29 2.1 Introduction
The previous chapter outlined this study on the basis of its background. The study background focused on study location, research aims and objectives, research questions, preliminary literature, importance of the study, basic review on theoretical framework, research and design. This chapter will unpack lecturers’ reflections (phenomenon). Thus, this chapter intends to look at the background definition of the reflections by discussing the trends of reflection as from 1933 to 2017. Furthermore, this chapter invents an emerging definition of reflection, which is embedded on the grounds of three categories as personal reflection, formal reflection, and informal reflection.
Be that as it may, this chapter also intends to unpack the literature on educational technology:
Moodle resource, which are divided into three namely, hard-ware, soft-ware, and ideological-ware resources (Govender & Khoza, 2017). Moreover, the ideological-ware resources are further discussed in order to show that electronic ideological-ware resources are divided into three types, namely, informal, formal, and personal electronic ideological-ware resources. It is one of the main objectives of this chapter to show that personal electronic ideological-ware resources merge the two electronic ideological-ware resources (informal and formal) through the discussion of various teaching and learning theories, which includes connectivism, Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT), five-stage model, and Technological Pedagogical and Content Knowledge (TPACK).
Towards the end of this chapter the importance of curriculum signals will be highlighted before conclusion is drawn which will lead to the next chapter.
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there in lecturers’ mind as professionals/practitioners. This suggests that this phase of consciousness is often the kind of thinking most lecturers always do, which is personal depending on their daily habits. Moving further, the second phase of thinking is invention which according to Dewey' (1933) is also called imagination since it is the thinking that is not based on the conceptions of facts. In other words, the imagination phase of thinking is not on the grounds of truth or facts but is on the grounds on what you can picture and what others are saying, and this is an informal kind of thinking influenced by others from the surroundings (society). Moving further, according to Rodgers (2002), lecturers are always engaged in believing as the third phase of thinking. Believing is characterised as “prejudgments, not conclusions reached as the result of personal mental activity, such as observing, collecting, and examining evidence” (Dewey', 1933, p. 7). This suggests that belief occurs because there are facts that still need to be verified before conclusions are made, and this is formal since it is driven by written facts from readings. On the contrary, some beliefs can be accepted without examined proofs (Lowe & Kerr, 1998). Moreover, the vital fourth kind of thoughts/thinking is reflections, It is taken as an overall of all other three kinds of thinking because it involves personal, informal, and a formal category of thinking (Dewey*, 1938). Be that as it may, reflections “constitutes active, persistent and careful consideration of any belief or supposed form of knowledge in the light of grounds that support it and the further conclusions to which it tends” (Dewey', 1933, p. 9). This suggests that reflections are as a result of proven, verified, and examined facts, and active engagement with others for personal growth.
In addition to the above, the literature on reflections leaves one with the idea that reflections are well understood in education profession. While closer examination reveals that, this is not the case.
As a result, various authors use multiple terms to describe reflections, for instance: reflective thinking (Dewey', 1933); reflection-in-action and reflection-on-action (Schön, 1983); reflective learning (Boyd & Fales, 1983); reflective teacher education and moral deliberation (Liston &
Zeichner, 1987); critical reflection metacognitive (Mezirow, 1990); reflection (Fogarty, 1994);
promoting reflection in professional course (Boud- & Walker, 1998); developing reflective practice (Loughran, 2002); societal, professional, and personal reflection (Khoza-, 2015d); and mindful reflection (Langer, 2016). Further to this, both Holland (2000) and Sherman' (1994)
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articulate that the reflections may also be taken as self-introspection or meditation process. This suggests that there are different terminologies used to define what reflection is, and those terminologies may be personally, informally, or personally driven. That is the reason why it is essential for this study to discuss the definition of reflections.
Furthermore, Dewey' (1933) refers to reflections as a special form of problem-solving and a certain way of thinking that can be used by professionals in order to resolve a particular issue or a problem.
