I had songs for it I could keep it alive in my heart . . .Now after thisreflective day I find other things to say. I know I will draw strange parallels with my ownlittle life and my own little country!

This student also wrote in her journal in relation to her identity as a non-Indigenous

person:

If I had been an Aboriginal person, I would have been very angry at white people. I feelashamed to belong to this category of ‘non-Indigenous’. I will be white all my life, andto them look like a murderer.

Table 1. Evaluating changes in reflective teaching and learning processes.

Method Key question Source Time of collection

1. Students’

assessments

Did giving the students further

guidance, exemplars and activities

help current students move from

descriptive writing to critical

reflection?

Current students July/August

2. Focus

group

What are current students’

experiences and understandings of

reflection and reflective writing?

Current students Late August/early

September (Conducted

by colleague)

3. Teacher

reflections

Has our learning about reflection

been enhanced and what did we

think worked and what could

have been improved?

Lecturers: Liz

Mackinlay and

Kate Barney

May/June, August and

November

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Non-Indigenous students in ABTS2102 often speak and write about their feelings of

shame and responsibility for Australia’s history of colonisation. Maddison (2009)

notes that non-Indigenous people are often so paralysed by ‘white guilt’ that they are

often unable to move beyond this paralysis. Reflective writing provides a space for

students to articulate these feelings and write openly about their emotions and

the messy politics of relations between non-Indigenous and Indigenous people

in Australia.

Connections to discourse, rethinking initial reflections, challenging expectations

The journal also created a space for the students to challenge their expectations

and assumptions about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures, question

their understandings of Indigenous performance and rethink their initial reflec-

tions. One student wrote:

Reflecting on the performance by Gurrumul Yunipingu I begin to think of the discoursebetween the audience and the performer.

Similarly, another student noted:

I remember how quick I was to draw parallels when [Indigenous performer] ChristineAnu sung famous songs . . . is she making parallels between all black/Indigenous claims?I read in the book Deadly Sounds, Deadly Places that is was popular in the post-colonial period to work on a general recognition between all Indigenous people.

Further she wrote:

All the questions raised do challenge my expectations and that makes everything moreconfusing. All what I believed has to be challenged.

Here the students used their journals to link their understandings with discourse

about Indigenous performance and consider and reconsider their assumptions of

Indigenous Australian performance.

Many students noted in their reflective essays that they felt that the reflective

journal assisted them in moving towards deeper understanding of Indigenous

performance. One student wrote:

The journal writing helped me to learn and realise many things. What we learn and howwe learn it is at the centre of every study. It is especially relevant for a reflection onAboriginal music.

She further noted:

I have reached the end of this course, not with persisting questions but with new andinnovated questions: how could Indigenous music and performance aid communitypolitical movements and create balanced power relations in Australia?

This suggests that she is aware of her learning and how her understandings

have changed through her experiences in ABTS2102. This is aligned with Moon’s

description of the deepest level of reflective writing that consists of ‘the acquisition

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of new information, the review of ideas and the effect of time passing’ (Moon

2006, 163).

Findings 2: focus group discussion

The phone rings. I (Liz) am guessing it will be Kate and she probably wants to chat

about the focus group with our students from ABTS2102 this semester. I can feel a

sense of anticipation as I reach for the phone, wondering what they have said about

their experiences and understandings of reflection and reflective writing. Did they get

the same sense of journey towards a deeper understanding as me? What are their ideas

about performance, their knowledges of and experiences with Indigenous Australian

peoples?

Liz: Hi Kate! Did you have the focus group? How did it go?Kate: Hi Liz, yes, it went really well. From the transcript, I can see that studentsfound reflective writing useful for exploring identity and positioning in relation toIndigenous music, and challenging their expectations and assumptions about Abori-ginal and Torres Strait Islander performers. I’m also really pleased that they are keen touse reflection as a learning tool in the future. Here are some comments from them aboutreflection:Student comment: It’s a way of reflecting on yourself, reflecting on your position workingwith Indigenous Australians and with music. It’s a way of checking the protocols andreflecting and seeing and working out whether you have a right to and be there, justifying orquestioning yourself not just analysing the ‘Other’.Student comment: The journal writing helped me to learn and realise many things. Whatwe learn and how we learn it is at the centre of every study. It is especially relevant for areflection on Aboriginal music.Liz: That’s interesting. Some could criticise reflective writing as achieving little morethan enabling the student to articulate their prejudices rather than gain new insights.Did the students comment on this?Kate: Yes. The students noted that the process of reflective writing assisted them inexploring their prejudices and assumptions about Indigenous performance rather thanconfirming their prejudices. For example:Student comment: Like if you had prejudice you will have to write them down and afterthat you realise this is wrong and you have to change it so it’s useful because you can seeyour direct response and it can be challenged.Student comment: Yeah and it’s a good way of analysing our assumptions andreaddressing them and going back and critically looking at ourselves. Being written, welllike you have to write something so you can write everything and then . . .when it’s out ofyour head you can see it more clearly and with distance.Student comment: By analysing yourself you do refocus and have a way of analysing basicprotocols and issues surrounding Indigenous people, power of whites and attitudes becauseyou get tied up and forget the attitudes that inform the issues.Kate: The students also discussed how reflection has assisted them in considering theirown identities as non-Indigenous students studying Indigenous Australian people andcultures. For example one student noted:Student comment: I think it’s important to be put in those situations, draw attention to itand realise it’s really difficult to be a white person in Australia and not have thesepreconceptions because it’s such a part of what we’ve been fed our whole lives, oureducation and everything and it’s important to be put in those performance places andreflecting, it drew it out for me more, more than usual.

