From reflective learning to reflective practice: assessing transfer

A key attribute of reflective practice is its capacity for on-going purposeful learning in relation to changing and demanding professional work. The teaching of reflective learning techniques in management education is intended to promote deep-level learning and the application of critical thinking to oneself, personal experience and the work environment. However, we lack empirical evidence that the teaching of reflective learning leads to enhanced reflective practice in professional work. This study provides an examination of reflection in work post formal education. It reports on interviews with 18 Human Resource professionals. Reflection does not get ‘left behind’ on completion of formal teaching but there is not an even or simple process of transfer to a work context. Likewise, there was not a slavish adherence to reflective techniques but rather some evidence that students were able to translate their learning into something meaningful for their practice. © 2016 Society for Research into Higher Educatio

Reflective practice: is there transfer from classroom to workplace?

Does HE based teaching of reflective practice transfer into management practice in the workplace? This paper reports on research addressing this question. Initially the research is set in context. Extensive theorising, conceptual debate and discussion on a problematic curriculum have not been matched with empirical data about reflection as part of managing. Interviews with eighteen HR professionals provide the data upon which initial findings are drawn. Management practice is influenced by their professional programme and, in the main, reflection is an important element of perceived change. For some transfer appears restricted to instrumental practice. For others, however, a more complex picture emerges; one where glimpses of criticality are evident but where the link to the formal teaching of reflection is less straightforward. This, together with factors influencing the reflective landscape observed, warrant further analysis as a precursor to consideration of curriculum implication

Improving the Teaching of Reflective Practice for HR Professionals

Despite a strong discourse promulgating the individual benefits and organisational value of reflective activity within management education, there is a lack of empirical data to show that teaching managers reflective processes, in an academic context, has long term and definitive benefits to a majority of learners. Our recent research endeavours sought to engage key participants in a discourse about issues and engagement with reflective practice in order to better understand the different perspectives. As arguably the most influential stakeholder group in determining teaching strategy for reflective practice, our focus here is on ‘faculty’, namely those responsible for managing and teaching reflective practice on professional CIPD accredited HRM programmes. The aim is to generate an enhanced understanding of the tensions of teaching reflective practice to HRM students, in order to better support the transfer of this learning to the workplace and everyday practice. The investigation involved 3 stages: an analysis of the approach of three institutions; a workshop with 48 participants at the CIPD Centres Conference 2013; and 25 explorative open-ended questionnaires. The findings raise questions about the requisite outcomes and expectations of different stakeholders in the teaching of reflective practice. One common theme throughout the analysis is an acknowledgement of the challenges involved in engaging and assessing a diverse range of students in an equitable and ethical way. Finally, the paper raises a number of important questions for future research in this area

Professional learning in Human Resource Management: Problematising the teaching of reflective practice

Reflection and reflective practice are much discussed aspects of professional education. This paper conveys our efforts to problematise teaching reflective practice in Human Resources (HR) education. The research, on which the paper is based, engages with stakeholders involved in the professional learning and education of reflective practice in three UK universities to provide a critical understanding of the complexities involved. Our research surfaces a level of conceptual ambiguity which creates an uneven landscape in terms of the teaching of reflective practice. Workplace cultures which do not support reflective practice, a focus on performance review and disparate stakeholder views highlight competing discourses of performance based reflection and critical management reflection and suggest a fundamental dissonance between a perspective that reflection in professional work warrants a critical character, and one which is based on a relatively simple ‘acquisition of knowledge’ model of continuous professional development. The analysis helps assess the teaching challenge within HR professional learning. Similar intricacies may affect teaching in other professions and consequently this article offers a contribution of relevance and interest to others involved in teaching reflective practice

