Big R and little r

The definitions forum has been really interesting. Lots of very thoughtful posts. The discussion about whether there are two types of reflection - big R for formal academic activity which is taught and assessed ( e.g. keeping learning logs etc.) and small r for something more integral to learning and practice has been thought provoking.

Jenny Moon suggests that there are as many types of reflection as you care to define - but whilst we may agree this, it's important for me to be clear about my own definition. For the last couple of years I have had the following definition:

'My own understanding (I hesitate to use the word ‘definition’) of reflection/reflective learning is that it is the process of thinking about my own thinking, actions or learning, with a view to gaining a deeper understanding of them and improving them, so that I can see the evidence in changed behaviour. This thinking will also involve examining my emotional response and how my feelings have influenced my thinking, actions and learning. To make this reflection significant, I need to mark it in some way, by talking about it or better still recording it in written form. Finally, I need to revisit the marked events at some later stage and note whether my learning has improved/moved on.'

I added the bit in bold, last year, when a course participant challenged me to consider how the role of emotion could be included in my definition.

What concerns me, a little, is that my definition has not changed in the last couple of years, which suggests that I haven't made any progress in my thinking. Interestingly I can note slight changes of emphasis and points of interest in both Peter and Jenny Moon's posts on this course, which is an indication of how their thinking has moved over the past year. But I'm not sure that my thinking has changed that much.

The big R, little r notion interested me because I know that I'm quite good on the big R. I do quite a bit of course evaluation and write reports and am able to identify strengths and weaknesses and make suggestions for change. This requires a lot of thinking behind the scenes (reflection on the courses), but I see this as big R. Whilst I learn from this, it is external to me.

Little r, I see as being internal to me and much harder to deal with. This is reflecting on my own learning, behaviour and practice and trying to change this. Whilst I can understand this and I think my definition reflects this understanding, I don't find it so easy to change 'me'.

Jenny Moon has written today:

'Editing is a kind of secondary reflection. I consider that the raw reflection that is first written in jouranls and reflective pieces is of relatively little value. The value is created when the person re-reads and reflects again on the initial reflections.'

I have read this in her books and she has said it on both the previous courses and it makes absolute sense to me. I have also tried to make a habit of revisiting and editing initial writing. However, there still seems to be a big shift to make from that secondary editing process to changed behaviour.

I sometimes feel that I am making exactly the same mistakes that I was making in my childhood :-)