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This presentation is about using blogs in higher education as reflective journals. It applies blogging to developing Donald Schon's concept of the reflective practitioner and his idea of the practicum as a ‘virtual world, relatively free of the pressures, distractions, and risks of the real one, to which, nevertheless it refers. It stands in the intermediate space between the practice world, the ‘lay world’ of ordinary life, and the esoteric world of the academy’ (Schon, 1987 p37). This is a space to build a community of practice, where the processes of problem solving, experimentation, coaching and building a professional repertoire of experiences can be undertaken. Blogs can act as the ‘glue’ to hold these activities together, acting as a reflective commentary on the practitioner’s growth. My argument is that blogs provide a perfect vehicle for reflection and critical self-awareness, and as such they provide the possibility of what I term the eflective practitioner, because of their unique qualities that raise them above traditional learning journals. The key reasons for this are that they map the learning journey in real time; they are deeply personal, giving a whole person view; they use rich media that becomes searchable and reconfigurable using tagging; they are portable and easy to access; they encourage dialogue, interaction with an audience and peer group feedback; and they are emotional and playful too. They also give great insights into how learners learn, articulating how experience is transformed into learning. you can see more on this at my blog at http//eflections.edublogs.org
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the e-flective practitioner
blogs and educating
the guru:Donald Schon
the idea:the
reflective practitioner
the practicum
‘The practicum is a virtual world, relatively free of the pressures, distractions, and risks of the real one, to which, nevertheless it refers. It stands in the intermediate space between the practice world, the ‘lay world’ of ordinary life, and the esoteric world of the academy’ Schon, 1987, p37
communities of practice
what is the practicum about?
problem solving
experimentation
coaching
building the repertoire
why reflect?
‘Reflection is an important human activity in which people recapture their experience, think about it, mull it over and evaluate it. It is this working with experience that is important in learning.’
Boud, Cohen and Walker 1985
where have I been?
where am I now?
where am I going?
reflection-on-action
reflection-in-action
reflection-before-action
why blog?
the industry is doing it
to upload
from download
culture
shift
building a collaborative learning community
blogs and educating the eflective practitioner
why do they work?
map the learning journey
real time
personal expression
whole
person
view
rich media links
images
video
mashable
tagged
searchable archive
portable
easy to access
dialogue
playful
emotional
interactionwithan audience
peer group feedback
blog buddies
small groups commit to read & comment on each others blogs
connected
knowledge
all this makes for
learning how learners learn
deep
reflection
articulating experience into learning
blog
reflectionabsorption
field testing
experiencepractice
adding to the repertoire
new concepts
theeflectivelearning cloud
privacy
who sees it?ll
self disclosure
netiquette
ethics
private
public
vs
professional not confessional
assessment
assess process
not product
‘the assessment of secondary material is usually the preferable choice’ Moon 2006
issues?
quality
language
staff time
access points
benefits
group identity
collaborative community
document workflow
online workbook
‘warts and all’
reflective analysis
organise thoughts
‘The blogs are brilliant, it is great to read what everyone is doing, quite addictive, and I must start to write more on mine..’extract from student blog
conclusions
inside view
insight
informal
feedback
authentic
archive
always on
mapping the journey
connected knowingprocess not product
real time
collaborationdeep insights
professional not confessional
final thoughts
‘Harry stared at the stone basin. The contents had returned to their original silvery white state,
swirling and rippling beneath his gaze. “What is it?” Harry asked shakily.
“This? It is called a pensieve”, said Dumbledore. “I sometimes find - and I am sure that you know
the feeling - that I simply have too many thoughts and memories crammed into my mind.”
“Er”, said Harry, who couldn’t truthfully say that he had ever felt anything of the sort.
“At these times”, said Dumbledore, indicating the stone basin, “I use the pensieve. One simply siphons the excess thoughts from one’s mind,
pours them into the basin, and examines them at one’s leisure. It becomes easier to spot patterns and links, you understand, when they are in this
form”’. Harry Potter, Rowling, 2000
