Search results

1 – 10 of over 11000
Article
Publication date: 31 March 2020

Michele Rigolizzo and Zhu Zhu

While research has shown reflection is a valuable part of individual learning, developing reflection habits has remained notoriously difficult, particularly for working adults. We…

Abstract

Purpose

While research has shown reflection is a valuable part of individual learning, developing reflection habits has remained notoriously difficult, particularly for working adults. We explore whether an intervention of being able to review previous reflections will affect employee engagement in future reflection activities and raise their awareness of learning opportunities at work.

Design/methodology/approach

We conducted a large-scale field experiment, including 136 employees from an international bank in Europe, in which participants were asked to reflect twice a week for eight weeks. Participants were randomly assigned to either a group that was given access to their previous reflections, or a group that was not.

Findings

We found that individuals who were able to see their previous reflections wrote significantly more subsequent reflections than the other group. In addition, those who could see their previous reflections used more words related to learning and cognition.

Practical implications

Often employees may feel they are only learning when they attend formal trainings. However, this paper provides concrete guidance for how human resources management (HRM) managers can boost employees’ informal learning and awareness of the learning opportunities inherent in challenging work.

Originality/value

This study furthers research on using HRM interventions to facilitate informal learning activities, in particular, methods to motivate systematic reflections and raising awareness of learning opportunities. Our findings suggest that developing habits of reflection and improving awareness of learning opportunities encompasses more than simply writing reflections, but should include processing previous writings.

Details

Evidence-based HRM: a Global Forum for Empirical Scholarship, vol. 8 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2049-3983

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 11 December 2006

Geoffrey M. Hodgson

In much of philosophy and social theory since classical antiquity, human belief and reason have been placed in the driving seat of individual action. In particular, social theory…

Abstract

In much of philosophy and social theory since classical antiquity, human belief and reason have been placed in the driving seat of individual action. In particular, social theory has often taken it for granted, or even by definition, that action is motivated by reasons based on beliefs. In contrast, a minority has criticized the adoption of this ‘folk psychology’ that explains human action wholly in such ‘mind first’ terms. Critics point out that such explanations are a mere gloss on a much more complex neurophysiological reality. These dualistic and ‘mind-first’ explanations of human behavior are unable to explain adequately such phenomena as sleep, memory, learning, mental illness, or the effects of chemicals or drugs on our perceptions or actions (Bunge, 1980; Churchland, 1984, 1989; Churchland, 1986; Rosenberg, 1995, 1998; Kilpinen, 2000).

Details

Cognition and Economics
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-84950-465-2

Book part
Publication date: 6 May 2015

Wolfram Verlaan and Sue Verlaan

To describe how combining a working definition of reflection with a framework for applying this definition can lead to a greater consistency in the manner with which reflection

Abstract

Purpose

To describe how combining a working definition of reflection with a framework for applying this definition can lead to a greater consistency in the manner with which reflection instruction is implemented in educator preparation programs.

Methodology/approach

Cultivating the habit and practice of reflection has been a long-standing goal of educator preparation programs. However, much of the research literature indicates a lack of consistency in the way that reflection is defined and taught in these programs, particularly in the context of video-reflection. This chapter examines how a workable definition of reflection based on Dewey’s phases of reflection can be used to make reflection instruction more consistent and meaningful for pre-service teachers.

Findings

The authors discuss the video-reflections of four different pre-service teachers, providing examples from their reflections to demonstrate how a workable reflection definition can assist teacher educators in developing the reflective capabilities of pre-service teachers.

Practical implications

By instituting a workable definition of reflection consistently across an educator preparation program, teacher educators can increase the likelihood that pre-service teachers will be prepared to engage in meaningful reflection when they begin to lead a classroom on an extended basis.

Details

Video Reflection in Literacy Teacher Education and Development: Lessons from Research and Practice
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78441-676-8

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 5 September 2016

Silvia Albareda Tiana and Azul Alférez Villarreal

The purpose of this paper is to collect methodological strategies used in the training of future teachers to develop competences in sustainability and social responsibility (SSR)…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to collect methodological strategies used in the training of future teachers to develop competences in sustainability and social responsibility (SSR). The proposal in this paper is to show how students learn and develop competences by performing practical activities and through a collaborative experience, conducted in a real-life context in the university campus.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper collects together a selection of competences and sub-competences in SSR, together with the methodological scenarios that allowed their implementation. The results in the acquisition of competences, as well as the efficiency of the methodological strategies employed, were obtained from the qualitative analysis of student questionnaires and of their final academic results.

