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This paper aims to determine the role cognitive control awareness plays in university students through their scientific writing. Results show that through an assessment-centred instruction approach embedded in reflective learning, tertiary students at a faculty of sciences can achieve greater metacognitive awareness of their learning. Fourth-year students in a physical oceanography class displayed cognitive control over established activities designed to develop their discursive writing skills (writing components included objectives, subject content, methodologies, contextualization and environmental implications on local and global scales). Scientific writing was promoted through students managing their own learning processes and cognitive control through metacognitive awareness, i.e. through a constructivist scheme embedded in formative learning. In the POST test, students scored higher primarily in the categories of writing methodologies, and bibliographies. Teacher expertise, which was mainly provided through feedback and scaffolding for student autonomy was highly valued by the students, and included considering the effects of a teacher assessing their writing and providing strategies to write a better scientific paper [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the authors' exploration of an arts-based practice, called imagined dialogue, as a means for engaging in reflective discourse in the current, global context of political polarization. We introduce the practice of imagined dialogue, taking the readers along on our continued learning journey of the implications of this practice for educational contexts. We highlight the connections of imagined dialogue to the theory and practice of transformative learning. This paper suggests that writing and embodying imagined dialogue can prepare people for real dialogue, allowing them to more deeply understand their own positions, as well as to empathize with and respect the positions of others. In addition to introducing the theoretical background and steps to engaging in the imagined dialogue process, we share several examples; including our own experiences using imagined dialogue in personal contexts, and group processing of a dialogue about an issue of national political significance. Using imagined dialogue is a skill that can be learned and strengthened, enabling learners to engage in and model the practice of critical, reflective discourse over time – even in the emotionally charged political sphere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper elaborates on a number of key success factors of transformative learning (TL) theory as well as provides arguments that validate them. The paper at hands lines out how transformative learning can improve teams in start-ups and NGOs to the direction of education for sustainable development (ESD). Moreover, social structures and belief systems can influence learning in a way that learners make transformation of their experiences in various means. It exemplifies how Mezirow's theory can be put into practice and includes results from collaborative and social learning, personal transformation, team spirit as well as learning environments. The case studies make use of new skills and values via guided interviews. Data from 42 qualitative interviews are analysed and used to argument that transformative learning can be practiced, with success factors, in start-ups and NGOs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sharing personal teaching stories provides opportunities for enhanced wellbeing and learning for both experienced and pre-service teachers. This paper shares the results of a qualitative pilot study that used narrative inquiry to collect and share teacher stories. The research was conducted in two phases. The first phase collected humorous stories from experienced teachers recalled from the first years of their teaching career. Thematic data analysis investigated the wellbeing and learning impact on those teachers when sharing their stories. The second phase invited pre-service teachers to read and evaluate the impact of humorous stories when preparing for their first school placements. Thematic data analysis investigated the wellbeing and learning impact on pre-service teachers reading these stories. The analysis from both phases demonstrated recurring themes regarding the importance of teacher-student relationships for teacher wellbeing. The results also showed that the sharing and reading of stories had beneficial outcomes such as enhanced wellbeing and enhanced learning for both the teacher storytellers and the pre-service teacher readers. This study provides evidence that the inclusion of real-life stories offers a valuable addition to Initial Teacher Education programs as a way of developing professional and reflective practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to understand the experience of reflective activity from the perspective of Teacher Learners (TLs) encountering reflective ideas for the first time. By identifying elements of a pedagogic reflective task they found most valuable and plausible, the study seeks to provide insights to improve educators' presentation of reflective ideas. It investigates the experiences of 20 language teachers writing reflections on classroom teaching during a programme of formal instruction. Writers' decisions are examined intensively to identify which phases/elements of an idealized cycle they chose to extend while engaged in a reflective task. Writers' commentaries on their writing, collected after the period of their instruction, were also analysed to discover the elements they found plausible and valuable beyond their utility for the course. The study found that writers looking back at their accounts tended to locate most value in practical, 'descriptive' sections of their writing rather than those linking to academic theory, or more 'critical' modes of reflection. Nevertheless, interviewee responses indicated that many had a nuanced sense that such higher-level modes of reflection might have value outside the formal circumstances of the programme. The paper finally offers practical suggestions that respond to these findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This two-stage study was conducted to examine the awareness of policy and underlying pedagogy as well as the use of reflective practice by teaching staff (faculty) within a Scottish university. In the first stage, teaching staff completed a questionnaire; of these 14 then took part in stage two, semi-structured interviews. Interview transcripts were subject to thematic analysis and three main themes emerged: (1) The methods and processes of reflection ('How'); (2) The personal and organisational drivers for employing reflective practices ('Why'); and (3) The barriers to reflection ('Why not'). Significant findings included the dominance of traditional (paper-based as opposed to computer mediated) reflective writing in teaching staff's own reflection, and the importance of both formal and