Donelle Knight-French-EDLM6200-Reflective-Reflexive Practices in Technology-Enabled Environments

Reflections by Donelle Knight-French

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I started this course not knowing what to expect.  As we have established I am a teacher in a K-12 school and in this environment reflection is not seen as important.  the focus is on exam preparation and reflection is not a part of any syllabus.  As I got into the program and got familiar with the benefits of engaging in reflective activity for the students and also for the teacher, I began to think about how I could encourage such practices in my workplace.  To be honest, I have not been successful up to this point with trying to encourage reflective practices among my peers but I have been experimenting with reflective practices in my grade 7 Introduction to Business Class and also in my grade 10 Business Innovations class.

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Let's a take a look at the reflective activity completed by students in the grade 7 class:

Reflective Activity

Create a Powerpoint or a video this presents the following information:

1.      A summary of the things you have learned in Introduction to Business class.  (5)

2.      The things you enjoyed most. (5)

3.      The things you did not enjoy (be honest but polite). (5)

4.      Things that you would like to do in class in the future. (5)

5.      How you think what you are learning can help in the future. (5)

6.      Make your presentation as creative as possible.  (5)

30 marks

The assignment served two purposes:

1. It gave students a practical exercise to complete as an introduction to reflective practices.
2. It allowed me to reflect on students presentations, and use the information to improve on their learning experiences.

Here are some examples of the assignments that were submitted:

https://pestleanalysis.com/examples-of-pestle-analysis/

• https://www.powtoon.com/c/f0Dj0yQU81X/1/m -(copy the link and past it in the browser)
• https://drive.google.com/file/d/1pzQ6FR4j-GE9gx8ekaFyMSXmQosKH_Iu/view?usp=sharing

Image credit: http://www.petegodfrey.com/business-success/whats-your-outcome/

A valuable lesson I learned from implementing reflective activity in my classroom, is that in order for this type of activity to work, there must be a good and trusting relationship between the facilitator and the students.  Initially, students expressed some discomfort with expressing constructive criticism.  However, once I was able to convince them that I would not be offended, they were willing to share.  Overall, I will be implementing reflective practices and activities into my classes.  The next step is to try to help my work colleagues to see the value in reflection as well.

Donelle Knight-French-Reflective-Reflexive Practices in Technology Enabled Environments

Reflections 

by Donelle Knight French

Group Work-I absolutely hate it!  But I get it done.

Some of my worst experiences as a tertiary level student have involved group work.  I am an eager beaver and I prefer to get started immediately and be well ahead of the deadline.  I really cannot comprehend why persons allow the deadline to approach and then as a result I am forced to sacrifice my valuable sleep time to rush to get assignments submitted.  It makes me so very angry.  I feel like the guy in the image wearing the turquoise shirt.  Despite this stress and pressure, I have noticed working in groups is indeed a necessary evil.  Although I an excellent at time management, I do not have a creative bone in my body.  Oddly enough the members of my group who are self-confessed ‘last minute people’ are the very creative ones.  This brings a nice balance to our projects.

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What was my role?

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I proposed the concept of creating a reflective framework designed for entrepreneurs to my group.  In my capacity as a Business Studies/ Entrepreneurship teacher I was happy that they accepted this proposal.  Since I am actually engaged in teaching this course my role in putting together the project was to describe the target learner audience and the related teaching & learning environment as well as the learning processes the new framework seeks to address. 

So what?

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In making my contribution to the project I started to get a deeper understanding of why reflective activity must be incorporated into the field of Business Studies.  While reflection is not a part of the syllabus it supports practices such as understanding customer feedback, dealing with employee relation, understanding market patterns and changes and decision making among many others (Provis, 2015).  It also helped me to develop an appreciation of the fact that reflection on experiences, on self, with mentors and with peers will to a rich and deep reflective and learning experience.   The framework which has been created emphasizes collaborative reflection so that ideas and expertise can be shared and used as an impetus for innovation, incremental innovation as well as the development of a growth mindset.

Now What?

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1.       As requirement of the CAPE Entrepreneurship course students are required to create business concepts.  It is my intention to designate 15 minutes of each class as reflection time where students can share their business ideas with peers and hear their views.  This is meant to cover the element of peer reflection.

2.       During some of the sessions resource persons in the form of practicing entrepreneurs will be invites to hear the students’ ideas and to share their expertise.  This should cover the element of mentored reflection.

3.       In some sessions students will reflect on their own views, those of the mentors and their peers’ views in order to make their business concepts richer.