Findings

Changing the teaching methods to include collaborative methodological strategies facilitates the acquisition of SSR competences.

Research limitations/implications

A methodological limitation of this study is the fact that it has taken place in one academic year. The authors realize that to provide evidence of a profound behavioural change (which goes beyond the improvement of a habit), there is a need to carry out a longer study, which is complex when working with final year students. The authors are suggesting that the University carry out prolonged studies on the implementation and assessment of competences in SSR in the University and afterwards in the work place.

Practical implications

At the start of the course year, a problem was identified, namely, that future teachers lacked sustainable habit patterns. This was turned into a learning opportunity that led to a collaborative SSR programme on the campus.

Social implications

Creating varied practical methodological scenarios has contributed to the development of SSR competences by the pupils. Students have questioned their lifestyles and have modified their consumption habits. Additionally, doing a transdisciplinary collaborative programme in our own campus has played a part in changing our organization for the better and has facilitated combining research and teaching.

Originality/value

This paper helps clarify how SSR competences can be developed in a local, real-life context.

Details

International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, vol. 17 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1467-6370

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 28 October 2019

Yingting Wu and Oliver Crocco

This paper explores the role of critical reflection in the context of leadership development and how it is measured. The purpose of this paper is to review theoretical and…

3869

Abstract

Purpose

This paper explores the role of critical reflection in the context of leadership development and how it is measured. The purpose of this paper is to review theoretical and empirical research that captures the application of critical reflection in leadership development.

Design/methodology/approach

This study is an integrative literature review of peer-reviewed journal articles on critical reflection in leadership development. The search revealed 172 peer-reviewed journal articles based on the search terms. The authors conducted a staged review of the abstracts and identified a final sample of 27 empirical articles and 12 non-empirical articles for review.

Findings

The findings of this review show that critical reflection is an essential tool for leadership development and has been utilized in a variety of ways and through multiple theoretical perspectives. Despite being relied on heavily in leadership development, the measurement for critical reflection is not well established in the literature.

Originality/value

The researchers propose a conceptual model that integrates the phases and levels of critical reflection as well as the desired outcomes in leadership development. Implications for leadership development are also discussed.

Details

Industrial and Commercial Training, vol. 51 no. 7/8
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0019-7858

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 1 December 2014

Arie Kizel

This chapter discusses a form of pedagogy of reflection suggested to be defined as the dialogical-reflective professional-development school (DRPDS) – a framework that develops…

Abstract

This chapter discusses a form of pedagogy of reflection suggested to be defined as the dialogical-reflective professional-development school (DRPDS) – a framework that develops and empowers students by engaging them in a process of continual improvement, responding to diverse situations, providing stimuli for learning, and giving anchors for mediation. The pedagogy of reflection relates to dialogue not only from a theoretical historical context but also by way of example – that is, it offers empowering dialogues within the traditional teacher-training framework. This chapter outlines the importance of the pedagogy of reflection in the multicultural educational space of the preservice education field in Israel, analyzing the first university PDS model. The pedagogy of reflection in the context of the educational dialogue of educators is outlined as a tool for student empowerment, achieved through a community of learners who dedicate space to the development of their whole personality within the profession, taking a moral stance toward the educational discourse, minimizing judgmentalism and prejudice, creating national/gender equality with the goal of examining the fundamental question of educational performance, and reinforcing their sense of organizational belonging within the system. In these contexts, the chapter is based on the elements of dialogical philosophy exemplified in the thought of Burbules, Nelson, Isaacs, Bohm, and Heckmann and the reflective basis of educational and organizational performance exemplified in the writings of van Manen. The chapter also presents two examples from a project in which teaching units based on dialogue and reflection were developed within a dialogic community that represents in its very being collective empowerment, the possibility of coping with problems that are too large for an individual to solve on his/her own, and an alternative to sealed and alienated organizations.