informal group reflection in methods and process. Reasons for reflection focused on the importance of both organisational drivers such as professional standards and awarding bodies, and personal drivers such as personal growth, identity, and psychological wellbeing. Barriers to reflection included both the concrete such as insufficient time and lack of opportunities to share resources, as well as the attitudinal and cultural. Possible ways of tacking these barriers also emerged. Implications for organisational and individual practice are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides a description of recent transformative learning applications in four broad areas – health care study abroad, community, and the workplace. The applications were selected from a literature review of English language articles published in peer-reviewed journals from 2010 to 2020. To describe the applications in each of the four broad areas, the paper focuses on the rationale for the studies, their settings, their context, the reported transformation or outcome as well as the impediments and facilitating factors for the transformation. The paper also includes an overview of research designs and instruments that can be generally used to study applications of transformative learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reflective practice, in simplest form, means recalling about one's experience to learn from it and plan future course of action. Reflective practice is quite popular in educational field to impart deeper insights to the students. However, there is a scarce understanding of how students reflect during online internships (on their own), outside the realms of traditional classroom. Hence, this paper endeavors to study how students reflect during internships and subsequent impact of reflective practices on students' learning during internship. The study was conducted on nine voluntary students who participated in reflective practices during their eight-week internships. Their experiences, post internships, were analyzed (using thematic analysis). The analysis generated three themes for reflection among students. They are hypothesis testing during uncertainty, metacognition, and future planning based on the lessons learned. The empirical study also uncovers how reflective practice leads to self-awareness, self-regulation, and professional grooming, stress relief during internship. The managerial implication for educational institutes is to include faculty guided and group led reflective assignments in curriculums for better experiential learning. Our study contributes to growing literature of reflective practices in educational field outside the conventional classroom setting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper advances discourse pertaining to the development of a reflective practice model in engineering leadership. It is based on reflective experiences over a four-year period that were developed as part of a Doctoral in Business Administration module. It is contextualised within an engineering consultancy and the narrative is described from an Engineering Leadership perspective; the narrative is also woven with theory and there is the inclusion of a DBA Practitioner lens on the findings. The paper identifies the model developed for reflective practice and presents evidence of personal learning and thinking styles as its outcome. The paper concludes that reflective practice is a personal journey of learning and that model development is a choice of what suits the individual. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper features an autoethnographic approach in presenting and reflecting upon the story of one higher education student’s rapid vocational and academic transformation. Initially an inconspicuous undergraduate student, Andrew experienced an accelerated development that catapulted him to working in elite sport performance analysis (PA) environments, within a year. PA is a sub-discipline of sports coaching that involves using the latest technological advances to influence sporting performance, through the objective analysis of performance data. This autoethnographic piece is partly Andrew’s personal reflection upon that journey towards his newfound profession, which initially grew out of his experience of a generic sports degree at a university. Through stepping out of his comfort zone, and analysing sports previously unknown to him, extraordinary progress was made, and various vocational and academic opportunities arose. The initial catalyst for this developmental journey was facilitated by coaching lecturer David, who reflects upon how Andrew’s story links to his own educational philosophies. Andrew and David explore what these stories might mean to them personally, including potential links to the metaphor of learning as becoming, and notions around the concepts of learner agency, and educational facilitation. The paper ends by exploring the theoretical frameworks that guided this paper’s structure and focus. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this conceptual paper, we present a professional practice-oriented Multidimensional Model of Reflective Practice (MMRP) and a Critical Incident Reflection (CIR) protocol as worthwhile tools for supporting teacher candidates (TCs) to become more self-directed, multi-faceted, and holistic in their reflective practice. The model presents reflection as a complex endeavor situated in a dynamic milieu. It emphasizes the complementary nature of professional competencies of knowledge, skills, and disposition, and the interrogation of an incident through technical, contextual, and critical reflection as well as reflection-in, -on, and -for-action. The CIR protocol provides scaffolding support for TCs as they move toward becoming independent reflective practitioners. Together, the MMRP and CIR protocol facilitate multidimensional reflection. We present a case for providing a more deliberate support for reflection. In doing this, we define reflection, highlight its common frameworks, and discuss the significance of intentional and systematic reflection on professional competencies. In the conclusion, we bring these ideas together to discuss the implications for a self-directed and agentic approach to reflection and professional growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper will describe the theoretical and conceptual framework that underpins a new model of reflection designed for health and social care students in practice-based learning settings and qualified professionals engaged in work-based learning. The Me, My, More, Must approach has been designed to help learners considerwho they areand what impact their values might havebeforea description of the particular experience, situation or incident. The paper outlines the influence of movements that have emerged to support the adoption of values-based approaches to clinical practice and the development of values-based reflection. A values-based approach to the delivery of healthcare has emerged in response to several high-profile ‘moral catastrophes’, such as the public inquiry led by Sir Robert Francis QC which described poor standards of care at Stafford Hospital; and the abuse inflicted on residents at the Winterbourne View unit. Re-conceptualisations of the purpose of reflection and initiatives such as the 6Cs (compassion, caring, communication, competence, courage and commitment) are influencing a post-Francis era where values are not only determining selection and recruitment of students and staff, but the nature of practice through the emergence of values-based reflection. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper represents a reflection on craft as a process that stimulates self-development. Central to this approach is the perception of craft, not as a means of production, but as an exercise of relating to the world. The paper suggests that through the dialogue between the mind, body and environment craft practitioners experience a particular form of connection with the world that reshapes their perceptual and conceptual understanding of it. Rather than following an ego-driven tendency to control, a craftsperson is exposed to modes of ‘knowing’ and ‘being’ that embrace the inherent uncertainty of a complex world. The learning experience of a novice (lead author) demonstrates such a course of development in this paper. In particular, the liminal space that needs to be created for the dialogue between the self and the non-self is explored. This personal narrative is woven together with the experience of craft masters within different social contexts and value systems (from traditional to modern to postmodern) and their views on the process of being and becoming a craftsperson. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this paper, two adult educator professors share reflections on their dialogues, spanning 15 years, focusing on their journey of work and learning at a research-intensive university. Authors refer to intrinsic principles, values, and a shared commitment to contributing to a community shaped and influenced by an intentional focus on 'relationality' in support of individual and collective well-being. By reflecting on dialogues, past and ongoing, an enduring commitment to co-creating learning spaces sustained by care, compassion, and positive regard for colleagues and students is realized. Authors advance a commitment to community as essential to support work and learning spaces that thrive. This discourse is located in the current neoliberal milieu where a focus on performance germane to teaching, securing research funding, scholarship productivity, and compliance pervades. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper seeks to expose the definition of reflective practice from its seminal roots through the lens of a critical review underpinned by epistemological perspectives of the Vygotsky Principle, Temporality and Socio-Cultural Theory. The discussion includes the framing of reflective practice and the models that have been developed from discourse over time, concluding that reflective practice is a personal interpretation driven by the individual’s choice of reflective practice model. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper reports on an action research study conducted in 2015 with five in-service English language teachers from an ELT undergraduate programme of a university in the central part of Mexico over a period of 9 weeks by means of two video recorded classroom observations and different spaces for professional dialogue (a focus group, one on one feedback discussions and personal interviews). Overall, the study revealed that teachers have the ability to be critically reflective about their teaching given the appropriate conditions which Reflective Practice (RP) necessitates such as opportunity, time, and assistance from others, often lacking in everyday teaching scenarios, traditional evaluative classroom observations and conventional teacher education programmes. Hence, by challenging the 'status quo' of classroom observations in this context, the RP processes carried out helped teachers understand and reconstruct their teaching knowledge especially in terms of students' responses to their instructional decisions and the impact this had on how their classes unfolded. It promoted an alternative way to fulfil the goal of teacher development, not through a 'transmission' model of education but through a process in which teachers learn and continue to develop their skill in dialogue within a professional community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated the affordances of a mobile video observation and tagging tool used to evaluate presentation skills in English language classrooms. The data consists of 35 video-recorded presentations in a higher education setting. Using a digital evaluation grid, the students received feedback based on visual analytics generated by the mobile app. The students then were asked to reflect on their performances, and were also asked to comment on the affordances and limitations of the method and the tool. Qualitative data that came from (1) students' written self-evaluations and reflections and (2) their reported perceptions of the affordances of the tool were analyzed using the Constant Comparison Method. Analyses of reflective writings indicated the dominance of negative self-evaluations of language use, while affective factors were also a strong theme. The video-tagging tool was found to be very beneficial by the learners, mainly in enabling them to notice their strengths and weaknesses in presenting in English and facilitating effective feedback. The results show that this data-led reflective presentation model can be beneficial for learners as they can identify points of development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Facilitation is a key ‘ingredient’ in the success and sustainability of communities of practice. Yet, little attention has been given toin situexperiences of facilitators of these communities. This paper takes up the challenge to explore these experiences using reflective stories written by seven TATAL (Talking about Teaching and Learning) facilitators (the authors) from different disciplines in five different Australian universities. The authors’ collaborative analysis of their experiences suggests reframing the role of facilitator to include the role of alchemist, a promoter of transformation. This reframing has the potential to change the way higher education community of practice facilitators think about and enact their role. The story-based reflective process used in this self-study could also be used by facilitators to investigate their own practice, as a component of facilitator education programmes or by academics and researchers in other contexts who seek a participatory, collaborative approach to evaluate their practice. