Service-Learning Spring Workshop Reflection: The Hyphen between Service and Learning

1. Service-Learning Spring Workshop Reflection: The Hyphen between Service and Learning May 4, 2012 Student Commons, Forum Room 10:30 a.m. – 2:30 p.m. http://wp.vcu.edu/servicelearningspringworkshop/

2. AGENDA 10:30 – 10:45 Introductions & Overview 10:45 – 11:00 Pre-Workshop Reflection 11:00 – 11:20 Reflection in Service-Learning: Why, When & How (presentation by Lynn Pelco, Service-Learning Director) 11:20 – 12:30 Service-Learning Instructor Panel 12:30 – 1:15 Chat n’ Chew Small Group Lunch (with mid-point small group reflection) 1:15 – 2:15 Preparing for Reflection (presentation by Erin Brown, Service-Learning Assistant Director) 2:15 – 2:30 Final Reflection & Workshop Evaluation

3. Introductions

4. Pre-Workshop Reflection Throughout this workshop we will be trying out several different types of reflections Pre-Lecture Focused-Freewrite Journal* Entry (Stevens & Cooper, 2009, p. 81) Take out a full sheet of paper and write the word “Reflection” at the top For the next 5 minutes, write out all the ideas and emotions that come to mind when you think about the word ‘reflection’ Do not worry about grammar, spelling or complete sentences. We will not collect these. Do not monitor or edit your ideas as they bubble up—just write them down on your paper. Do not organize your ideas—just get them out of your head and onto the page. Think of these next 5 minutes as a ‘knowledge and affect dump’ Discussion? Reactions? *According to Stevens & Cooper (2009) a journal is a sequential, dated chronicle of events and ideas, which includes the personal responses and reflections of the writer (or writers) on those events and ideas. Blogs are a type of public journal.

5. Reflection in Service-Learning: Why, When & How? “A mind that is stretched by a new experience can never go back to its old dimensions.” Oliver Wendall Holmes Lynn E. Pelco, Ph.D. Service-Learning Director Service-Learning Spring Workshop Reflection: The Hyphen Between Service and Learning May 4, 2012 Richmond, Virginia

6. Why? Why is reflection important? Research studies link high-quality reflection with improved academic and interpersonal outcomes. For example… Billig, Root, and Jesse (2005) found that service-learning approaches that featured cognitively challenging activities and reflection were associated with students being more likely to value school, feel more efficacious, engage in school and enjoy subject matters, and acquire more civic knowledge and more positive civic dispositions. Eyler and Giles (1999) showed that reflection helped students gain a deeper understanding of what they learned and helped them to apply learning to real-life situations and develop increased problem-solving skills. They also demonstrated that reflection was a good predictor of openness to new ideas, the ability to see issues in a new way, and the ability to analyze issues systemically. Eyler, Giles, and Schmiede (1996) demonstrated that students engaged in critical reflection were more likely than their peers to apply what they learned to understanding and solving social problems. 2. There is a long theoretical history that connects reflection and learning

7. Young John Experience, Reflection and Learning John Dewey was a prominent philosopher who emphasized the important links between experience, reflection and learning ♦ Learning is a continuous and cumulative process. Prior learning “becomes the instrument of understanding and dealing effectively with the situations that follow”.(1938, p.44) ♦ Reflection is an active and intentional action in which we examine prior beliefs and assumptions and their implications. “The function of reflective thought is, therefore, to transform a situation in which there is experienced obscurity, doubt, conflict, disturbance of some sort into a situation that is clear, coherent, settled, harmonious”.(1933, p.100) ♦ Reflective thinking takes time and requires us to engage in several distinct phases. Dewey (1933, pp.106-115) outlines these phases as— ◊ Perplexity (responding to ideas that appear when there is a problem) ◊ Elaboration (referring to past experiences that are similar) ◊ Hypotheses (developing several potential hypotheses) ◊ Comparing hypotheses (finding some coherence within these hypotheses) ◊ Taking action (experiencing mastery, satisfaction, enjoyment in acting on these hypotheses) John Dewey (1859-1952) Columbia University Old John

8. Reflective Practice Donald A Schon (1930-1997) Massachusetts Institute of Technology

9. Kolb’s Experiential Learning Cycle David Kolb (1939-present) Case Western Reserve University

10. Dr. Gary Rolfe Professor of Nursing Swansea University, UK

11. When? How? When and how should reflection occur? 4 C’s Continuous– continuous reflection includes reflection before the service experience, during the experience, and after the experience. Connected -- connected reflection links the service experience to the academic/intellectual pursuits of the students. Challenging – challenging reflections push students to think in new ways, to develop alternative explanations for experiences and observations, and to question their original perceptions of events and issues. Contextualized – contextualized reflections are appropriate for the setting and format of the moment. For example, reflections that occur in the classroom may be more formal than those that take place at the service site.

12. Remember that reflection can take many forms and address different learning objectives