The students in the focus group highlighted the difficulties of being non-Indigenous

students studying Indigenous Australian music and how the processes of reflective

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writing helped them work through and analyse these issues. We discussed this further

in our own reflections on the course.

Findings 3: our reflections

Liz: Well, that was some kind of course wasn’t it Kate? I feel quite overwhelmed, notonly because of how much I enjoyed it as both teacher and learner, but because of thenew and exciting places we went to in our learning about Indigenous Australian musicand dance, the moments for reflection were a huge part of that I think.Kate: I would have to agree. I didn’t expect to get so much pleasure from the act ofwriting and reflecting.Liz: The process of discovering thoughts, feelings and ideas this enabled in relation toour learning was at once inspiring, surprising and challenging. Certainly, for me as ateacher, reflection provided a new way for me to approach the course content, what Iwanted to talk about with students, and my own perspectives on the material. It was likeputting on a different pair of glasses and seeing things anew with fresh eyes and mind.Kate: Yes, it certainly provided me with a way to explore my emotions and feelings inrelation to Indigenous performance and share those more openly with the students thanI might of if we weren’t writing and reading out our reflections. I really like the ideas foractivities in Jennifer Moon’s book and I liked how we adapted and moulded them to suitthe context of Indigenous studies.Liz: One of my favourite reflective activities was the doodle. To simply draw andrespond to thoughts in images was fantastic for me. Taking the drawings further byconsidering their meanings into relation to the course was also very revealing, bringingto light understandings which may never have been uncovered. Since then I have beeninspired to use drawing a lot more as a reflective tool. I am now looking forward to theprocess of looking back over the sketches I’ve made in relation to the course to see myown journey, questions and musings as a learner.Kate: Reading through the reflective essays and journals, I think that reflective writingcertainly helped students to consider and challenge their assumptions about Indigenousperformance, see patterns and themes in their reflections and explore the complexities oftheir identities as non-Indigenous students studying Indigenous music. Certainly in theirreflections there are elements of self-questioning, recognition of the role of emotion andrecognition of prior experience and thoughts, and acknowledgement of learningthrough reflection.Liz: It’s really interesting to go back and look at our and students’ reflective writingand consider the kinds of thought processes, ideas and learnings that come through aswell as the fluidity and confidence that begins to grow as we find our voices. All of uswrote very nice and flowing descriptions of performances � this is the easy part.Everyone showed a movement away from pure description to thinking more deeplyabout what the description means for us. I’m not sure that we entered into the realmof critical reflection, certainly the questions we all asked of ourselves and theperformances are bordering on critical depth but maybe we need to think more abouthow we could scaffold the reflective writing pieces to build up to critically reflectivewriting.Kate: Yes, I agree perhaps for next time we could re-work the reflective activities sothat they link together more and facilitate an even deeper level of critical reflection.Another issue we could explore further is how reflection might be used to furtherconsider issues of identity in relation to Indigenous studies. I wonder are lecturersresponsible for an ethics of care to help students make their way through thesecomplexities of their identities and non-Indigenous and Indigenous race relations? It is acomplex and at times difficult process to be a non-Indigenous person researchingIndigenous Australian music and the students picked up on that and used their journalsand reflective essays to explore their positioning and facilitate discussing, thinkingdeeply and sharing these experiences.

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Conclusion

From our perspective, one of the reasons why reflective writing is so valuable is the open

moment it provides for ‘relationship’: for teachers and learners to enter into an

intimately personal dialogue about the complexities of Indigenous Australian issues.

This is particularly important in the context of Indigenous Australian studies where

non-Indigenous students and educators are increasingly asked by Aboriginal and

Torres Strait Islander people to identity themselves in relation to Indigenous

Australian peoples, to position and understand their white race power and privilege,

and thereby work towards taking a part in the colonial story (Smith 1999, 3). Bird Rose

(1997, 213) notes that academics working in Indigenous Australian studies have an

obligation to an ‘ethics of care’ to ‘do what we can to effect some healing in this world’

between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. We also need to assist students to

come to terms with the difficulties, discomforts and emotions experienced between

non-Indigenous teachers and students and Indigenous performers in these cross-

cultural contexts. The process of reflective writing makes space to give voice to things

often known intuitively and allows teachers and learners in Indigenous Australian

studies to ask the difficult, messy and uncomfortable questions about race relations

between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians, white race power and privilege

and our own positioning in relation to colonial history. It is this dialogue with Self

about the Other which ultimately links, as Fox asserts, awareness and acceptance of the

colonial reality with ‘an agenda which does not accept the dichotomies implicit in the

terms coloniser/colonised . . . but rather explores the relations of power through

dialogue, creating spaces for transformation, for new educational and methodological

strategies’ (Fox 2004, 91).

Next, we are undertaking a larger project exploring the role of reflection in the

teaching and learning of Indigenous Australian studies and will continue to explore

how reflective writing ‘can be compared to the formation of a beautiful rainbow . . . a

rainbow is described as a set of coloured arcs seen against the sky, whereas the journal is

a tapestry of events seen against a backdrop of human life’ (English and Gillen 2001) to

provide personal, social and learning outcomes for students studying Indigenous

Australian studies.

Acknowledgements

We wish to thank the 2007 students of ABTS2102 ‘Aboriginal Music: Performing Place, Powerand Identity’ for participating in this research project. Many thanks also to Sue Monk forconducting the focus group interviews and Ann Webster-Wright and the anonymous refereesfor their insightful comments on earlier drafts.

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