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper showcases the work of Third Space professionals in a complex higher education (HE) setting, and specifically its impact on the building of trust relationships and innovative approaches. It makes use of a case-study methodological approach, reflecting on the experiences of various stakeholders within pilot phases. The findings reveal challenges related to maintaining trust relationships, which can be threatened by technicist approaches. The reflective case study explores an innovative live-streaming project and the related pedagogical approaches by Instructional Design experts, as Third Space professionals, who have carved out a critical space within a HE setting. This investigation, and its related lessons, highlights that learning-and-teaching aspects, training and support, reconciliation of trust relationships, can be applied to Third Space professionals in other HE institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article identifies students' difficulties in making interview questions, their solutions and reflection on a good interview question. This firstly aims at enhancing our knowledge of doing interviews for research purposes, and secondly evaluates the effectiveness of a learning-by-doing based intervention on students' critical thinking and knowledge formation. The study applied a survey to collect data. Then qualitative content analysis with the use of Atlas.ti (v.9 for Windows) was employed to analyze data. In terms of the students' difficulties, a majority of students found it hard to convey exactly their ideas and make relevant questions to the topic. They also found it challenging to make questions with appropriate difficulty levels for the public audience. To solve the problems, the students mostly did self-investigation and asked for opinions and guidance from peers and teachers, which helped them create their zone of proximal development. Regarding the characteristics of a good question, most students concluded that its content with appropriate difficulty level and its coherence make it accessible for interviewees, while some students also required the language to be concise, polite and not academic. Students' reflection shows that the intervention helps them form their knowledge of interview questions and hone their critical thinking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is concerned with the ways in which reflective practice is learnt, taught and assessed within the profession of occupational therapy. It utilises individual experiences of reflection of both students and staff members in university and practice placement settings. The discussion places reflection within learning a profession’s way of being and individual learner’s relation to this ‘sense of being’. It concludes that the ‘rote’ way in which reflection is currently used to demonstrate evidence of reflective practice is detrimental to the development of a reflective professional, in this instance, an occupational therapist. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper gives an embodied perspective on the use of judgements of reflective practice and reflective writing for professional development in Higher Education. Programmes for professional development in Higher Education and recognition processes for academics have become prevalent in the UK and internationally. These programmes and processes often assume, implicitly or explicitly, development or evidencing as a ‘reflective practitioner’ through pieces of reflective writing which is then judged against competencies or attainments. However, this focus on reflective practice and reflective writing is not always critical, and does not examine the different theoretical and practical interpretations of what it means to reflect, or the impact of assessing such reflections. Taking an embodied stance allows a new view into a contested area that is more habitually connected with cognitive rather than corporeal processes. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper draws from phenomenological research exploring the nature of relationships in education, collaborative research exploring alternative pedagogies in educational leadership programmes and postgraduate students’ experiences of leadership. These inquiries have been brought together with the aim of outlining two pedagogical approaches which evoke an appreciation of, and contemplative stance towards, the relational sensibilities within the lived experiences of practising, emergent and aspiring educational leaders. Relational sensitivity and sensibilities are essential to how leaders show what matters in their immediate context. Relational sensibilities appear to have an enduring and ontological presence within experiences of leadership. Examples include a leader’s attunement, nous, tact and improvisation. In addition, sensibilities include how leaders remain resolute having made a moral judgement. Two pedagogical approaches that deepen leader’s relational sensibilities are outlined. One includes the interpretive and hermeneutic use of experiential stories in inquiries of leadership as a phenomenon. A second pedagogical approach, an appreciative appraisal, involves the application of Appreciative Inquiry to the life-centric nature of an individual’s professional practice. It is critically important that leadership courses engage leaders in pedagogical approaches that engender a deepening appreciation of relational sensibilities in their everyday lives. This concern underpins the need for those in leadership to revisit their everyday humanity as this leads to action sensitive praxis. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper examines four models of debriefing practices applied by the team of authors in settings working with conflict resolution and peacemaking practitioners. It examines the effectiveness of these methods in particular, and of the practice of debriefing as a reflective tool in the context of peacemaking practice. All research was conducted as part of an Applied Practice and Theory team, under the supervision of Dr. Susan Allen, at George Mason University's School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper explores the use of painting with a group of pre-registration nursing students, as one-approach educators might use to encourage deeper thinking and reflection. During the second week of their course, the students were asked to paint a picture of what they believed nursing to be, using colour to capture their feelings associated with nursing. On completion of their paintings, the students shared their ideas and beliefs with the group. This process was repeated at the start of the second year when, on completion of a second painting, their first picture was returned; with time devoted for the students to analyse both paintings and write a reflective account. Analysis was required on three levels: (1) to examine the content of each picture; (2) to explain why they had painted particular images, and explore factors influencing changes or similarities between pictures; and (3) at a deeper level, begin exploring how their values and beliefs had shaped their paintings. Through a facilitated group, students shared their analysis and associated feelings with their peers, the latter being encouraged to ask questions and discuss arising issues to develop their reflective and analytic skills. Examining personal and peer experience enables students to begin to recognise where, in terms of self and self in relation to others, they need to focus their attention. The findings provide tentative evidence that such innovative approaches, together with careful facilitation, can promote deeper insight into self and their chosen career. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Mentor teachers of student teachers play an important role in novice teacher development, yet rarely receive training or support. This study investigates five mentor teachers during the 2021–2022 school year as they participated in monthly mentor professional development meetings. It asks the question 'How can recordings of mentor/mentee conversations be used within mentor professional development to support the development of educative mentors?' This qualitative analysis used interviews and video recordings of meetings to understand the mentor teacher experiences. It finds that audio clips in mentor meetings worked to support mentor teachers' learning as mentors and teachers and worked to deprivatize the work of mentoring. Findings from this study can help inform mentor professional development facilitation and can help inform decisions regarding how to prepare and support mentor teachers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While the benefits of reflection for students are well documented, there is a parallel body of research pointing to varying levels of engagement with reflection. Students on a four-year business information systems programme have to complete a reflection as part of their placement assessment. Using a constructivist qualitative methodology, this research explores the students' experience of reflecting with a view to identifying what supports could be useful to guide students in the future. Using semi-structured interviews, the students described a focus on description of activities and overall uncertainty on what to write. There are multiple possible interventions which could support the students but some would require significant and high-level support within the university. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At the University of the West Indies, large courses often require the involvement of multiple persons in their delivery. Within the English Language Foundation Unit, several of the courses offered cater to over 500 students in any given semester. The large number of students necessitates multiple practitioners providing instructions as part of the same course offering. While stylistics may vary, there is the need for course instruction and content to depict uniformity. Practitioners’ conceptualization of a specific topic will inform the instruction received by students. In instances where practitioners do not conceptualize content in a like manner, students within the same course may receive varied instruction, thus affecting student output and overall evaluation. The paper looks specifically at a service course offered at the University of the West Indies and the practices of the multiple persons involved in the teaching of the course. It provides an overview of practitioners’ discussion of their conceptualization of content areas within the courses and assesses the extent to which there are variations and/or similarities. It also discusses how these impact teaching and learning. The research seeks to derive an actionable direction for collaboration and further discussions within large service courses with the aim of improving teaching and learning. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

When language teachers enter a classroom to teach in their early career years, they hold many different beliefs and feelings about how to conduct their classes that for the main part remain at the tacit level of understanding. However, it is important for early career language teachers to become aware of these beliefs and feelings so that they can critically reflect on their significance during this challenging period. Metaphors can offer early career teachers a rich means of identifying their experiences and beliefs that underpin their understanding of teaching and learning a second or foreign language. This qualitative study sought to contribute to the discussion of the experiences of four early career English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers through their use of metaphors to describe their personal understanding of their beliefs and feeling. Specifically, the case study examined the metaphors used by one teacher in her 2nd year, another in his 3rd year an additional teacher in his 4th year, and one in his 5th year of teaching. Results indicate that teachers in their 2nd and 3rd years chose personal metaphors that 'diagnose' deficits and thus must be in control, while in their 4th and 5th years the teachers wanted to motivate and facilitate the learning process rather than control it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Building upon the interrelationship between learning and changing, this study investigates how cyclical engagement in reflexive practice influences the teachers' professional development. We implemented our video-enhanced 'Reflexive Practice Triplication Model' which we developed in our specific context. We conducted the research with 8 secondary school teachers of English at a private K12 school in Ankara, Turkey. Drawing on multiple sources of data, we used a triangulation technique to reveal the qualitative and quantitative impact of reflexive practice. The findings showed that collaborative engagement in reflexive practice contributed substantially to EFL teachers' professional development traceable in the changes in beliefs on reflexivity, attitudes towards collaboration, contextual and pedagogical knowledge. The study provides implications as to how reflexive practice can be used in local contexts where specific needs are to be considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This thought piece draws the readers' attention to the pervasive nature of reflection, reflective teaching and learning and the use of questions. Specifically discussed; are the theoretical framework that guides the piece, reflective teaching, the reflective approach to teaching practicum debriefing (RATPD) and lesson study. Provided is an example that incorporates the RATPD primarily in the post-lesson discussions/colloquia while being faithful to the collaborative nature of lesson study. Achieving these answers the question: 'To what extent could the reflective approach to teaching practicum debriefing strategy be incorporated in lesson study?' The piece ends with a question that challenges readers to conclude and perhaps engage in further reflection on the discussed topic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reflection is recognised as a significant goal in teacher education. Digital portfolios have considerable potential for developing teacher reflective capacities, but more research is needed for documenting the content