As a student, and in your professional life, formal, critical reflection will enable you to acquire, enhance, and eventually master skills, knowledge, and behaviours.

Critical reflection is an essential component of deliberate practice and is a technique that when applied consistently to your practice, will enhance your skills, knowledge, and behaviours. Not only does reflection act as a way to enhance your skills, knowledge, and behaviours, it also acts as an important element of self-care. By reflecting on your experiences systematically you are able to draw closure to these events and develop the habits of effective work-life balance.

Developing your Learning Journal

The development of a Learning Journal is done over the duration of this unit and a Learning Journal entry is required at the completion of the in-class project each week. Your Learning Journal is divided into two parts:

1. Private notes

2. The Learning Journal

Your Private Notes are a living document that you will maintain throughout the unit to capture feedback and your thoughts about your experiences. As the name suggests, this document is purely for you and represents a type of “notepad” of ideas and feedback.

The Learning Journal is the edited, consolidated and peer-facing account of your experiences, feedback, reflection, and insights from the projects undertaken in this unit. Each week, you will need to reflect upon at least one item relevant to each of the 3Ps:

● Proficiency - the intellectual, creative and technical tools of your trade and the tangible output of their use.

● Process - the ways in which you go about using and reflecting on these tools to create things of high quality that meet the needs of your target audience.

● Person - the transferable skills that make you better at working with other people in creative media.

For each of the 3Ps you should use the following questions to structure your reflection:

1. What did I do or learn?

2. What is important about that?

3. Now what will I do with that knowledge?

4. What feedback did I receive and how did I respond?

In addressing each of these four questions, you will be expected to present feedback that you received or were witness to during the in-class project, describe and analyse the context of this feedback and demonstrate independent learning in addressing how you will use this feedback to improve. The unit readings will help you with the Proficiency and Process reflection and the SAE Transferable Skills Framework and associated guidelines will support your reflection against the Person aspects of your experience.

Recommended Specifications for Learning Journal Reflections in Stage II

● You should use media assets in your Learning Journal to support your reflection and provide evidence to support the holistic assessment of your work.

● Citation of scholarly and other texts should be in APA 7 format.

● Correct spelling, grammar, and punctuation are required;  entries that have not been edited and/or spell checked impact the quality of your Learning Journal.

Your Learning Journal will be shared with your peers as part of collaborative learning in class.

Steps to Follow 

1. During the in-class portion of your learning, you are to collate feedback relevant to each of the 3Ps in your private notes. When presented with feedback, be sure to repeat this feedback to your peers and facilitators to ensure the feedback has been properly understood.

2. Upon completion of the week’s activities, review all of the feedback you have received; choose at least one item of feedback to consider using the 3Ps framework.

3. Reflect on this feedback and address each of the three reflective questions.

4. In responding to the last question, refer to the unit's reading list and resources to undertake self-directed learning to develop a plan for improvement. Cite all sources as appropriate.

5. Add in any additional information which is relevant to addressing the Learning Outcomes and/or Holistic Assessment Criteria. 

Project Milestones and Deliverables

The Learning Journal is a compulsory activity in all units and is the primary repository of all evidence of your learning. Failure to engage with reflection will result in failing the unit.

Resources 

● Stage II Holistic Assessment Guidelines

● SAE Transferable Skills Framework & Associated Guidelines

● Stage II Student Handbook