Details

International Teacher Education: Promising Pedagogies (Part A)
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78441-136-7

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 March 1992

John Conway O'Brien

A collection of essays by a social economist seeking to balanceeconomics as a science of means with the values deemed necessary toman′s finding the good life and society enduring…

1158

Abstract

A collection of essays by a social economist seeking to balance economics as a science of means with the values deemed necessary to man′s finding the good life and society enduring as a civilized instrumentality. Looks for authority to great men of the past and to today′s moral philosopher: man is an ethical animal. The 13 essays are: 1. Evolutionary Economics: The End of It All? which challenges the view that Darwinism destroyed belief in a universe of purpose and design; 2. Schmoller′s Political Economy: Its Psychic, Moral and Legal Foundations, which centres on the belief that time‐honoured ethical values prevail in an economy formed by ties of common sentiment, ideas, customs and laws; 3. Adam Smith by Gustav von Schmoller – Schmoller rejects Smith′s natural law and sees him as simply spreading the message of Calvinism; 4. Pierre‐Joseph Proudhon, Socialist – Karl Marx, Communist: A Comparison; 5. Marxism and the Instauration of Man, which raises the question for Marx: is the flowering of the new man in Communist society the ultimate end to the dialectical movement of history?; 6. Ethical Progress and Economic Growth in Western Civilization; 7. Ethical Principles in American Society: An Appraisal; 8. The Ugent Need for a Consensus on Moral Values, which focuses on the real dangers inherent in there being no consensus on moral values; 9. Human Resources and the Good Society – man is not to be treated as an economic resource; man′s moral and material wellbeing is the goal; 10. The Social Economist on the Modern Dilemma: Ethical Dwarfs and Nuclear Giants, which argues that it is imperative to distinguish good from evil and to act accordingly: existentialism, situation ethics and evolutionary ethics savour of nihilism; 11. Ethical Principles: The Economist′s Quandary, which is the difficulty of balancing the claims of disinterested science and of the urge to better the human condition; 12. The Role of Government in the Advancement of Cultural Values, which discusses censorship and the funding of art against the background of the US Helms Amendment; 13. Man at the Crossroads draws earlier themes together; the author makes the case for rejecting determinism and the “operant conditioning” of the Skinner school in favour of the moral progress of autonomous man through adherence to traditional ethical values.

Details

International Journal of Social Economics, vol. 19 no. 3/4/5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0306-8293

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 18 January 2021

Marcia Eugenio-Gozalbo, Guadalupe Ramos-Truchero and Rafael Suárez-López

Gardens are being used at all educational stages, because they provide with a real-world context for active and experiential learning. In Spain, there exists a movement in favor…

Abstract

Purpose

Gardens are being used at all educational stages, because they provide with a real-world context for active and experiential learning. In Spain, there exists a movement in favor of their incorporation to higher education for a variety of purposes but prevalently as an innovative resource to teach sciences to pre-service teachers. The purpose of this study is assessing the impacts of such pedagogical practice on university students’ learning and behavioral changes in the areas of environmental and food citizenship, two key dimensions of contemporary citizenship that are essential to achieve sustainable societies.

Design/methodology/approach

Data was collected by means of an electronic, open-ended question survey completed by 170 students from 6 different universities where gardens are used. Answers were qualitatively analyzed using MAXQDA software to develop a system of content categories and subcategories in relation to reported learning and behavioral changes.

Findings

Widespread among universities was learning on organic agriculture practices, greater appreciation of agricultural labor, greater willingness to cultivate, higher awareness of environmental impacts of agriculture, improved behaviors regarding waste separation and enhanced fruit and vegetable consumption.

Originality/value

This work delves into how university gardens act as a vehicle through which students integrate knowledge and reflect on their environmental, food and consumption behaviors. Thus, it supports on evidences, the use of gardens at higher education to nurture two dimensions of contemporary citizenship essential to achieve sustainability.

Details

International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, vol. 22 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1467-6370

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 18 July 2008

Mike Pedler and Christine Abbott

The purpose of this paper is to enquire into the role and skills of the action learning facilitator in the context of service improvement work in the UK's National Health Service…

2137

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to enquire into the role and skills of the action learning facilitator in the context of service improvement work in the UK's National Health Service (NHS). An earlier companion paper examined the concept of service improvement and the possible contribution of action learning as a means of bringing about both personal and organisational development.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper takes the form of a case study. The research reports on the facilitation of action learning sets which formed part of a leadership development programme in the NHS. Data were collected via telephone interviews, focus groups, action learning sets and a World Café event.

