HND PhotographyDigital Image Manipulation Reflective Writing The Journal

HND Photography/Digital Image Manipulation Reflective Writing & The Journal

What is Reflective Writing? • Reflection is an ongoing process of thinking about your development in relation to your work. • Reflective writing is both a record (description) and a review (analysis and evaluation) of your work. • Reflective practice is a "sorting out/clarifying process" (Moon 2004) giving you new perspectives on yourself and your work. • On this course, you are asked to produce reflective journal and reflective annotations throughout the process of ideation, experimentation and resolution. • You will need to make a summary of the journal in order to complete the final reflective evaluation.

Your Reflective Writing should include the following: • • • A description of events, experiences and processes An indication of your feelings about these events Both positive and negative experiences Self-questioning about these experiences Analysis of your work and evaluation of your progress Suggestions for future practice An honest appraisal of your experience Links to your coursework and theories Extensive use of the first person (I) in your writing

Why is it important? • Reflective practice allows you to stand back and assess your work in a more detached/objective light. • Examining both your positive and negative experiences can help you understand why you tend to approach things in certain ways and avoid others. • Solving problems can become easier if you regularly reflect upon your practice. • Reflective writing allows your tutors to see how you have developed your practice and ideas. • Reflection is an essential skill for your future working life.

Topics of reflection: • • • The process of research The process of a design you've been working on How you developed a new skill Your work experience What you've learnt from a particular essay, theorist, lecture, designer, artist or from other students Your influences Your motivations How you work in a group / on your own How you feel / behave in crits Things other people have said about your work

How do I start? • In order to complete a reflective evaluation at the end of an assignment, you'll need to keep a reflective journal / diary throughout the process. • Making time to "pause, record and reflect" on a regular basis will allow you to get the most out of your journal. • The journal can take many forms: it may be a small notebook, a bound or loose-leaved scrapbook, on lined or blank paper. • You may choose to record events on one side of the page only, so that you can add your thoughts later, on the other side. • Alternatively, you may decide to use a blog or send yourself emails. • A mixture of words and visuals can be used to record ideas. • It may be useful to think of your reflective journal as a journey. It won't necessarily take you in a straight line, and you could find yourself in a dead end on occasion. What is important is what you learn from this journey.

Useful Questions? • • • • The following questions may help to guide you in your reflective writing: What happened? This is a description of events, experiences, or a process you have been through What did I find inspiring in doing this project? What "critical incidents" should I focus on? (Critical incidents are experiences that stand out as having had a big impact on your approach / thinking) How do I feel about what happened? What was good about this experience? What did I learn from this experience? What new techniques, skills, abilities have I acquired? What was bad about it? What would I like to change and why? How can I explain this situation? What action could I have realistically taken to change the situation? What else could I do / have done? If I attempted something different, did the revised approach work? If so, is there a general principle here I could use again? If not, what could I try next, and why?

Some Common Problems: This is not ‘Catchphrase’! • There are no rules about how to write and structure a reflective evaluation; however, there a number of things you'll need to avoid: • Your writing is too descriptive and does not offer much analysis • It reads like a diary i. e. a list of events, or it's too personal and not really about your work • Your final statement does not capture anything meaningful because you've written it at the last minute, and not used a journal throughout the term/year • Your writing provides a general overview of events, and does not highlight any critical incidents • There is little or nothing said about things that did not go well for you only positive events are discussed • In cases where a problem is identified, you do not take ownership of the situation, and see others as responsible • There's no detailed discussion about what you've learnt, and how things could be done differently in the future

Annotations V’s The Journal • Annotations discuss and explain all that you do in relation to the ideation stages, practical explorations and refinement of ideas into solutions. • There is more emphasis on explanation and justification pertinent to the project work within annotations. • There was be a cross over with the journal, it’s an inevitability! • Consider applying the What? How? Why? approach to reflective writing and analysis of your work. • Don’t keep stating the obvious, there is a lot that we will be able to deduce from your work without you telling us that, ‘This is a picture of a tree’.