That is the reason why Dewey' (1933) is of the view that reflections are defined as a meaning making process, a systematic way of thinking which requires attitudes that recognises the personal growth and its need to happen in the interaction with others. Furthermore, according to Dewey*
(1938), the first part of the definition (meaning making process) involves the experiences on the bases that practitioners (lecturers) should be involved in the process of interaction between the self and other material (readings) in order to constitute the truth or facts about the experiences. Thus, interaction is one of the most vital elements in the experiences in order to enhance continuity in the development of practitioners (Rodgers, 2002). This definition suggests that the lecturer, as practitioners in the meaning making process, draws facts from their experiences by interacting with the available researched sources of information, which provides formal facts about a certain phenomenon. Thus, this suggests a formal reflections, which are informed by a vertical curriculum because lecturers have to read manuals, articles, books, and other formal sources about a particular adopted Learning Management platforms (LMPs) in order to draw facts on how to use those LMPs (Hoadley & Jansen, 2013; Sator & Bullock, 2017).
In addition to the above, the second part of the definition stipulates a personal growth through cognitive constructivism (Piaget, 1976; Wadsworth, 1996). In other words, reflections are concerned with conscious thinking of lecturers' own experiences and their own personal actions so that they can interpret them, in such a way that they can get a lesson for personal development (Boud- & Walker, 1998). This suggests that reflections assist lecturers to maintain personal positive attitudes and values for intellectual growth. Note that there might be a need for personal reflection since academics should be driven by their own conscious thinking about their daily use of an adopted technology (Moodle), which may have a personal positive impact during the
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teaching and learning process (Meierdirk, 2016). In other words, in any usage of the LMPs, it should start with the self-interrogation, which may enhance good personal development towards the use of LMP. In the last part of the definition, there is an element of interaction with others, that is why “experiences has to be formulated in order to be communicated” (Rogers, 2001, p. 856).
Thus, thinking without expressing your thought is incomplete, therefore, practitioners (lecturers) should express their thinking about their experiences to others (society) in order to develop the public (Dewey*, 1938). Note that reflection involves the process of sharing experiences, habits, ideas, and opinions about what lecturers do or practice (Zeichner- & Liston, 1996). This then suggests an informal reflection because lecturers have to interact with their colleagues who are familiar with any adopted LMP in order to know how to use it. In other words, lecturers should attend workshops or support structures organised by the university to get ideas and opinions on the use of and adopted LMP. There are few definitions of reflections by various authors taken from the work of John Dewey.
Furthermore in the 1970s, according to Van Manen (1977), reflections were not new in the education profession, especially during the teaching and learning process. See the study conducted by van Manen (1977) on teachers’ reflections in curriculum practices. It is revealed that reflections is about looking at the experiences based on the past actions and present actions in order to shape the future actions. Reflections give academics (lecturers) a chance to analyse difficult situations, tackle the problem, and to think differently in order to find the solutions to problems (Van Manen, 1991). This suggests that reflections involve the personal thinking and interrogation process in order to find the solution. This is evident when Dewey' (1933) emphasises that reflections assist lecturers and teachers to move from routine action which are influenced by traditional beliefs, habits, and HEIs or school policies; into reflective actions which are as a result of self-assessment, and self-development. This suggests that during the process of reflection there should be a change and transformation for developmental purposes in the profession (education). Thus, the major outcome of reflection in the education profession is transformative learning (Dreyer-, 2015). As a result, in defining reflections, Van Manen (1977) came out with three categories of reflections namely: technical reflection, practical reflection, and critical reflection.
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Moreover, the literature elaborates more on the above-mentioned categories of reflections by first outlining that, in technical reflection lecturers are only worried about technical application of professional knowledge in the teaching and learning space, ensuring whether teaching goals (aims, objectives, and outcomes) have been achieved (Korthagen, 1992; Van Manen, 1977, 1991). Thus, this reflection is based on researched facts in that particular profession (education) (Waghid- &
Davids, 2016). This suggests that technical reflection requires teachers to read the literature about their subject and profession in order to find facts from the researched work so that they can easily adapt to any kind of introduced LMP (Moodle) in the midst of technology integration with curriculum. In other words, this category of reflection seems to be a formal reflection since lecturers’ reflections should be based on facts that are written in black and white from research based sources during the teaching and learning process (Van Manen, 1991). Secondly, in the practical reflections, lecturers are concerned with their practices during the teaching and learning process in the classroom or institutions. The lecturers’ teaching practices should be in line with what the university community pronounces (Zembylas, 2017). In other words, lecturers’ actions are influenced by following the university ideas, habits, culture, and what other lecturers are doing during teaching and learning. As a result, these reflections are based on ideas of the society members (university). Further to this, this then suggests a informal reflection since lecturers need to reflect based on what the university society says, and what has been said from support structures or attended workshops on the use of LMPs (Moodle).
