Time Out for Lunch

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Time Out for Lunch
Using Reflection to Foster Students Personal and
Professional Formation Brenda Coppard, Tim
Dickel, Lou Jensen April 8, 2009
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Objectives

1. Gain a broad understanding of University Learning
   Outcome that is focused on deliberative
   reflection for professional and personal
   formation.
2. Gain some tangible exercises for use in promoting
   student reflections.
3. Discuss the value of reflection on personal
   strengths as a measure of personal and
   professional formation.
4. Describe additional strategies to promote
   reflection during experiential learning.

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Welcome

• Whos in the audience?
• Overview of materials
• Power Point
• Reference Sheet
• Review of development theories
• Young Adult Development Project

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University Level Outcomes

• Disciplinary competence and/or professional
  proficiency
• Critical thinking skills
• Ignatian values to include, but not limited to a
  commitment to an exploration of faith and the
  promotion of justice
• An ability to communicate clearly and effectively
• Deliberative reflection for personal and
  professional formation
• An ability to effectively work across race,
  ethnicity, culture, gender, religion, and sexual
  orientation.

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Deliberative reflection for personal and
professional formation

• What does this mean to you?

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Ignatian Pedagogical Paradigm from
International Center for Jesuit Education

• Through students context, faculty create an
  environment for students to recollect their past
  experience and help them to assimilate new
  experiences.
• Faculty help students learn skills and techniques
  of reflection, which shapes their consciousness.
  Faculty challenge students to action in service.
• The evaluation process includes academic mastery
  as well as ongoing assessments of students
  well-rounded growth as person for others (Taub,
  2004, p. 12)

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Deliberative reflection for personal and
professional formation

• Ignatian or Jesuit Pedagogy (by Robert Newton)
• Instrumental (to serve God and others)
• Student centered (adapted with learner in mind)
• Flexible (freedom of exchange self-direction)
• Eclectic (variety of methods and techniques)
• Personal (whole person)
• Goal develop men and women of competence,
  conscience and compassion (Traub, 2004, p. 12)

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Tangible Exercises for Use in Promoting Student
Reflections
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Personal Strengths as a Measure of Personal and
Professional Formation

• Doctor of Occupational Therapy Program has a
  total of 44 weeks of fieldwork, or experiential
  learning, in the curriculum
• strategically arranged experiences yield
  articulated knowledge, which is then
  metacognitively examined through reflection for
  meaning (Schell Schell, 2008, p. xiii)

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Model adapted from Schell Schell, 2008
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How Does Reflection Tie to Personal and
Professional Formation?

• In many professions, personal and professional
  formation is one in the same
• In occupational therapy one term we use for this
  therapeutic use of self
• Classroom instruction, experiential learning,
  structured reflection are used in the OTD program
  to facilitate personal and professional formation

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StrengthsFinder An Example of Infusing
Reflection on Self and Practice

• Students in their first year of the OTD program
  attend a fieldwork preparation seminar
• Completing StrengthsFinder Profile is an assigned
  task
• StrengthsFinder was created by Gallup scientists
  led by the late Father of Strengths Psychology,
  Donald Clifton
• Basic premise People have more potential for
  success and growth when time and energy is
  invested in their natural strengths or talents
  instead of correcting areas of weakness (Rath,
  2007)

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StrengthsFinder (cont.)

• StrengthsFinder Profile allows students to
  discover their top 5 talents (out of 34)
• Guest lecturer from the Gallup Organization
• Talent (natural way of thinking, feeling, or
  behaving)
• x Investment (time spent practicing, developing
  your skills, and building your knowledge base)
• Strength (ability to consistently provide
  near perfect performance)
• Description of talents with a personalized touch
• Plants the seed

From Rath, 2007
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StrengthsFinder (cont.)

• Students engage in first week-long fieldwork
  experience and are asked to write a reflection
  and discuss with peers how talents were utilized
• How was your personal and professional
  development enhanced through this experience?
  How do you see your top five talents
  incorporating into your professional identity?
  Give some examples.

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• Several times later in curriculum, students
  revisit their talents to make choices about their
  future
• Choosing practice settings for 12-week fieldwork
  placements
• Creating plans for their Professional Rotation, a
  16-week self-directed learning experience which
  allows students to explore an area of
  occupational therapy that is of particular
  interest to them
• Reflection on how talents and strengths help
  craft their image of a leader in a Leadership
  class

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Future Directions

• Research on students who select occupational
  therapy as a career
• Longitudinal studies connected to talents at
  selected points in time (e.g. knowledge use of
  strengths)
• Emphasis on strengths based psychology
  reflection resonates not only in occupational
  therapy, but also in Jesuit education
• Building personal strengths has a natural
  connection with an Ignatian value Magis

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MAGIS

• Latin meaning the more. Embodies the idea of
  discerning, What is the best choice in a given
  situation to better glorify or serve the Lord
  e.g. choosing between options encountered in life
  with a primary focus of being God centered. The
  Magis does NOT mean to always do or give more
  to the point of personal exhaustion. It is a
  value central to Ignatian spirituality and
  encompassed by the Latin phrase Ad Majorem Dei
  Gloriam meaning For the Greater Glory of God.
  (Motto of the Society of Jesus).

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Other Examples of Weaving Reflection into
Experiential Learning
Strategy Description/Application
Reflective Diaries/Journals Use as a foundation and then progress to higher level strategies Reflect on client, day, professional interactions, theory to practice link, performance, curricular themes as seen on fieldwork, etc.
Critical Incident Analysis (Burns Bulman, 2000) What are your thoughts about the incident? What was your response or intervention? What might you do differently? What additional knowledge would you need in the future? How have your values/feelings have changed as a result of the incident?
Case Studies/ Videotaping Guided questions with peer collaboration Explicate clinical reasoning, evidence supporting plan of care, etc.
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Other Examples of Weaving Reflection into
Experiential Learning (cont.)
Strategy Description/Application
Peer Learning Collaborative supervision models, discussion groups, online discussion boards, debriefing at end of day/session with supervisor or peers, etc.
Evaluation Reflections Reflect on performance and supervisor feedback Develop an action plan and timeline to address deficit areas
Electronic Portfolios Learning artifacts and reflections collected and presented electronically over time (Barrett, 2000) Electronic portfolios have been found to showcase evidence of learning and link academic and experiential learning through reflection (Hayward, et al., 2008)
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Discussion/Questions
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References

• Barrett, H. (2000). The electronic portfolio
  development process. Retrieved March 15, 2009,
  from http//electronicportfolios.org/portfolios/EP
  DevProcess.html
• Burns, S., Bulman, C. (2000). Reflective
  practice in nursing The growth of the
  professional practitioner (2nd ed.). Malden, MA
  Blackwell Science.
• Hayward, L.M., Blackmer, B., Canali, A., DiMarco,
  R., Russell, A., Aman, S., Rossi, J., Sloane,
  L. (2008). Reflective electronic portfolios A
  design process for integrating liberal and
  professional studies and experiential education.
  Journal of Allied Health, 37, 140-159.
• Rath, T. (2007). StrengthsFinder 2.0. New York
  Gallup Press.
• Schell, B. A., Schell, J. (2008). Clinical and
  professional reasoning in occupational therapy.
  Philadelphia Lippincott Williams and Wilkins.
• Traub, G. W. (2004). Do you speak Ignatian?
  Cincinnati, OH Xavier University.