and quality of the reflections within it and for understanding the factors related to its occurrence. Many schemes of analyses have been developed. However, they do not accord sufficient attention to the situated nature of reflection and the sociocultural context within which reflection occurs. In this study, we seek to analyse and understand student teacher reflections as captured in digital portfolios. We propose using a lens that combines a framework on types of reflection with a situative perspective. Results suggest that student teachers do not typically reflect at deep levels, unless the situation legitimizes or privileges it, even if they may be able to do so. Findings are discussed in relation to contextual factors. It is surmised that student teacher reflections may be tied to the sociocultural context in which they learn and in which reflection is enacted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights calls for accessible higher education (HE), stating that it is necessary for the full development of the human personality and the sense of its dignity. Education is therefore at the heart of global development goals transforming internationalisation into a core strategic pillar for universities. Amidst pressure on academics to prepare students for real world employment including working in cross-boundary teams, global research trends indicate an indifference to diversity. For post Global Financial Crisis (1987) and Coronavirus Disease (2019) domestic graduates seeking employment in contracting economic markets, indifference intensified to hostility. Addressing these issues using an original customisable model for teaching and assessing reflective learning across HE, a three-stage targeted intervention was prepared and actioned (2008–2020). With research suggesting that high level and complex learning is best developed when assessment, involves students as partners, the intervention included an iterative process of peer review. With 6000 participating Business students, the feedback indicates that scaffolded reflective processes have a powerful effect on students' understanding of assessment tasks and their willingness to work in diverse teams with significant benefits for student outcomes and staff development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our objective with this study was to investigate students' metacognitive awareness (MA) and its association with course grades in general upper secondary foreign languages, to foster reflective practices. A total of 267 foreign language students at Finnish schools answered an online survey, and the data were analysed quantitatively. Based on the results, the students' levels of MA were high in foreign languages, students at urban schools had higher levels than students at rural schools, and students with high course grades had higher levels of MA. Knowledge of cognition and attitudes about the language predicted the course grade the most. The results indicate that more emphasis should be put on the enhancement of MA at rural schools and with low-achieving students, to enhance their reflective practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transformative learning harnesses reflection to create deep change in adult learners. These changes can be embodied in our neurobiological and cardiovascular systems. These physiological embodiments of transformative learning require health of body and mind. Contemplative practices including embodied reflective practices are technologies that can support the reintegration of body, brain, and mind, therefore supporting transformative learning and deep sustainable change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study is to examine the affordances of images to prompt reflective processes of preservice teachers writing in a digital environment. The study was conducted over three academic years and a total of 180 preservice teachers were asked to write a blog post to reflect on how they learn to write and their approach on teaching children how to write. This study analyses the type of images used in the blog posts and the logico-semantic relationships between the images and the written text. The core data were gathered from the preservice teachers' blog posts, and then triangulated with the individual written reflections and with the group recordings analysing their respective posts. The results indicate that the blog posts in which preservice teachers use images either connected to personal experiences or with a metaphorical effect, the image-text relation enhances their reflections; whereas the most neutral images that illustrate the act of writing give no added value to their reflections. The discussion addresses the issues on how to help preservice teachers to use images in digital writing in a meaningful way that can deepen their reflective processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reflecting on teaching is widely regarded as beneficial and has become a key component in teacher preparation programs. However, teacher educators can struggle to get teachers to engage in meaningful reflection, and teachers differ in their experiences with reflection. One lens for understanding differences in reflective experiences is that of adult development. Employing the constructive-developmental theory of adult development, this study investigated reflection on teaching experiences of seven novice Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) teachers. Findings showed that teachers differed in their experiences depending on their different developmental perspectives. For example, some teachers valued written reflection on teaching as critical for reflection itself, while others experienced it as redundant. Implications for supporting meaningful reflection experiences among developmentally diverse novice teachers are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to understand processes related to the development of student teachers' professional identity, by using a Systemic-Functional Linguistics-based methodology to analyze the written reflections of 33 student teachers. Participants were enrolled in the science teaching tracks of two teaching colleges in the country and reflected on their recent exposure to Project Based Learning. Three linguistic markers were observed: 1) personal references forming group- and self-focused narratives; 2) verbal phrases forming future-oriented narratives; 3) intensifications forming emotionally-colored narratives. The findings demonstrate that the suggested methodology enables the identification of messages conveyed implicitly throughout the reflective reports and, thereby, affords a better understanding of the student teachers' concerns, expectations, and hopes during the process of their professional identity development, as they study to become teachers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reflective writing is a proven way to increase the quality of learning and knowledge construction. However, its use in computer science education has received little attention. In this mixed-methods study, we