A reflection of learning...
Reflective practice
Gibbs (1988) developed a cycle to help people reflect on an activity they have done. Gibbs' aim was to encourage the individual to think methodically about the phases of an experience. Gibbs used a cycle made up of six components, which allows the individual to reflect back on their experiences or activities. The stages are outlined in the image below:
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| Gibbs Reflective Cycle. Source: Oxford Brookes University n.d.
This reflective cycle can be useful in making the individual think through every stage of an experience in order to help with the reflection process, which can help to 'iron out' any mistakes that were previously made.
Gibbs' reflective cycle is a theoretical model which is often used by students like myself, who have assignments that require reflective writing. This model was developed from an earlier model by Kolb (1984) who introduced a four stage experiment learning cycle, however, Kolb's model was developed to help the individual to learn through experience, whereas Gibbs' model is known as an iterative model, which means learning through repetition (Lia, 2016). In theory, the reflective process follows the 6 steps of the model so that each step leads directly on to the next. According to Lia, when practising this reflective cycle, students often confused the Evaluation, Analysis and Conclusion stages due to their similar nature.
The main aims of using Gibbs' reflective cycle are to:
This reflective cycle is used by the vast majority of Health and Social Care professionals, whether they be from the healthcare sector or education amongst others. It is important for Health and Social Care practitioners to use a cycle of reflection as other people's lives are influenced by the decisions that the professionals make.
Reflection on first year digital story
In first year, as part of the Research and Professional Practice module, we had to do another digital story, where we were able to reflect on the time in which I transitioned from sixth form to University. From looking back at the feedback given from this first year assignment. In my opinion, this task did not go as well as expected for me, I struggled with the reflection part and was unsure of what to include and what not to include. In the feedback, the tutor noted that she liked my use of personal photographs, but I feel that this was the only good part of this work. I felt that as I am not 'technically gifted,' I struggled with the idea of having to produce a digital story in the format of a presentation, and this is why this year I have opted to reflected using a blog, as it is something I feel more comfortable with producing. As well as not being able to use advanced software, such as Prezi or Knovio, I felt that my anxiety was stopping me from wanting to produce a story in video format as I did not want to produce a voice over to accompany it.
Reflection on learning throughout moduleStudent led learning activity: my group.
For my group's student led learning activity, we focused on the 16 personality types developed by Myers Briggs, which originally stemmed from Carl Jung's theory on psychological types.
For the first part of our activity, we gave a brief presentation on the 16 personality types and different leadership styles and then gave out different scenarios (the scenarios were devised by a member of our group) that outlined different issues or problems that can arise within a work environment and through team work. The groups then had to read through the scenarios and try to identify which of the 16 personality types fitted in with each member of staff in the scenarios. After an allotted time, we asked each group for their thoughts on the scenario that had been given and offered a discussion with each group over their thoughts and their reasons behind these thoughts. We then finished off our activity with a lighthearted, fun 'Kahoot' quiz.
As a team, I think we worked harmoniously when planning our activity and we delegated different tasks to different members of the team to ensure we all had an equal role and also when presenting our findings, we had planned who was going to explain each point and we thought our activity ran as smoothly as it could. The feedback that we received said that we explained the strengths and weaknesses of Myers Briggs personality types clearly and all of the groups understood what we were trying to teach them. All students (and Jane) appeared to thoroughly enjoy our end of session quiz, using 'Kahoot.org' which was a main strength on each feedback sheet that we received.
There were also some negative comments on our feedback sheets, with the majority saying that we had not explained the scenario task that well and so some of the groups were initially confused, but after we had each gone round the different groups and explained it again they seemed happy with the task in hand. One negative of this task for me was the fact that I had to stand up in front of the rest of my seminar group and present our findings and introduce our activities, which is something that I have always struggled with. I have always been an introvert and get very anxious about talking in front of people, especially if there is a large group of people, and this is something that I need to work on, as it is something that I will have to do throughout the rest of my life and when I go into a job in the future.
Student led activity: reflecting on another group
What I learnt: In this particular groups activity, we learnt how different people worked together in teams and the different types of leaders that can be found in a group.
What went well: The activities were very well planned out, on this occasion, we were told to work together to draw a picture of a chosen animal (ours was a penguin) and were asked to identify which type of leader this represented. The second activity resulted in working together as a team to make the tallest tower possible by using only marshmallows and seven strands of spaghetti.
