Reflection On and In the Workplace for Students

Table of Contents

1. Introduction
2. What is Reflection?
3. Types of Reflection
4. Definitions of Reflection
5. Becoming a Reflective Practitioner/Worker
6. Kolb's Learning Cycle
7. Time for Reflection
8. Keeping a Reflective Diary
9. What is the Purpose of Reflection?
10. Where do you Put the Reflections in Your Portfolio?
11. What Makes Good Evidence?
12. Learning from Significant Events
13. Tools for Reflection
14. Individual Reflection
15. 2: Roles For Reviewing In Pairs
16. Reviewing for Two: Walking And Talking
17. Reviewing for Two: Changing Partners
18. Summary
19. References

Learning from Significant Events

Each of us in our professional lives is likely to face a variety of critical incidents during which an ethical dilemma arises. Often we handle such dilemmas by reacting based on our past experiences, our emotional health at the time, and/or "what seems to be right." However, it is possible to be proactive, rather than reactive, and use an ethical decision making process to guide your responses. The purpose of this section is to show how this might work.

Brockett/Hiemstra Ethics Decision-Making Process

Brockett and Hiemstra (1991) have developed an ethics decision-making process that can be used for critical incident sorting and analysis. We believe it provides the kind of information needed to help you make appropriate ethical decisions. Once you get used to the process and have it incorporated as part of your professional skills, such decisions can become automatic for many of the incidents you will face. Thus, whenever you are faced with some sort of actual or potential ethical dilemma, we suggest you consider an interaction of your personal values with the obligations you have to others and consider the consequences of any actions in light of these values and obligations.

For example, the following questions might be helpful groundings for your personal values:

1. What do I believe about human nature, the education of adults, and about ethics?
2. How committed am I to these beliefs I hold?
3. Which basic values actually drive my practice as a professional adult educator?

In terms of personal obligations, ask yourself such questions as these:

1. To whom am I responsible?
2. To what extent is the dilemma I am facing a result of conflicting obligations (this often will be the case)?

Then consider the consequences of any of your actions:

1. What are my options?
2. What are possible consequences of my actions?
3. Which option is most consistent with my values?

Obviously, some actions or decisions must be made on the spot and time for the kind of critical reflection we are suggesting will be limited. However, whenever it is possible we suggest taking your decision-making process through a more deliberate process like the one described above. We believe that not only will you be more likely to stay consistent with your ethical dimensions of practice; you also will begin to incorporate such a decision-making framework within your daily practice. Subsequently, ethical decision-making will come easier and quicker for you. The following incident illustrates how this can occur.

ACTIVITY:

Think of a recent dilemma that has occurred at the university you have had to deal with. Use the Decision Making Process model to analyse how you dealt with this dilemma. (This may be useful to include in your portfolio)