Findings

The action learning facilitator's role is encircled by questions of method, approaches, skills and competencies, and crucially by complex contextual factors. Three role models are offered for the action learning facilitator – i.e. initiator, coach, and leader – and the paper concludes that any person fulfilling this role should develop the habits of reflection, critique and learning as part of developing their practice. Supervision and developmental support are also useful for people who are always asking themselves – “Am I doing it right?”

Research limitations/implications

This case study on which these findings are based was developed at a time of great turmoil in the NHS. The dramatic specifics of the case serve to illustrate the critical variability and uniqueness of context. However, we believe that this does not greatly affect the efficacy of general conclusions drawn about action learning facilitation.

Practical implications

The practice of action learning is developing rapidly in many different organisational and community settings, and there is a growing demand for its skilful facilitation.

Originality/value

Currently there is little literature on what constitutes appropriate development for action learning facilitators. The paper gives some clear choices and guidelines for the development of this role.

Details

Leadership in Health Services, vol. 21 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1751-1879

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 3 July 2017

Khar Kheng Yeoh

This Scholarship of Teaching and Learning research is a part of the larger study grant to analyze written reflections through learning log among the third and final year students…

15763

Abstract

Purpose

This Scholarship of Teaching and Learning research is a part of the larger study grant to analyze written reflections through learning log among the third and final year students undertaking BPME 3073 Entrepreneurship module in University Utara Malaysia (UUM). The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Design/methodology/approach

The data collection techniques are researcher-directed textual data through reflective learning log, taken from 140 students from three classes. A thematic approach was utilized to present the reflections of the students and all data were recorded in a verbatim format.

Findings

The findings show that most students have never written a reflective log or essay in the formative assessment. As a consequence, they had difficulty in writing the reflection when being requested to do so. A total 75 (approximately 55 percent) of the reflective logs were identified as level 1 (from 1 to 5 percent) in which reflections were simply written in a descriptive manner, resulted in a balance of 61 learning logs being utilized for further analysis. The students’ reflections on their entrepreneurship’s experience systematically categorize into four different themes comprised of: the nature of entrepreneurship module, entrepreneurial characteristics, opportunity recognition, and creativity and innovation.

Research limitations/implications

As for the limitation of the study, it is important to not to underestimate the challenges of introducing a grade assessment that most of them are not familiar with in their university academic journey. Students need guidance, assurance and confidence writing something that require personal opinion, own thinking, sensitive and personal nature of narration. For most students as found out in this study, self-confessional writing is hard to come by (they dare not attempt it in the first place), only a handful appreciating the writing start with “I,” “me” as first person. More research in this study should be conducted across the university to gauge the response from the students to see if the result of this study is only applicable to this group of students or to this discipline of studies. The researchers would also like to recommend for future studies which take the form of a longitudinal study of similar kind to examine the problems and challenges with regards to promoting learning reflection at the undergraduate level.

Practical implications

Based on the result of the 61 students who had demonstrated an ability in reflective writing, it is suggested that perhaps the university should consider offering coursework that contains a component of reflective writing as part of the assessment. As such, if this is implemented, students of such ability like the one in this sample group would have been benefitted from such assessment which look at reflective ability (Greene, 2014) and which they were allowed to form a broader perspective in relation to the module undertaken. This in turns will foster the growth of reflective ability which is recognized as a learned behavior (Gustafson and Bennett, 1999). In addition, for the future exercise of this reflective learning log, the researcher opined that we should encourage our students to engage with another student (e.g. close friend) in a way that encourages talking with, questioning, or confronting, helped the reflective process by placing the learner in a safe environment in which self-revelation can take place. In addition, students were able to distance themselves from their actions, ideas and beliefs, by holding them up for scrutiny in the company of a peer with whom they are willing to take such risks (Hatton and Smith, 1995).

Originality/value

The results of this research have strongly suggested the need to urgently develop among the students the skills in writing reflectively as they go through the process of higher education which is useful in molding their future professional and entrepreneurial behavior as when they entered the job market which requires a critical reasoning ability.

Details

Journal of Research in Innovative Teaching & Learning, vol. 10 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2397-7604

Keywords

1 – 10 of over 11000