Thirdly and lastly, critical reflection allows lecturers to become aware of their personal moral issues during the teaching and learning process so that they may be more concerned or think about themselves during the teaching and learning process in order to improve their practices (Van Manen, 1977). It other words, this reflection is about self-development via the interrogation of self-actions, and this may be concluded as a personal reflection since it encourages good personal morals, and positive attitudes in the teaching and learning process (Van Manen, 1991). This suggests that personal reflection may assist lecturers for self-development on the use of the new adopted LMP.
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During 1980s, the field of reflection was dominated by the work of Schon (1987); (Schön, 1983):
“The reflective practitioner: how professionals think in action”, “Educating the reflective practitioner Jossey-Bass”; in trying to elaborate on how practitioners meet and resolve the challenges of their work in their profession so that they can improve their practices. These studies were trying to bring together the theory of reflection and the practices in a particular context (learning institution). Schön (1983) work on reflection was trying to address the work of Dewey' (1933), which indicated problematic situations, problem framing, problem solving, and the use of critical thinking in all action taken in a profession. As a result, that is the reason why Schön (1983) study outlines that for professional growth of any practitioner (lecturer/teacher), it starts when a lecturer begins to look at things with a critical or personal lens, by interrogating and critiquing his or her actions. This study clearly outlines that uncertainty or doubts bring about a way of thinking that questions and frames situations as problems or challenges in the profession. This suggests that, practitioner such as lecturers or academics should be able to think about their situations during teaching and learning, and interrogate themselves in order to verify if they have done justice on their actions. In other words, lecturers should affirm their ability to solve emerging challenges by systematically questioning their experiences in order to try to find solutions the perplexing situations. Moreover, reflections are basically unpacking the understanding and development of professional practice because it is argued that the implementation of theory within the practice is driven by reflection (Schön, 1983). That is why Schön (1983) introduced the concept of reflection- on-action and reflection-in-action to define reflections.
In addition to the above, reflection-in-action can be defined as the capacity of a practitioner (lecturer) to think and react quickly, within any given present moment, when faced with a professional issue, a practitioner usually bonds with their feelings, emotions and prior experiences to address any situation directly (Schön, 1983). From this view, reflection-in-action can be taken as “… an important human activity in which people recapture their experience, think about it, mull over & evaluate it. It is this working with experience that is important in learning” (Boud* et al., 1985, p. 43). This suggests that this kind of reflection happens by critically and personally looking at the current or present actions/experiences during any challenging situations in a working environment. In other words, reflection-in-action involves personal self-questioning of any current
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or present practitioners’ actions in order to develop an awareness of the bad or good consequence of actions. This then suggests that these actions may be informed by a personal reflection emerging from context of self-interrogation. Further to this, reflection-on-action takes place after a practitioners’ activity has taken place. It also involves thinking what happened, how and why happened as well as what changes can be made to improve the practice (Schön, 1983). Additional to this, Kolb (2014) sees reflection-on-action as the process of reflecting effectively on the past experience in such a way that there should be time set aside during each working day to reflect &
analyse practices. Note that, reflection-on-action calls for practitioners (lecturers/teachers) to sit down and evaluate if their practices or actions are according to their profession (discipline/education) (Meierdirk, 2016). In other words, this involves the interrogation process of whether lecturers’ actions, practices or experiences are according to the policies of the institution (universities/school) in order to improve and change themselves or lead to a new understanding of a practice (Boud* et al., 1985). This then suggests that, this kind of reflection is a formal reflection since lecturers’ reflections should be based on written facts (university policies), researched work (studies/readings) and try to improve their practices based on what is stipulated in black and white.
In addition to the above, in both types of reflections (reflection in and on), lecturers take their teaching and learning actions by doing what they feel is good, and also be guided by relevant theory (policies or studies) in order to build new understandings to shape their action in the unfolding circumstances (Finlay, 2008). This is evident when (Schön, 1983, p. 68) articulates that
“the practitioner allows himself to experience surprise, puzzlement, or confusion in a situation which he finds uncertain or unique. He reflects on the phenomenon before him, and on the prior understandings, which have been implicit in his behaviour. He carries out an experiment which serves to generate both a new understanding of the phenomenon and a change in the situation”.