As stated in my last post reflection needs to be incorporated directly into course materials and course time so that students can have every opportunity to practice developing their reflective skills.  Reflection leads to the development of analytical skills, which are transferable to many situations (Quinton & Smallbone, 2010).  This further encourages me to incorporate reflection in my classes despite the fact that it is not a syllabus requirement.

References

Provis, C. J  (2017).  Intuition, analysis and reflection in business ethics.  140 (1), 5-15.  Retrieved from https://link-springer-com.library.open.uwi.edu/article/10.1007/s10551-015-2688-z#citeas


Quinton, S., & Smallbone, T. (2010). Feeding forward: using feedback to promote student reflection and learning - a teaching model. Innovations in Education & Teaching International, 47(1), 125–135. Retrieved from https://web-a-ebscohost-com.library.open.uwi.edu/ehost/detail/detail?vid=0&sid=46de78d9-568c-4ac2-9f5d-8ee57acfb173%40sessionmgr4007&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#AN=47992453&db=ehh

Document for Peer Reviewer:Lesson Plan & Presentation

Individual Assignment: Lesson Plan Presentation

by Donelle Knight-French

Individual Assignment: The Lesson Plan

Section 1: Lesson Preparation

Teacher Name:	Donelle Knight-French
Grade Level:	10
Date:	21st October, 2019
Unit/Subject:	Marketing/Business Innovations
Instructional Plan Title:	The Marketing Mix-The 4 Ps of Marketing
Lesson Summary and Focus:	The lesson will help students to understand the marketing mix with the end result of applying it to a business that they have previously conceptualized.  Students will engage in Reflective/Reflexive group activities based on findings that were garnered from market research activities.  In addition, students will be required to reflect on the marketing mix concept with the aim of determining how this knowledge can benefit them in the future.
Classroom and Student Factors/Grouping:	There are 5 students with on ILP and IEPs in the class.  This lesson will be proved to the Learning Support Coordinator who will work with me to coordinate any accommodations of modifications
Specific Learning Target(s)/Objectives:	By the end of this lesson students should be able to: Define the elements of the marketing mix Apply the marketing mix to various products and services Given findings which have been collected based on the group’s proposed businesses students should be able to reflect on data in order to create an effective marketing mix for their proposed business/service.
Resources, Materials, Equipment, and Technology:	Canvas Learning Management System Zoom conferencing software Findings which have been collected with regards to marketing research Tic-Tac-Toe board Rubrics Student laptops

Section 2: Instructional Planning

Anticipatory Set ·       I will use an explanatory video about the marketing mix concept ·       Students will lead discussion based on what they have watched.	Time Needed 10 minutes
Multiple Means of Representation ·       I will use an online graphic organizer to illustrate the core elements of the marketing mix. ·       I will provide an article regarding how popular companies develop their marketing mixes ·       A video which delves into the importance of identifying the target market to determining the marketing mix will be used. ·       I will allow students to conduct research using the Internet to share information about areas of the Marketing mix as it relates to popular companies and products.	Time Needed 25 minutes
Multiple Means of Engagement 1.     Students will engage in collaborative group work over Zoom in breakout rooms in order to create and discuss a marketing mix based on research findings that have been collection with regards to the product/service concept that was developed in a previous lesson. 2.     Students will be required to reflect how the marketing affect them and submit a reflective piece	Time Needed 30 minutes
Multiple Means of Expression Students will use the following Tic-Tac-Toe board to choose the assignments they would like to complete over the course of the unit. In this unit you must complete the center grid for 60 points.  This is the only MANDATORY assignment.  In addition to this question you will then two other squares to equal the other 20 points you may not earn more than 80 points in this unit.  You will find detailed instructions on Moodle for each assignment. Use the 4 Ps of marketing to create a short marketing campaign for a product/service- written, video, podcast, presentation  (10 points) A song about Marketing (10 points) Marketing: Artistic presentation and interpretation (10 points) Critique an existing marketing campaign-written, video, podcast, presentation (10 points) Reflection:  Part A Reflect on the data collected through conducting your market research and create a marketing mix for your product/service concept.  Reflect on the marketing process and focus on what went well, what can be improved and what you will do differently next time. (35 points) Part B Submit a reflective piece entitled How does the marketing mix affect me?  (25 points) Call a community business and discuss the company’s marketing plan.   (10 points) How does marketing affect me? written, video, podcast, presentation (10 points) Role Play-As long as we have a good product marketing is not important. (10 points) Read chapter 5 (marketing) of your text book and write a summary of each section.  (10 points) Students will complete part A of  the compulsory question by the end of this lesson.	Time Needed
	55 minutes
Extension Activity and/or Homework Students will complete two additional assignments from the tic-tac-toe grid for a total of 40 marks.  All activities relate to the learning outcomes.	Time Needed 1 week

