| CODE | ACA5062 | |||||||||
| TITLE | Reflective Practices in Higher Education | |||||||||
| UM LEVEL | 05 - Postgraduate Modular Diploma or Degree Course | |||||||||
| MQF LEVEL | 7 | |||||||||
| ECTS CREDITS | 5 | |||||||||
| DEPARTMENT | Arts, Open Communities and Adult Education | |||||||||
| DESCRIPTION | In this study-unit students will be encouraged to identify and revisit reflective practice. Reflective practice involves reflective dialogue that engages the person with their conception of knowledge, their sense of self, and the world as experienced by them. Through these dialogues, students will develop assumptions and understandings about self and the world being challenged. The concepts of reflection-on-action (which takes place after the activity when full attention can be given to analysis) and reflection-in-action (which occurs during the event and maybe more effective in improving practice) will also be explored. Knowing what reflection is does not necessarily enable students to reflect in meaningful ways to improve their practice. They may need to use various models of reflection, presented in this study-unit, to obtain different objectives. Students will be thus introduced to different models of reflection and encouraged to adapt a model/s for their own purposes of teaching and learning in higher education contexts. Study-Unit Aims: The study-unit aims to provide a space for exploring values, assumptions and strategies supporting theories and ideas about practice. This study-unit will seek to shed light on obscured and tacit work practice codes and knowledge so as to make possible their critical consideration and open them to shareability, discussion, and debate. It means to expose professional conduct and actions to critical assessment for tracing out value systems and epistemological assumptions underlying practices. This study-unit intends to lead learning participants to become more aware of the theories-in-use and the discerning awareness differentiating between intended and actual agentic objects of practice and in practice. Learning Outcomes: 1. Knowledge & Understanding: By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: - Discuss models of reflection, and identify idiosyncratic approaches for opening them to reflection. - Discuss what is meant by reflection for learning, reflection-on-learning and reflection-in-learning. - Recognise the importance of reflection-for-learning, reflection-on-learning and reflection-in-learning in the workplace. - Discuss and debate what it means to be a reflective practitioner and design opportunities for colleagues and oneself to become reflective practitioners. - Critically consider key experiences which promote learning in the workplace. - Recognise the range of concepts, ideas and theories associated with reflection for learning. 2. Skills: By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: - Develop competence critically reflecting on how one learns and discerningly draw up plans to improve the effectiveness of learning. - Develop and maintain a reflective journal. - Develop competence communicating and collaborating with others as part of a peer-supported learning community. - Develop competence in critical reflective practice and contributing to group reflection in professional practices - Critically engage in reflective and reflexive practice individually and collectively for investigating issues impacting on professional practice, and embedding and surrounding context Main Text/s and any supplementary readings: Main Texts: - Ashwin, P., Boud, D., Coate, K., Hallett, F., Keane, E., Krause, K.L. (2015). Reflective Teaching in Higher Education." ProtoView, Vol.2 (23). - Brockbank, A., and McGill, I. (2007). Facilitating Reflective Learning in Higher Education. 2nd edition. Milton Keynes: Open University Press. Supplementary Readings: - Brown, H., Sawyer, R. D., and Norris, J. (2016). Forms of Practitioner Reflexivity. New York: Palgrave Macmillan US. - Colomer, J., Pallisera, M., Fullana, J., Pérez Burriel, M., Fernández, R. (2013). Reflective Learning in Higher Education: A Comparative Analysis, Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, Volume 93, Pages 364-370, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2013.09.204. - Dewey, J. (1933) How We Think. New York : Heath & Co. - Galea, S. (2012) Reflecting Reflective Practice, Educational Philosophy and Theory, 44:3, 245-258, DOI: 10.1111/j.1469-5812.2010.00652. - Gibbs, G. (1988) Learning by doing: A guide to teaching and learning methods. Oxford: Further Education Unit. - Jones, M., and Ryan, J. (2014). Successful Teacher Education. Rotterdam: Birkhäuser Boston, 2014. - Moon, J. A. (2006). Learning journals: A handbook for reflective practice and professional development. Routledge. - Schön, D.A. (1997) The Reflective Practitioner: How Professionals Think in Action New York : Basic Books. - Schön, D. A. (1987) Educating the Reflective Practitioner: Towards a New Design for Teaching and Learning in the Professions, San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. |
|||||||||
| ADDITIONAL NOTES | Pre-requisite Qualifications: First Degree (MQF 6) at Second Upper Level or better (as per requirements of the postgraduate study programmes it relates to). | |||||||||
| STUDY-UNIT TYPE | Grp Learning, Ind Study, Online Learning & Seminar | |||||||||
| METHOD OF ASSESSMENT |
|
|||||||||
| LECTURER/S | Michelle Attard Tonna Maria Cutajar (Co-ord.) |
|||||||||
|
The University makes every effort to ensure that the published Courses Plans, Programmes of Study and Study-Unit information are complete and up-to-date at the time of publication. The University reserves the right to make changes in case errors are detected after publication.
The availability of optional units may be subject to timetabling constraints. Units not attracting a sufficient number of registrations may be withdrawn without notice. It should be noted that all the information in the description above applies to study-units available during the academic year 2024/5. It may be subject to change in subsequent years. |
||||||||||