investigated the effect of reflective writing practices, including peer review, on students' reflective writing and writing quality scores in a computer science education context. Three reflective writing assignments were required in a Human Computer Interaction course and two peers reviewed each assignment to give feedback. Rubrics were used to measure the reflective writing and writing quality characteristics of student work, and a peer feedback coding scheme was used to determine the characteristics of the feedback students provided to one another. Results revealed that students' reflective writing and writing quality did not differ across projects and they offered solutions as their most common type of feedback. Our results revealed further studies need to keep investigating new approaches in terms of timing, guidelines, and supportive tools to promote reflective writing to determine which activity designs facilitate student improvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reflective journals are used in the literature to promote students' learning, develop writing skills, assess students' reflection level, promote teachers' professional development, and gather research data. However, the current research bridges the gap in the literature by exploring the impact of students' reflective journals on informing instructional practices in an EFL writing context at a university in Qatar. Informed by Gibb's reflective cycle (1988) (i.e. description, feelings, evaluation, conclusion and action) and social constructionism, the researcher developed a reflective journal to help students reflect on the instructional practices. Using a case study methodology, the researcher collected seventy-eight reflective journals, written by bilingual female university students in Qatar. Data was analysed qualitatively using thematic content analysis. Findings revealed that students preferred the following teaching strategies: gradual teaching, exemplification, discussion, comprehension checking, cooperative learning, and graphic organisers. Findings also showed students' reported challenges such as strict classroom management, lack of teacher's electronic feedback, teacher's frequent questioning, recurrent turn-taking, time mismanagement, lack of handouts, cooperative learning problems, mocking students, ringing mobile phones, unpunctual students and dealing with disruptive students. Implications for instructional practices are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Teacher candidates (TCs) must navigate personal, experiential, and theoretical discourses of learning to teach to establish a teaching identity. This article describes a critical case example of digital storytelling to imagine a future classroom. The qualitative research design situates the TCs' digital stories as a performance and analyzes the art form to consider how they might use these texts to imagine and make visible this negotiation. The critical case shows how the TCs used the digital story to make sense of personal experiences, their image of an ideal teacher, methods coursework, and the personal struggle inherent across these sometimes disparate voices of learning to teach. Findings indicate that digital storytelling expands TCs' reflective practice in the supportive environment of a teacher education program. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many studies have documented the benefits of incorporating reflective journals into foreign language education at university level, though the pedagogic tendency has been to utilise these valuable learning resources to enhance students' written language skills. This study focuses on how the production of a digital reflective journal in video format can assist in the improvement of oral language abilities in tertiary students of Spanish as a foreign language. With spoken language as the driving vehicle for this assessment task, the course coordinator and educator in charge aimed to promote the development of learner autonomy and self-reflection. In addition, to foster students' agency in this process, the task incorporated the use of modern digital technologies, which are part of the repertoire of communication channels used by today's university language learners. Findings suggest that completing this self-reflection assessment task afforded creative teaching and learning experiences, and generated opportunities for learners to improve critical thinking skills, written language proficiency and oral communication. It also heightened their motivation to engage with language-related cultural knowledge, and minimised feelings of anxiety towards communicating verbally in a foreign language. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our general purpose is to show how a philosophically oriented theoretical foundation, drawn from a lifeworld perspective can serve as a coherent direction for caring practices in education. We argue that both caring and learning share the same ontological foundation and point to this intertwining from a philosophical perspective. We proceed by illustrating shared epistemological ground through some novel educational practices in the professional preparation of carers. Beginning in a phenomenologically oriented philosophical foundation, we will first unfold what this means in the practice of caring, and secondly what it means for education and learning to care in humanly sensitive ways. We then share some ways that may be valuable in supporting learning and health that provides a basis for an existential understanding. We argue that existential understanding may offer a way to bridge the categorisations in contemporary health care that flow from problematic dualisms such as mind and body, illness and well-being, theory and practice, caring and learning. Ways of overcoming such dualistic splits and new existential understandings are needed to pave the way for a care that is up to the task of responding to both human possibilities and vulnerabilities, within the complexity of existence. As such, we argue that caring and learning are to be understood as an intertwined phenomenon of pivotal importance in education of both sensible and sensitive carers. Lifeworld led didactics and reflection, which are seen as the core of learning, constitute an important educational strategy here. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the results of a 2-year faculty professional growth project in which a library faculty employed reflective and deliberate practice techniques regarding their instruction of information literacy outcomes. The faculty submitted reflections through a Google-forms tool, which was used to identify and assess essential elements of effective teaching and learning. The project's longitudinal data was analyzed each semester and academic year, and evidence was found of faculty growth in their application of active learning techniques as well as growth in their reflective writing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article we present and outline depth-hermeneutics as a new application of a theoretically founded psychosocial approach, with the ambition of inspiring teachers to explore challenging aspects of their relational work with students. Empirical knowledge and psychodynamic theory suggest that teaching and learning are profoundly rooted in relationship based processes. Hence it is a prerequisite for improving learning and supporting teachers' professional development that challenging aspects in the student-teacher relationship be taken seriously by being examined, with the aim of enabling and supporting learning from experience in reflective practice. We suggest that group-based depth-hermeneutics, a qualitative psychosocial method, may allow for analysis and interpretation of situations and relations in school that may be experienced by teachers as difficult or incomprehensible. Drawing on an empirical example from fieldwork in a Norwegian middle school, we illustrate the nature of a challenging situation and relation in teaching and show step-by-step how depth-hermeneutics can be adapted, adopted, implemented, and facilitated in teacher groups, to increase scenic understanding of such complex phenomena. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Exploratory practice (EP), as a framework for teacher development, is a collaborative endeavour of both teachers and learners which engages them in reflection to improve the quality of life in a language classroom. The present case study was carried out at the University of Sindh, Jamshoro (USJP) in Pakistan, where some teachers in the Institute of English Language and Literature volunteered to participate in the project by undertaking the principles of EP in their teaching. In this project, the researcher worked as both an EP practitioner and a teacher-consultant to a group of seven teachers at the USJP for a full academic year consisting of two semesters of four months each. The interviews were conducted twice during the project, first after Phase I from those who left the project halfway and a second time after the completion of Phase II from those who continued until the end to know the views of the participant-teachers about EP as an approach to their professional self-development. The findings show that teacher-participants found EP a practically viable option in their given circumstances and useful for their professional development as well as learning and teaching context in which they work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This is an autoethnographic study that inquiries into my own journey as an aspiring educational researcher throughout the second course of my Master’s Program at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden. My experiences take place in the context of a group of real educational researchers and their on-going research project at the faculty of education called ‘Beyond Plant Blindness: Seeing the importance of plants for a sustainable world’ (BPB). All of the experiences included in this study are expressed in the form of chronologically ordered narrative vignettes. In order to bring theoretical meaning to these experiences, the vignettes were critically reflected upon and interpreted through the concept Communities of Practice (CoP), which is central to situated learning theory. Through this conceptual lens, my experiences revealed that an aspiring educational researcher may feel emotional and intellectual growth as a newcomer who is granted legitimate peripheral participation in the ‘real’ researcher CoP. Consequently, this study sheds light on ways that real researchers may play a part in shaping the identities of aspiring educational researchers through learning experiences. However, more generally, this study may facilitate fresh conversations about the complexities of learning, identity, and inclusion in the field of educational research. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Much online learning nowadays depends upon the creation of a generic, quality online educational experience, with a particular emphasis on collaborative conversations. In this discursive piece, drawing upon published scholarship and our facilitation and evaluation of learning in technology-mediated environments, we propose an enrichment to the pedagogy of such approaches, referred to as learner retreats. Such metaphorical spaces recognise the need for a ‘quiet, safe place’ for the private (internal) reflective thinking of each learner, as a foil to the shared collaborative dialogues in the external world of the online community. This ‘headspace’, with a specific focus on private thinking, is where community learners may probe and enhance current group thinking through reflection and self-regulatory activities. Guidelines are provided for tutors wishing to optimise the use and impact of such personal retreats, promoting deep individual learning and development within the educational experience of online learning communities. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The continuing professional development of ordained ministers is an important concept given the ever-changing nature of ministry and society as a whole. Within such a context, professional development needs to cope with continuous change through reflective practice in order to challenge and renew expertise. The proposed scenario for change seeks to embed reflective practice as the central method for the professional development of ordained ministers, thereby extending reflective practice from training and into the mode of lifelong learning. Components of this approach will include:• Intentional reflective practice as the central methodology.• Communities of practice as the central location for reflective practice.• Facilitation as the central mechanism for reflective practice. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Supervising student nurses in clinical praxis entails dealing with both caring and learning aspects. There is a dearth of research focusing on both the caring and learning aspects in supervision. The present study describes how caring and learning is intertwined in supervision. The study was performed with a Reflective Lifeworld Research approach and analyzed phenomenologically for meanings. Eight interviews were conducted with supervisors on an orthopedic-dedicated education unit. The findings reveal how supervisors constantly move in order to be either close to or standing back, adjusting to the students’ and the patients’ needs. This is described in more detail via the constituents: handling responsibility in constant movement, participating in a new and different way, coexisting with students creates meaning and development. The findings show that a reflective attitude in supervision , clear structure for daily activities, and a lifeworld-led didactics can promote a learning and caring environment. Supervisors’ demanding task requires pauses in order to maintain motivation among supervisors. A mutual link between supervisors, students and patients is crucial in order to create an environment where caring and learning are intertwined. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]