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Developing tools to facilitate integrated reflection

Mason, Jon (). Developing tools to facilitate integrated reflection. In: ePortfolios Australia Conference 2011, Perth, W.A., Australia, 17-18 October 2011.

Document type: Conference Paper
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Author Mason, Jon
Title Developing tools to facilitate integrated reflection
Conference Name ePortfolios Australia Conference 2011
Conference Location Perth, W.A., Australia
Conference Dates 17-18 October 2011
Conference Publication Title ePortfolios Australia Conference 2011 : Making a difference - showing the difference
Place of Publication Brisbane, Qld.
Publisher eLearning Services, Queensland University of Technology
Start Page 73
End Page 83
Total Pages 11
Field of Research EDUCATION
Abstract Much has been said and documented about the key role that reflection can play in the ongoing development of e-portfolios, particularly e-portfolios utilised for teaching and learning. A review of e-portfolio platforms reveals that a designated space for documenting and collating personal reflections is a typical design feature of both open source and commercial off-the-shelf software. Further investigation of tools within e-portfolio systems for facilitating reflection reveals that, apart from enabling personal journalism through blogs or other writing, scaffolding tools that encourage the actual process of reflection are under-developed. Investigation of a number of prominent e-portfolio projects also reveals that reflection, while presented as critically important, is often viewed as an activity that takes place after a learning activity or experience and not intrinsic to it. This paper assumes an alternative, richer conception of reflection: a process integral to a wide range of activities associated with learning, such as inquiry, communication, editing, analysis and evaluation. Such a conception is consistent with the literature associated with ‘communities of practice’, which is replete with insight into ‘learning through doing’, and with a ‘whole minded’ approach to inquiry. Thus, graduates who are ‘reflective practitioners’ who integrate reflection into their learning will have more to offer a prospective employer than graduates who have adopted an episodic approach to reflection.

So, what kinds of tools might facilitate integrated reflection? This paper outlines a number of possibilities for consideration and development. Such tools do not have to be embedded within e-portfolio systems, although there are benefits in doing so. In order to inform future design of e-portfolio systems this paper presents a faceted model of knowledge creation that depicts an ‘ecology of knowing’ in which interaction with, and the production of, learning content is deepened through the construction of well-formed questions of that content. In particular, questions that are initiated by ‘why’ are explored because they are distinguished from the other ‘journalist’ questions (who, what, when, where, and where) in that answers to them demand explanative, as opposed to descriptive, content. They require a rationale. Although why questions do not belong to any one genre and are not simple to classify — responses can contain motivational, conditional, causal, and/or existential content — they do make a difference in the acquisition of understanding. The development of scaffolding that builds on why-questioning to enrich learning is the motivation behind the research that has informed this paper.
Keyword Why-questioning
Reflection
Question generation
Deep learning scaffolding
Additional Notes eBook licensed under Creative Commons - BY - NC Individual papers are © to individual authors
Description for Link Link to conference site
URL https://eportfoliosaustralia.wordpress.com/conference/previous_conference/conference-eac2011/


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Created: Mon, 03 Oct 2016, 14:20:58 CST by Marion Farram