Making sense of the learning that occurred within a research collaboration

This paper presents our sense-making of the learning that has occurred during a collaborative research partnership. The concept of ‘communities of practice’ and a discourse perspective on learning and identity inform the paper. Our collaboration originated in a conversation and a concern which brought us together. This concern focused on our unease with current approaches to teaching and assessing reflective practice. We agreed to undertake a collaborative research project and in 2014 we received a Researcher Development Grant from the British Academy of Management (BAM). Our teaching and research interests are aligned in that we teach and research reflective practice at a variety of levels, from undergraduate to Doctoral level. We would consider ourselves to be reflective practitioners and collaborating on the BAM research project provided an opportunity to turn the critical lens on ourselves; as educators and researchers. In doing so we were aware of the gap identified by Bell & Thorpe (2013:105) that: ‘despite elaborate theorising, there is relatively little published research in which reflexivity, or even reflection appears to be practiced to any significant extent’. Our aim in this paper, and the conference presentation, is to contribute to this gap by sharing our reflections of participating in this research collaboration

A rarefaction-tracking method for hyperbolic conservation laws

We present a numerical method for scalar conservation laws in one space dimension. The solution is approximated by local similarity solutions. While many commonly used approaches are based on shocks, the presented method uses rarefaction and compression waves. The solution is represented by particles that carry function values and move according to the method of characteristics. Between two neighboring particles, an interpolation is defined by an analytical similarity solution of the conservation law. An interaction of particles represents a collision of characteristics. The resulting shock is resolved by merging particles so that the total area under the function is conserved. The method is variation diminishing, nevertheless, it has no numerical dissipation away from shocks. Although shocks are not explicitly tracked, they can be located accurately. We present numerical examples, and outline specific applications and extensions of the approach.Comment: 21 pages, 7 figures. Similarity 2008 conference proceeding

Evidence-based Health Informatics Frameworks for Applied Use.

Health Informatics frameworks have been created surrounding the implementation, optimization, adoption, use and evaluation of health information technology including electronic health record systems and medical devices. In this contribution, established health informatics frameworks are presented. Important considerations for each framework are its purpose, component parts, rigor of development, the level of testing and validation its undergone, and its limitations. In order to understand how to use a framework effectively, it's often necessary to seek additional explanation via literature, documentation, and discussions with the developers

Reflective practice in management practice: a systematic review

There can be few business schools in Britain that have not been influenced by a discourse holding that reflective practice on behalf of managers provides real value to the organisation in which they operate. Influenced by high profile cases of management failings (both ethically and organisationally) the impact on the management curriculum has been significant. Reflection is now enshrined in most professional and postgraduate management programmes. Anderson (2003), for example, argues that critical reflection is a ‘hallmark’ of Masters level management education, whilst authors such as Gray (2007) and Reynolds (1998) see a management curriculum embracing reflection as indicative of a more critical curriculum, challenging the traditional, functionalist orientation, with its emphasis on the transmission of knowledge. That reflective practice should feature prominently within the management education curriculum is a position supported by bodies such the British Academy of Management, the Association of Business Schools, the Association of Management Education and Development as well as many of the quasi professional bodies who purport to promote the education and continuing professional development (cpd) of their member managers (e.g. Chartered Management Institute, Charted Institute of Personnel and Development, Charted Institute of Management Accountants etc.)

Spectroscopy of z ∼ 6 i-dropout galaxies : frequency of Lyα emission and the sizes of Lyα-emitting galaxies

We report on deep spectroscopy, using LRIS on Keck I and FORS2 on the VLT, of a sample of 22 candidate z similar to 6 Lyman break galaxies (LBGs) selected by the (i)775 - z(850) > 1: 3 dropout criterion. Redshifts could be measured for eight objects. These redshifts are all in the range z = 5: 5-6.1, confirming the efficiency of the i775 - z850 color selection technique. Six of the confirmed galaxies show Ly alpha emission. Assuming that the 14 objects without redshifts are z similar to 6 LBGs that lack detectable Ly alpha emission lines, we infer that the fraction of Ly alpha-emitting LBGs with Ly alpha equivalent widths greater than 20 angstrom among z similar to 6 LBGs is approximate to 30%, similar to that found at z similar to 3. Every Ly alpha-emitting object in our sample is compact, with half-light radii r(hl) 97% confidence. We speculate that the small sizes of the Ly alpha-emitting LBGs are due to these objects being less massive than other LBGs at z similar to 6