Reflective Practices to Study Group Dynamics: Implement Empowerment and Understand the Functioning of Groups

Introduction: Individual and group reflection practices are qualitative methods useful in a group context to develop group skills and more awareness of the dynamics that take place within the group to which one belongs.Aim: The aim of this work is to highlight how individual reflective practices and group reflections contribute to the development of group skills. More specifically, the effectiveness of relevant group dynamics is investigated, with the aim of creating a space for reflection, and activation for individual and group empowerment.Participants: The participants were 130 university students (86% female), resided in northwestern Italy, and had a mean age of 27.5 years (SD = 7.52). They were randomly divided into 23 groups (ranged from four to nine members).Method: The participants engaged in several online training activities and at the end of every activity they completed individual reflection practice in which they presented both positive and negative aspects related to the group experiences. Then they participated in online group reflections that allowed them to reflect on the group dynamics, particular attention given to factors such as climate, participation and roles played by each participant in a variety of training activities. This study analyzes 130 individual reflective practices and 23 group reflections. The data collected through individual reflective practices and the transcripts of the group reflections were analyzed using grounded theory. Two independent judges analyzed and categorized the data and then identified the main common categories that emerged by the support of Nvivo software.Results: From the analysis of the content, it is determined that the participants, based on the construction of the individual and group reflections, paid greater attention to the dynamics that occurred within the group during the various activities in which they participated, thus allowing them to be more aware of the various factors that affected the importance attributed to the different roles, the climate, and their active participation.Conclusion: Combined, these factors allowed participants to strengthen their relationships with each other and enhance the cohesion of the group.

Portfolios with Evidence of Reflective Practice Required by Regulatory Bodies: An Integrative Review

Purpose: Regulatory bodies impose continuing professional development (CPD) requirements on health care professionals (HCPs) as a condition for license revalidation. Many regulatory bodies require annual evidence of CPD activities that are informed by reflective practices, guided by learning plans, and compiled into a portfolio. The purpose of this integrative review is to summarize the literature discussing how regulatory bodies use portfolios with evidence of reflection for licensure renewal. Method: We reviewed English-language articles published until May 2020 discussing evidence of CPD and reflective practice in portfolios in the context of licensure renewal. Results: We located 17 articles for the review. None reported or measured outcomes beyond submission of reflective evidence. Sixteen articles (93%) included information about passive learning resources that regulatory bodies provided to help guide HCPs’ reflective learning activities. HCPs’ feedback about using reflective learning activities indicated mixed opinions about their utility. Conclusions: Few publications reported how jurisdictions expected HCPs to provide evidence of reflective practices for licensure renewal. None of the regulatory bodies required evidence regarding the impact of reflective practice on patient or organizational outcomes. HCPs reported both benefits and challenges of a mandated reflective process.

Disability at the Intersections: Expanding Critical Disability Reflective Practices

The development of more culturally competent special education teachers is integral to striving for a more equitable education system for all students. However, the development of cultural competency around disability as diversity, especially from an intersectional lens, is often underrepresented in teacher preparation programs. As a result, if it is included at all, it is often at the discretion of individual teachers willing to incorporate such content into their teacher preparation classes. For teacher educators who are searching for ways to infuse disability as diversity content into their coursework, critical disability studies provides a framework for implementation by supporting teacher candidate’s critical reflective practice. In adopting such a framework, teacher educators can better target the development of cultural competency in their special education teacher candidates. As such, the aim of the present article is to provide a method of instruction to support the development of critical reflective practices in special education teacher preparation programs.

A Reflective Entrepreneur: Ashok Vasudevan and the Journey of Tastybite

The literature on entrepreneurship acknowledges that entrepreneurs are both thinkers and doers. While scholars have previously explored entrepreneurs’ cognitions and actions, research on entrepreneurs’ reflective practices remains limited. To stimulate greater scholarly attention on exploring entrepreneurs as reflective practitioners, in this ‘Meet the Person’ article we build on two interviews with the celebrated entrepreneur Ashok Vasudevan. From buying the venture off Unilever and eventually selling it to Mars, Ashok’s journey reflects an entrepreneur’s struggles in growing a venture from an emerging economy (India of the 90s). Tearing down entrepreneurship literature’s stereotypical and mythological lore, Ashok’s journey with Tasty Bite is also a case of why “the” theory of entrepreneurship continues to remain elusive. Three key themes from Ashok’s journey (failure, sustainability, and exit) help highlight the rich possibilities that reflective practice offers to entrepreneurship literature. Implications for the advancement of reflective practice in entrepreneurship research, education, and practice are presented.

Is reflection like soap? a critical narrative umbrella review of approaches to reflection in medical education research

Reflection is a complex concept in medical education research. No consensus exists on what reflection exactly entails; thus far, cross-comparing empirical findings has not resulted in definite evidence on how to foster reflection. The concept is as slippery as soap. This leaves the research field with the question, ‘how can research approach the conceptual indeterminacy of reflection to produce knowledge?’. The authors conducted a critical narrative umbrella review of research on reflection in medical education. Forty-seven review studies on reflection research from 2000 onwards were reviewed. The authors used the foundational literature on reflection from Dewey and Schön as an analytical lens to identify and critically juxtapose common approaches in reflection research that tackle the conceptual complexity. Research on reflection must deal with the paradox that every conceptualization of reflection is either too sharp or too broad because it is entrenched in practice. The key to conceptualizing reflection lies in its use and purpose, which can be provided by in situ research of reflective practices.

Reflective Practices in Teaching: A Study on Faculties of Royal University of Bhutan Colleges

Aims: Reflective practice refers to teachers' conscious efforts to question their daily activities in the classroom to help them learn and develop professionally. The purpose of this study was to determine the level of reflective practices among Royal University of Bhutan (RUB) faculty members, as well as if these activities differed according to demographic characteristics of the respondents. The study's theoretical framework is the four reflective lenses of Brookfield, namely: student's eye, colleague's eye, Research and theory, and personal experiences/ autobiographies. Study Design: A descriptive research design with a quantitative approach was used in this study. Place and Duration of Study: The study was conducted in Bhutan for a period of one year (2020-2021) Methodology: A total of 186 faculty members from the colleges of the Royal University of Bhutan participated in the study using an online structured questionnaire through Google Form. Descriptive statistics, a one-sample t-test, One-way ANOVA, and an independent sample t-test were used to evaluate and present the findings. Results: The findings revealed that Royal University of Bhutan colleges' faculty members engage in reflective practices, with student feedback being the most widely utilized strategy for reflection among the four lenses, and peer feedback being the least used technique. The results also showed that there were no differences in educators' reflective practices depending on gender, the number of years of teaching experience, or training attended during in-service years. Conclusion: The study's main recommendations are to promote peer help in enabling classroom reflection and to provide faculty members with training and development opportunities in various teaching pedagogies.