Reflecting on reflection and its place in an evolving educational context : paper presentation

Abstract

Teaching, learning and research in higher education and tertiary learning environments are being transformed by technological innovations. The use of some of these information technologies, such as content managements systems (eg. Moodle and Blackboard), communication medium (eg. email) or means of accessing information (eg. Google or searchable databases) is predicated on the promise that they will enable a more effective and lower cost delivery of education for the student and the institution.

Consequently, the emphasis in education has moved away from ‘banking education’, that is, education focused on the provision of knowledge, towards promoting independence in learning, interdisciplinarity, the creation of new knowledges and the development of transferable learning capacities. These new foci all hinge on the person’s ability to reflect. The effect of this has been that reflection and reflective practices are becoming more widely used in a growing variety of contexts and for an expanding repertoire of purposes.

Several authors have critiqued the resultant proliferation of accounts of reflection and suggest that the concept of reflection is in danger of becoming meaningless. These concerns motivate the following questions: what is reflection, how does reflection occur and how can reflective practice respond to the numerous and occasionally contradictory accounts of reflection?

Addressing these questions is the first motivation for this presentation. Further, in the author’s observation, there appears to be a tension between the process of reflection and some of the new technologies being introduced into education. The second purpose for this workshop then, is to investigate this tension so that it may be better defined and addressed.