Learning will not take place and practice will not develop if no connectionsare made between thinking and doing? (Thompson & Thompson 2008)/ 3000 words Reflective essay
Paper details:
?Learning will not take place and practice will not develop if no connections
are made between thinking and doing? (Thompson & Thompson 2008)
This will enable you to develop as a reflective practitioner and attain Graduate Skills
? Reflect productively on progress
? Reflect on progress and the ways of adapting practice to improve your own learning
? Identify targets and plan how these will be met
Thompson S & Thompson N (2008) The Critically Reflective Practitioner. Basingstoke. Palgrave Macmillan.
The module assessment is:
A reflective narrative, including an action plan, with regard to your development as a health or social care professional (3000 words) (80% of final mark) and engagement with a personal blog (up to 20% of final mark)
The essay and action plan will need to be completed and submitted via Turnitin.
Submission Instructions
This essay is to be submitted electronically through turnitin. NO hardcopy is required to be submitted.
If you are a student with special arrangements please make sure you upload your special arrangements front sheet to the beginning of your essay submission, (guidance given by student support).The marker will indicate in your feedback that your special arrangements have been considered in the marking of your submission.
Remember to use the university referencing policy. The marker will also indicate in the feedback your turnitin similarity score and whether this needs to be a concern.
Guidance for writing the reflective essay:
Reflection is an important and powerful strategy for you to use to develop your professional practice. It enables the linking of practice experience with theoretical aspects of learning to help you to develop, moving from novice to skilled practitioner. Reflection should enhance self-awareness, identifying personal strengths and the areas to focus on for development. Theory helps to direct that new learning by providing relevant knowledge. Critically viewing both ourselves and new knowledge is very important.
Goodman (1984, cited by Jasper 2003 p9) suggests that there are three levels of reflection which you are likely to move through during your education. However it is not helpful to think that you are at the 1st level in year 1, 2nd level in year 2 etc. Which level you achieve will depend on your own skill and ability and should not be restricted to the level which has the same number as your year of study!
1st Level: Reflection to reach given objectives ? at this level you are likely to focus on issues of efficiency and effectiveness, both in your academic and practice development. At this level work will be mostly descriptive, focussing on development of the knowledge and skills required to become an effective practitioner.
2nd Level: Reflection on the relationship between principles and practice ? in addition to the above, there is an assessment of the implications and consequences of actions and beliefs as well as the underpinning rationale for practice. Consideration is also given to the broader aspects of both personal and professional values
3rd Level: Reflection which besides the above incorporates ethical and political concerns ? in addition to the above, the writer looks beyond their day-to-day practice to consider broader issues relating to professional goals and ethical practice and makes links between the workplace as is familiar to them and the broader context of health and social care.
It is not a requirement of this module that you utilise a particular reflective model.
In order to write your reflective essay, you need to think back over the past year and the things that have happened to you as part of your course, both in the University and practice contexts. Identify things that you felt did not turn out as you wanted them to and things that went successfully. Consider the knowledge that you have acquired, the skills you have developed and feelings you have about different situations that you have encountered and about your own development.
Reading back over the regular entries in your blog will provide you with useful material. We forget things very easily so it is good to write them down at the time to help you remember when later you want to reflect on your development.
It might help to think about things under some sub-headings ? although these are neither prescriptive nor necessarily include everything you want to include.
? Graduate skills: academic skills, managing your own learning, communication and working with others
? Learning and development in practice
? Feedback from mentor/practice educator and feedback on assessed work (essays, presentations etc)
? Internal and external factors which have influenced your development
The final part of this work should be an action plan addressing those areas that you have identified in the reflective essay as requiring development ? which will ?count? as 500 words ie the essay itself should be 2500 words.
