Now I see my reflection...

...is a bit rubbish!

1. I have just marked 90 level 5 portfolios which included weekly reflection and an final 500 word reflection. I noticed that frequently they were unstructured, uncritical and ... unreflective. Often didn't deal with thoughts or feelings, usually no actions arising.
2. We had a PGCTHE session yesterday and Rachel Fitzgerald was talking about becoming a reflective practitioner.

The net result is that I realise this blog has moments of reflection, but most of the time is like a journal. I can see that it has value - some times I am introspective. It has the benefit, now that I've been doing it over 6 months, of giving me something of a longitudinal view which I would not have had if I had not started it. However, it falls short it terms of a true reflective blog.

I notice that I tend to blog about things that go well, or interest me. In the last few months I have had fewer 'critical incidents'. This in itself concerns me - as my confidence increases, I must not grow complacent. I will make an effort to seek out and document difficulties as well as successes.

I also make no reference to educational theory... because I don't know it. This needs to change. I have devised a reading schedule.

So am I going to change my blog? Well... I have decided that the main (only) beneficiary of this blog is me. I will not do it unless I enjoy it. But to extract maximum value I need to be a reflective practitioner.... so in summary... yes but only a little bit.

Students in their PJs and other delights...

Today Sally and I started grading a new item of assessment for MKT2020. This piece is described as a10 minute 'electronic presentation' of the student - something akin to an elevator pitch which we have worked on a lot in this module. We encouraged the students to use a range of media - prezis, video, websites etc.

We had a bit of a Goldilocks experience with the first three submissions.

The first one didn't have enough in... a dull and uninspiring prezi with a link at the end which frustratingly lead to a beautiful web portfolio (not part of the submission)

The second one had too much in it - a huge archive of everything the student had ever done, at length! Even the video section included out-takes.

I'd like to say the third one was just right, but it memorably included a video clip which the student had failed to edit. It ended "and I am extremely professional" at which point she pulled a face and said to herself "I have no idea why I said that", and got up to turn the video camera off, revealing that in true Newsreader style, below her smart shirt and jumper she had pyjama bottoms on. Priceless. This will give us material for years to come!

Having viewed this, I got a bit of a crisis of confidence about the piece of assessment - had the technology swallowed up the learning objectives? Sally's experience paid off - too early to judge, we should stick to our guns. Then, to my immense relief, a beautiful piece of work from Aneta. A 3 minute video which served as a fantastic advert for her skills and potential. Buoyed up by this, the marking continues...

L&T Conference....Transnational, International, Global...

Went to the L&T Conference today, which was enjoyable.

So glad I carry crayons

Loads of ideas about working with international students... a brain dump:

• Need to create early opportunities for international students to make friends with British students

• They would really value field trips

• The extent of alienation international students feel is on every level - homesick, language, culture, society, study methods

• Confucian constructs DO have criticism but it's internal - we have external criticism - remember they do not even have freedom of speech!

• I really want to teach MKT3017 next year - I could do a lot more with them and the module now I understand their profile (recommendations already put into module review document)

Other highlights..

Also I spoke to Caroline Stainton about continuing research, found out there is a journal I can get an article into, also she will help me to work on a proposal for an HEA bid to further NILE.

URB@N: Charlotte did her poster presentation. Bit of a shambles as there wasn't enough space, but she seemed to be buzzing and did a good job.

Saw a thinly veiled sales pitch from QuestionMark - online testing software. I may have been a bit harsh. Software looks great, but since we don't have it and it's not free... but he did make a compelling argument for testing as a method of learning. I'd like to do it.

The Panda in the Room

Language differences...