Donelle Knight-French-EDLM6200-Reflective-Reflexive Practices in Technology-Enabled Environments

Reflections by Donelle Knight-French

As I started to work on my lesson plan assignment for module 4, I couldn’t help feeling like was between a rock and a hard place.  Here is one of my dilemmas.  I teach from a range of syllabi and none of them includes a reflective aspect.  My question as I wrote the plan was if this element was not included in my syllabus if it really made sense to focus on it in my own practice.   Another dilemma that I faced was in wondering if the use of references as well as presenting the lesson plan really has any benefits. These dilemmas will be the focus of today’s article

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What?

The lesson plan assignment was the most challenging assignment I have done since starting this program.  While I am very much accustomed to writing lesson plans.  I am not asked to justify or to present this information.  Furthermore, I have never associated providing references with the creation of a lesson plan before.  Normally, if I create a lesson plan it is generally a guide for me and in most cases it is never shared with anyone else, except for evaluation purposes.  This was therefore a very disorienting experience.  In addition, I have never been called on to incorporate reflective elements in my lessons because it is not a requirement which is stated in the syllabus. 

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So what?

This experience helped me to realize that perhaps I think of a lesson plan as a personal and private document.  I have notice that this is counterproductive, as collaboration and sharing of ideas is important to the development of a growth mindset of continual improvement.  In terms of providing references and presenting the lesson plan in engaging manner, I am essentially justifying why the lesson will work and explaining why it is important.  Being able to justify and explain the lesson plan fosters a deeper understanding of the lesson and execution of that lesson could become more efficient as a result.  In addition, sharing and presenting lesson plans to colleagues using the presentation allows for valuable feedback and ideas to be shared.  I am also apprehensive with incorporating reflection especially as it relates to my examination classes, however in trying to justify my lesson plan I was able to realize that I can apply reflective activities that are directly in line with the business syllabus.  This is because being able to reflect is an invaluable skill in the field of business (Provis, 2015). 

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 Now What?

1.          I am considering setting up informal meetings with my co-workers who teach the same or similar subject, to engage in present their lessons to me and vise-versa as a means of exchanging ideas and also to improve and strengthen our lesson planning and execution skills.
2.     For our co-workers’ meetings, since I do not want to scare persons away, lessons can be presented orally.  I presented my lesson using PowToon.  However, working with PowToon is time consuming and can be expensive.  I have an account, because I love the program but this may                                                             be a deterrent for busy teachers.  
3.            Reflection needs to be incorporated into students' individual courses so that they can have plenty of opportunities to reflect.  Reflection leads to the development of analytical skills, which are transferable to many situations (Quinton & Smallbone, 2010).  Bearing this in mind I will be incorporating reflective activities into business classes.  The lesson plan assignment formed the basis on which this will occur.

References

Provis, C. J  (2017).  Intuition, analysis and reflection in business ethics.  140 (1), 5-15.  Retrieved from https://link-springer-com.library.open.uwi.edu/article/10.1007/s10551-015-2688-z#citeas


Quinton, S., & Smallbone, T. (2010). Feeding forward: using feedback to promote student reflection and learning - a teaching model. Innovations in Education & Teaching International, 47(1), 125–135. Retrieved from https://web-a-ebscohost-com.library.open.uwi.edu/ehost/detail/detail?vid=0&sid=46de78d9-568c-4ac2-9f5d-8ee57acfb173%40sessionmgr4007&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#AN=47992453&db=ehh  

Donelle Knight-French-EDLM6200-Reflective-Reflexive Practices in Technology-Enabled Environments

Reflections by Donelle Knight-French

video credit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kOFLlHWviE

The focus of today's post will be on how I can encourage reflection among students in my Entrepreneurship class.  The video above features entrepreneur Brandon Green and his take on why reflection is so important in the entrepreneurial process.

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What?

