Reflective learning

• 15 February - 18 March 2012 Book now

An online professional development opportunity

This online course provides a broad introduction to the topic of reflective learning for those who are promoting this activity with learners. The focus is on the provision of practical ideas that are applicable to working directly with students. There are references to theoretical literature, but no focus on it. In particular the course will address issues of helping learners to start with reflection and to deepen their reflection in order to enhance their learning.

The course is highly participative and is designed around frequent opportunities for you to interact with others on the course. You will be supported by a series of scheduled tasks, selected key readings, specially developed course resources, and experienced course tutors. You will need to set aside four hours per week in order to participate effectively in the course and will need to be able to access the Internet at least three times a week.

Expected outcomes

By the end of the course, we expect that you will be able to

• Provide a reasoned definition of reflection which corresponds with your practices with learners;
• Discuss some ways in which reflection relates to the processes of learning and how emotional factors can be relevant;
• Use materials to support learners in starting to write reflectively and to deepen their reflection;
• Describe the manner in which descriptive reflection can be deepened and improved in quality;
• Discuss and make reasoned decisions about assessment issues for reflection;
• Demonstrate use of at least one activity that can structure the reflective learning of participants.

Course participants

This course has been designed primarily for those teachers and trainers who have direct contact with students and other learners in professional development situations or in higher education. The participants may, for example, be involved in setting up personal development planning schemes within their institutions, or within modules; they may be professional development tutors who are required to work with professionals in reflective practice, or other educationalists who work with learners in a reflective manner.

It is a course that should be helpful to those either new to this kind of work with learners, or those who have been working in the field for some time – but who, perhaps feel that the kinds of reflection that they are seeing are superficial and descriptive and of dubious value.

Students in the professional fields in which learning from reflection is a central activity would also be appropriate participants. In higher education they would need to be at the end of their undergraduate programme or at Masters level or beyond.

Online working

Each course participant is expected to play an active part in the course. Each week you will be expected to work through some guided readings, record your thoughts, share your work with others in your group, discuss your work and that of other members of your group, analyse and summarise your findings. The course activities make use of online text based discussion forums. The course tutors are experienced staff and educational developers and skilled online tutors and will support you through this process of communicating online until you feel comfortable and confident interacting in such an environment.

You will be provided with a course text: Moon J. (2004) A Handbook of Reflective and Experiential Learning, Routledge Falmer.

Assessment

OCSLD online courses are not formally assessed or accredited. We do offer Certificates of Attendance to those who participate in each of the course's main learning activities.