Reflective Practice & Models of Reflection

What is metacognition... and why does it matter? (video from Edutopia below)

METACOGNITION consists of three basic elements:

Developing a plan of action

Maintaining/monitoring the plan

Evaluating the plan

For further information, see North Central Regional Education's Laboratory's page on Metacognition

This model is based on the theory of Self-Regulated Learning further explained by:

Abrami, P., et. al. (2008), Encouraging self-regulated learning through electronic portfolios. Canadian Journal of Learning and Technology, V34(3) Fall 2008. http://www.cjlt.ca/index.php/cjlt/article/viewArticle/507/238

There are a variety of strategies to implement reflective practice. On a simple level, we could think about reflection in the past, present, and future tense. Donald Schön refers to  ‘reflection-in-action’ as analysis in the present tense...during the performance of a task.  Killion and Todnem (1991) categorize reflection in three directions:

 Three Reflective Directions

• 1. First, reflection-on-action requires looking back on what one has accomplished and reviewing the actions, thoughts, and product.

  2. The second form of reflection is reflection-in-action. In this activity, the individual is responsible for reflecting while in the act of carrying out the task. If, for example, the student is writing a story and has left out the setting, reflection-in-action could guide the correction of a major component of the story writing.

  3. The final reflective form centers on reflection-for-action. This reflection form expects the participant to review what has been accomplished and identify constructive guidelines to follow to succeed in the given task in the future.

Reflection in action - During

Performance or Volitional Control

Processes that occur action and affect attention and action

Self-control processes help learners to focus on tasks and optimize efforts

Self-instruction

Imagery

Attention focusing

Task Strategies

Self-observation allows learners to vary aspects of their performance

Self-recording

Self-experimentation

Reflection on action - After

Self-Reflection

Processes which occur after performance efforts and influence a person’s response to that experience

Planning and implementing a strategy provides an evaluation metric for learners to attribute successes or failures to, rather than low ability

Self-judgment

Self-evaluation

Casual attribution

Self-reaction

Self-satisfaction/affect

Adaptive-defensive response

Reflection for action - Before

Forethought

Influential processes which precede efforts to act and set the stage for action

Goal setting increases self-efficacy and intrinsic interest

Task Analysis

Goal setting

Strategic Planning

Self-motivation beliefs increase commitment

Self-motivational beliefs:

Self-efficacy

Outcome expectations

Intrinsic interest/value

Goal Orientation

Models of Reflection