The CAPE entrepreneurship syllabus is very dense and my first challenge will be to decide how to incorporate reflection into the course experience while still getting through all the material that must be covered.  Getting through the content has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that an Internal Assessment must also be completed for this course.  In addition, this element of reflection will be new to my class and may perhaps take a large chunk of time and getting accustomed to for students.  In addition, if students pose the question of if these reflective assignments are required by the examining body, the fact of the matter is that it is not a requirement.  Therefore, there are two questions on which I must reflect:

1. How can I incorporate reflection in a way that will be meaningful for students?
2. How can I do this without taking away from time the task of covering the content required for the Entrepreneurship exam?

Maybe the answer to this lies in the fact that the job market of today is one where a person's capacity to adapt to a number of situations is invaluable (Helyer, 2015).  Reflection can be used to critically analyse situations and it is from this point that solutions can be crafted.  

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So what?

My school is very results-based, and unfortunately the reality is that a teacher is only as good as the exam results that the students receive.  Therefore, I am quite hesitant about focusing on an element which is not required.  Students and their parents are also highly competitive and comparison of exam results is rampant as long as they are released.  The exam mentality which to my mind is one which encourages memorization and regurgitation is outdated.  However I believe that this status quo is one which will maintain for a long time.  This is incongruous with the 21st century skills which are necessary if students are to be competitive in today's labour market.  It is dangerous not to have students prepared for life. They must be trained in the art in reflection as it is not an inherent characteristic (Challinor,  Marín & Tur, 2017).  

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royalty-free-vector/brainstorming-solution-icon-vector-20999171

 Now What?

Since this practice now has to be introduced not only into the classroom but into the organisation, it is my intention to use the theory of disruptive innovation to inform my practices.  A disruptive innovation refers to a situation where a product is introduced to the marketplace using a strategy of targeting a market that is not being considered by the competition .  The disruptive force continues to improve in the background and  by the time the competition becomes aware of the disruption their main market has already been stolen (Flavin & Quintenero, 2017).  I believe that I can successfully apply this theory to introducing reflective practices into my classroom in three ways:

1. I can include reflection as a part of the entrepreneurial/Internal Assessment process-when students conduct research and go through compiling findings.  More of an effort will made to help students to see that when they analyze these findings, they are essentially engaging in reflecting on those findings.  They also go a step further by using their analysis of findings to inform product and service offerings.  I can make more of effort to demonstrate that business inherently requires frequent reflection and point out the ways that they are engaged in reflection without even recognising it.  This will make reflective exercises feel like less of a burden, or some new additional thing that they have to go learn.
2. I can invite resource personnel in the form of entrepreneurs who appreciate the value of reflection to join our classes.  I believe that as long as students have concrete examples of how being reflective can increase the likelihood of becoming successful entrepreneurs and can also make them more competitive on the labour market, it may not seem like senseless work .  This will involve the use of digital technology as the use of video conferencing software can be used to connect students with Entrepreneurs across space and time.  Since Zoom software is already commonly used for conference classes this should be easy to execute.
3. I can also encourage reflection by giving students the opportunity to critique our Entrepreneurship classes and to share information about what they liked, disliked and ideas for improvement.  I can allow students to periodically complete questionnaires about our Entrepreneurship class via email or google forms.  This digital technology will be used as students may be more comfortable sharing feedback about things that need improvement than if they were in a face-to-face setting.  The fact that the student and teacher are not face to face reduces the feeling of the teacher being in place of power (Cook-Sather, 2017).  In a sense it levels the playing field.

The hope is that the subtle changes will take root and growth mindsets about reflection will start to develop before anyone notices that the changes have already disrupted the status quo.

References

Challinor, J., Marín, V. I., Tur, G.  (2017) The development of the reflective practitioner through digital storytelling.  International Journal of Technology Enhanced Learning, 9(2/3), 186-203. Retrieved http://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/30977/1/8588_Challinor.pdf

Cook‐Sather, A. (2017). Virtual forms, actual effects: how amplifying student voice through digital media promotes reflective practice and positions students as pedagogical partners to prospective high school and practicing college teachers. British Journal of Educational Technology, 48(5), 1143-1152. Retrieved https://repository.brynmawr.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1035&context=edu_pubs

Flavin, M., & Quintero, V. (2018). UK higher education institutions’ technology-enhanced learning strategies from the perspective of disruptive innovation. Research in Learning Technology, 26. https://doi.org/10.25304/rlt.v26.1987n.com/

Helyer. R. (2015) Learning through reflection: the critical role of reflection in work-based learning: (WBL). Journal of Work-Applied Management, 7(1), 15-27. Retrieved https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/JWAM-10-2015-003/full/pdf?title=learning-through-reflection-the-critical-role-of-reflection-in-work-based-learning-wbl