Reflective assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Reflective assignment - Essay Example The project has lasted for about 4 months, i.e. for October 2012 up to January 2013 and focuses on the provision of important guidelines in regard to the use of Glo-bus, a critical software tool for managing data. Initially, I considered this learning project as a rather easy task, having the impression that I would have to deal with issues easy to handle. However, the challenges appeared during the development of the process have been several. The use of a framework, such as the Reflective Analysis, has helped me to realize that I could use these challenges for improving my responses to similar problems in the future. 1. Introduction The participation of an individual in a group activity can significantly help towards the development of personal skills and competencies. However, in order for such target to be achieved it is necessary for the individual to clearly understand his performance in regard to the particular activity, meaning his ability to respond effectively to the tasks assigned to him, as a group member. The use of theories and concepts related to the reflective analysis has been proved particularly helpful for understanding the role and the experiences of individuals as members of groups. The potential use of reflective practice techniques for analyzing the personal experiences, as a member of a Glo-bus team, is explained in this paper. Glo-bus is a tool for managing a large volume of data, mainly through the use of grids that can be quite complex (Glo-bus 2013). The literature published in this area has been employed for analyzing a series of critical incidents that have occurred while developing the particular project, meaning the 4 months learning project in which the above team has participated. It is proved that these techniques can be particularly effective in analyzing and evaluating such incidents but under the following terms: that the analysis of each incident is backed by appropriate theory so that no doubts can appear as of the explan ations given. 2. Reflective Analysis – Academic theories and concepts Reflective Analysis is a framework for evaluating the personal performance in regard to a specific activity/ task. Reflective Analysis is commonly involved in the use of a series of techniques, known as reflective practice techniques that can secure the high performance of individuals in a series of activities, at the level that these practices help the individuals to identify their weaknesses and eliminate them by appropriate plans of action. The use of reflective practice techniques is critical in order for the learners ‘to capture and enrich learning’ (Billett 2011, p.211). These techniques are based on the following rule: knowledge is transferred to learners not just through the delivery of theoretical material but, especially, through practice (Billett 2011). The practice, as part of these techniques, refers to the development of tasks that are related to a specific sector, the one in whic h the learners are willing to work (Billett 2011). Reflective practice, as part of Reflective Analysis, has a particular target: to reveal the areas in which an individual should focus so that his performance in regard to one or more activities is significantly improved. From this point of view, Lowenstein and Bradshaw (2004) note that reflective practice is often described as ‘the process of exposing the contradictions in practice’ (Lowenstein and Bra