After reading the article The reflection game: enacting the penitent self by Bruce Macfarlane and Lesley Gourlay, I found the analogy of reflective assignments as reality shows very accurate and hilarious. When I was reading it, I can’t help to keep thinking of Marvin Anthony, winner of Too Hot to Handle season 2, and how his journey in the show fits perfectly in Macfarlane’s golden formula to get the star. I do watch a lot of reality shows when I don’t want to use my brain lol. He won and now has the “correct” attitude towards relationships, only to be found he had a girlfriend all this time and blindsided his lover on the show. After watching these shows, I always feel bad for the contestants who didn’t break any rules and didn’t win. This makes me wonder, would the students who are doing better at the start be never going to get a good grade in the end because they do not have much to reflect/ improve on.

And then I realise reflective assignments (path of redemption) exist in my PRA (Planning, Review and Appraisal), in this pgCert course, or even in my childhood experience. The good kid gets scolded when doing one thing wrong and the bad kid gets praised when doing just one thing right.

Is this reflective assignment unfair? Why does the university choose reflective assignments in the first place? What will the students benefit from it?

Benefits of Reflection

There is no single definition for “reflection” across higher education, characteristic factors repeat throughout the literature: evaluation over time, thorough exploration of ideas, depth of analysis, metacognitive awareness, and connection of reflection to specific practices.

DENTON, D. (2011). Reflection and Learning: Characteristics, obstacles, and implications. Educational Philosophy and Theory, 43(8), pp.838–852. doi:10.1111/j.1469-5812.2009.00600.x.

Evaluation over time
We may not notice the problem or mistakes when we are doing it on a daily basis. If there is a real problem, it will only start showing itself when time has passed. So it is sensible to do an evaluation over time. However, how much is a good amount of time to consider?

Metacognitive Awareness
One of the benefits of reflective writing is improving self-awareness, an element of emotional intelligence. However, there is a section on “How to write a good reflective assignment?” in most universities’ guides. The most popular one is Gibbs’ Reflective Cycle developed by Graham Gibbs in 1988 to give structure to learning from experiences. It covers 6 stages: Description of the experience, Feelings and thoughts about the experience, Evaluation of the experience (both good and bad), Analysis to make sense of the situation, Conclusion about what you learned and what you could have done differently, Action plan for how you would deal with similar situations in the future, or general changes you might find appropriate.

I found the well-structured formula to guide you on “how to feel” very weird.

For Real or for Performance

Reality shows are based on the dramatic appeal of the ‘quick fix’. The tear jerking stories of the winners seduce us but can subsequently prove of limited value, where sustainable talent is required.

Macfarlane B. & Gourlay L. (2009) The reflection game: enacting the penitent self, Teaching in Higher Education, 14:4, 455-459, DOI: 10.1080/13562510903050244

Most students are usually required to do a reflective assignment by the end of the term which is a 3-month period usually. Within three months, a problem arose, spotted and fixed. See it. Say it. Sorted. Well, nothing gets sorted quickly by the police. Isn’t that a mandatory ‘quick fix’ as well?! Of course that works for some people as they are encouraged to think from diverse perspectives and discover problems, like some of the couples from Too Hot to Handle who have grown and are still in a healthy relationship appeared to be. But there will undoubtedly be students faking the whole experience just to invent an effective quick fix to end the term with a perfect grade.

Reflection on Reflection

I think it is now time to do a reflective assignment on reflective assignments. The first thing that comes to my mind is that a reflective assignment should not be graded. When there is a prize ahead, it is hard to ensure it’s genuine. Everyone should have a chance to utilise the reflective assignment, and the students may gain growth in personal development. But if they only have a grade in their head, the main purpose and benefit of reflective assignments will be diminished.

While I think it still has its value and should not be erased entirely, I think it should not be limited to writing only. Many of us are not built to express ourselves in text and I found this extremely common with students in an art school. Constructing your emotion and thoughts into a readable essay is not the only way to ‘evaluation over time, thorough exploration of ideas, depth of analysis, metacognitive awareness, and connection of reflection to specific practices'(Denton, 2011).

Peer observation can be an alternative to self-observation. How we are cultured heavily affects how we see the world in certain lights. We can try hard to see from other perspectives but still being self-centred is unavoidable. Inviting others into your thoughts may reveal your vulnerabilities, which may not be everyone’s preference, however, it could be a path to help decolonise your mind. Advice, not judgement. This could be something to be implemented in my team as a regular practice, and be transferred to student learning, such as having them to check each other’s codes.