This therefore suggests that, when lecturers meet with a puzzling circumstance such as difficulties in the use of the Moodle learning management platform, they should reflect in and on its use. This can be achieved by drawing from their own practical experience, also follow and engage with what the theory says (policy procedures) in order to generate the new understanding of using Moodle through the process of personal and formal reflection.
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While Schön (1983)’s work on reflection “in and on” action is widely recognised and has inspired many practitioners including scholars, it has also drawn criticism. See studies conducted by (Grushka, McLeod, & Reynolds, 2005) and (Khoza', 2016a) who fault the work for missing the context of reflections based on the future actions which are informed by informal reflections. Thus, these studies added or advocated for inclusion of reflection-for-action in the practices of practitioners. Further to this, “reflection-for-action seek into account future actions” (Khoza', 2016a, p. 3) and it also drives practitioners to think for the future event (reflection-for-action) by involving the society opinions rather than to think after the event (reflection-on-action) and to think during the event (reflection-in-action) (Govender & Khoza, 2017). This suggests that those lecturers’ future actions on the integration of LMP and curriculum is basically informed by informal reflections and are grounded on what they did before and what they are doing currently within the university society. In other words, if lecturers can only reflect on and in without reflecting for, it means there may be no clear or a successful future on the use of Moodle in High education institution around the world because personal identity that is ignored (Mgqwashu, 2017).
In the 1990s, the work of Dewey' (1933), Schön (1983) and Van Manen (1977) was still influential in the field of education and training in such a way that they were still developing studies on reflections (Finlay, 2008). For instance, there are various studies conducted on reflections, see studies which have done major research in bringing more discourse for clarity of reflections especially in the field of education (Boud' & Walker, 1993; Boud_ & Walker, 1991; Brookfield-, 1995; Loughran, 1996; Morrison, 1996; Zeichner- & Liston, 1996). Moreover, these studies (Boud'
& Walker, 1993; Boud- & Walker, 1998; Boud_ & Walker, 1991) dominated the field of reflections in education in 1990s. Hence, it is outlined from these studies that reflections should advocate for experiential dimension rather than personal subjectivity. In other words, the process of reflection should take into consideration the socio-economic factors of practitioners (holistic) during reflection, and this seeks to avoid dehumanisation of practitioners in the process of reflection (Boud- & Walker, 1998). This suggests that the process of reflection should not only consider the profession or module need as well as societal need, but it should also take into account the personal or human need for self-development and identity. As a result, in defining reflections, Boud- and Walker (1998) focus on a significant part, that of critical reflection, which is defined
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as, “an active, persistent and careful consideration of any belief or supposed form of knowledge in the light of the grounds that support it and the further conclusions to which it tends” (Dewey', 1933, p. 9). This involve self-development via the critical interrogation of self-actions (Clift, Houston, & Pugach, 1990; Van Manen, 1991). This reflection advocates the individual or self- reflection of practitioners in their own environment or their own profession like education, (Boud-
& Walker, 1998). That is why Zeichner- and Liston (1996) emphasised that critical reflection influences the range of each individual’s beliefs about teaching, learning and schooling in order to bring the professional mandate. This suggests that the discourse of reflections during 1990s was advocating for a personal critical reflection, which address the need of the individual lecturer or practitioner in education profession.
In addition to the above, studies aver that any reflections by lecturers become critical when all their actions are being questioned (Boud- & Walker, 1998; Brookfield", 1995). This does not mean that if a reflection is not critical it is not important but what is emphasised is a reflective practice that will enhance a critical reflection of the practices (Loughran, 1996). As a result, studies conducted by Boud- and Walker (1998) as well as Brookfield" (1995) on lecturers’ reflection on curriculum practices, are of the view that critical reflection directly addresses the profession since it is characterised by some characteristics such as: it is deeper, more intense, it draws from research sources and it is a probing form of reflection in order to bring clarity of various dynamics in the working environment. This suggests that in a critical reflection lecturers or teachers should not just merely reflect on their actions but they should question, interrogate, and assess, specifically their own individual actions by engaging themselves in a long-life learning process (Clift et al., 1990;
Korthagen, 1992). In other words, lecturers should always make research and read policies from relevant profession or discipline in order to do what is relevant. This may assist lecturers to frame their actions as according to the university policies. For instance, lecturer’s actions of using Moodle should be interrogated by referring to those Moodle policies in place and based on what the research is saying (Bates*, 2016). This suggests that both formal and personal/critical reflection addresses the need of a module or professional need (education) and of lecturers.