Improvements: Initially, I was unsure about how the activities linked to the topic taught and with the first activity we were expected to remember the different leadership types, which every group found difficult. The group taking the activity also split everyone up in to different groups, and although I appreciate the reason for doing this, I was again out of my comfort zone and did not want to voice my opinions in case I was wrong, which I know caused an issue with another member of my team.
Spaghetti Marshmallow Tower. Source: Pinterest 2017
My role within a team
I would say that my role within the team is that of a 'Composer.'
A composer, according to Myers Briggs, is someone who is quiet and calm and who often goes with the flow of proceedings. Composer's tend to show a low key enthusiasm but this is often because they are not willing to share their ideas.
I believe that I take on the role as the composer, because as mentioned previously in this blog I am an introvert and I suffer from anxiety, which often makes me not want to offer up my ideas, in the belief that my answers will be wrong. This is the case in both group work and in class discussions. When preparing our 'lesson-plan,' I preferred to just get on with the task that I was given and was afraid to offer my own opinions. This was not down to the people who I was in a group with, as we have been a part of the same group over the entirety of our time at University, but instead was down to me as a person and the fear of being incorrect.
One key theory regarding roles within a team is Belbin's theory on 'the team roles equation.' In his theory, Belbin (2010) devised nine team roles which were:
Below is a table outlining the attributes that each team role has and the limitations that can arise from this:
The Role of people in a team. Source: TU/e
Belbin (2010) then categorised these nine team roles into three different groups; Thinking Orientated, Action Orientated and People Orientated.
Belbin noted that high performance teams require the right balance of all of these roles. He said that to focus on each component individually or to favour certain components over the others would be result in sufficient teamwork. It has also been said that effective interpersonal understanding and interactions are necessary to ensure that these assets translate into productivity. To sum this up, Belbin devised an equation:
Thinking + Action + People = Productivity and Performance.
Categories of teamwork: Source: Leadership solutions
Above is a venn diagram showing which of Belbin's 9 team roles can be categorised.
Using Belbin's theory, I would say that my role in a team is a mix between the completer/finisher and the specialist. I would say that I carry attributes of a completer/finisher as I worry about giving the wrong answer and therefore do not offer up my own opinions and thoughts, but I would also say I have the characteristics of a specialist as although it is not often and I do not speak out much, I do still offer a contribution which is significant to group work and working as part of a team, I also dwell on problems, which then leads back to the attributes of a completer/finisher. Conclusions
Overall, I feel that this module has helped me to understand the importance of working in a team and will help me when it comes to leaving University and starting in my chosen profession. Although being plagued with anxiety over the past three years has not been ideal, I feel that this module and the entirety of third year has really helped with this problem and has enabled me to become more confident. Before coming to University I was painfully shy and would not speak to anyone, yet University allowed me to become my own person, as I came not knowing any one and having to make new friends.
In September, I am hoping to go on to do a Masters in Child Psychology, where I will have to make new friends once again and overcome different challenges that I will not be used to, I feel that this module will help me when studying this course and for my future career, as I will have to work with different groups and have to carry out activities that will bring me out of my comfort zone.
References:
Belbin, R.M., 2010. Team Roles at Work. 2nd ed. New York: Routledge
Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e)., nd. Belbin Team Roles Specification. [online image] Available at: https://skillslab.tue.nl/A62-Belbin-team-roles-specifications.html [Accessed 10 May 2017]
Gibbs G (1988) Learning by Doing: A guide to teaching and learning methods. Further Education Unit. Oxford Polytechnic: Oxford.
Leadership solutions., n.d. The team roles equation. [online image] Available at: http://www.leadershipsolutions.co.nz/belbin_benefits.cfm [Accessed 10 May 2017]
Lia, P., 2016. Using Gibbs’ Reflective Cycle. [online] Available at: https://www.kcl.ac.uk/campuslife/services/disability/onlineresources/StudyGuides/USING-GIBBS-REFLECTIVE-CYCLE-IN-COURSEWORK-DEC-2016-P-LIA.pdf [Accessed 9 May 2017]
Oxford Brookes University., n.d. The reflective cycle. [online image] Available at: https://www.brookes.ac.uk/students/upgrade/study-skills/reflective-writing-gibbs/
[Accessed 30 April 2017]
Oxford Brookes., 2017. Reflective writing. About Gibbs’ reflective cycle. [online] Available at: https://www.brookes.ac.uk/students/upgrade/study-skills/reflective-writing-gibbs/ [Accessed 4 May 2017]
Pinterest., 2017. Spaghetti Marshmallow Tower. [online image] Available at: https://uk.pinterest.com/explore/spaghetti-tower/ [Accessed 9th May 2017] |
