Critical Reflection and Developing Practice - Education

Lauretta Adeleye
CRITICAL REFLECTION AND DEVELOPING PRACTICE
Table of Contents
Introduction & Context    3
Research Objective    3
Research Question    3
Research Overview    4
Outline of the Unit    4
Importance of Critical Reflective Practice    4
Identified Problem in Professional Practice    5
Steps Taken to Address the Problem    5
Changes Implemented    5
Impact of the Change    6
Defining the Reflective Practice    6
Factors Affecting Reflection in Action    7
Factors Affecting Reflection on Action    8
Benefits of Critical Analysis    9
Features of Reflection    10
Reflecting effectively and ensuring it leads to learning    11
Tools for reflection    12
Conclusion    14
References    15
Introduction & Incorporation of Technology in the Education System
Technology has been an inherent factor in education that has enhanced the efficiency and effectiveness of the teaching-learning process. The efficiency of the teaching-learning process has been defined in terms of the quickness through which the students can obtain the knowledge and the effectiveness that is explicitly associated with the content of knowledge imparted to the students. This also ensures the processes that the teachers follow in terms of retention of knowledge among the students and the utilization of effective assumptions that can impact the increased learning capacity of the students.
In a more cohesive scenario, it is effective to consider the coherent aspects of technology that ease the methods of the teaching-learning process and facilitates the relationship between the instructor and the students. My exposure to the use of technology in the aspect of facilitating the students started during the lockdown period owing to the spread of the pandemic. I served as a social science teacher for secondary classes in a public school in England. I conducted research regarding the effective revolution that took place in the teaching-learning process after the pandemic with an inherent incorporation of technology in the education system.
Research Question
The research questions for the research are:
RQ1: How has technology changed the teaching-learning process and evolved the facilitation of education?
RQ2: What are the potential advantages and disadvantages of the technology-based teaching-learning process?
RQ3: What are the potential impacts of the incorporation of technology in the teaching-learning process?
Research Objective
The research objectives are:
· To analyse the evolution of the teaching-learning process after the incorporation of technology in the education process.    Comment by Assessor: Please update them in terms of reflection on you as an educator.    Comment by Bidusha Mallick: Already written from educators as in my POV
· To study the impact of technology on the teaching-learning process.
· To understand the efficient way of incorporating technology for facilitating a student-based learning outcome.
· To understand the elements of modern teaching tools that can help the students to retain their knowledge and enhance the learning procedure.
· To assess the student and facilitate them with effective means of accuracy and ensure that they are able to use technology effectively in the future.
Research Overview
The research contemplates the use of technology and the aspects that have influenced the global learning community. Educational institutions are enhancing the adoption of technology for the teaching-learning process which has entirely changed the biosphere of the education system. Therefore, it is inherent to consider and study the effect it changes that I have perceived in my professional context with an inherent adoption of technology while imparting education.
This paper presents reflection research analysing the impact of my practice and use of incorporation of technology in the educational system . I have explicitly conducted an inherent analysis of the behaviours and events to consider the effective evolution of the teaching-learning process with an inherent consideration of technology while instructing the students. The research contemplates the impact of technology on the education system and the evolution of the teaching-learning process because of the incorporation of technology. I assisted in the use of technology in both the online as well as offline modes of education and have based my research on both modes of the education system.
Outline of the Unit
Significance of Reflection in my Practice
Reflective practice is an essential context for the service levels of teaching. Reflective practices can inherently ensure a high level of awareness in terms of bridging the gap between theory and practice. In the context of the professional practice of a teacher, reflection analysis is beneficial for personal progress as well as professional development. Reflective teaching is a continuous process that ensures the involvement of thoughtful consideration of one’s experience and applying the knowledge to practice while being taught by professionals.
Engagement in reflective practices is also associated with the improvement in the quality of professional aspects and stimulating personal and professional growth by closing the gap in terms of theory and practice. Reflection analysis and reflective research are particularly important for professional development by promoting professional development as a teacher and improvising the quality of the teaching and learning process. A reflective analysis is one of the important parts of the professional development of the teacher and it needs to be investigated the exponential aspects regarding the beneficial content of the practice that is implemented by the teachers. Critical reflection in the professional development of a teacher enhances the approaches that the teachers implement in the classroom and enables them to consider the beneficial elements of the teaching-learning process.
Identified Problem in Professional Practice
In the professional context, the problem that I faced was the effective aspects that the student faced when technology was implemented in the education system. During the spread of the pandemic of COVID 19, the school was closed owing to movement restrictions and lockdown. In this context, most of the schools resorted to an online mode of teaching for the continuation of education. This was the first instance in the present decade where schools and the entire education system incorporated the means of technology. Technology has been in subsequent use in the education system earlier also. But an inherent use of technology became more apparent during the pandemic and in the post-pandemic period. Teachers and students' responsibilities started to change as a result of technological advances and the use of conventional classrooms became more inherent and the entire education system was influenced by a drastic change.
Steps Taken to Address the Problem
The involvement of the students has become more contextual and there were subsequently problems regarding the proper implementation of technology. It is apparent that in the initial phase technology improved the academic and cognitive abilities of the students. But implementation of such aspects reduced the efficiency of these students to communicate face to face with their peers and teachers (Valenzuela, 2020). Therefore, I implemented certain aspects of the use of technology in the Social-Science classes so that they can overcome the difficulties that they face regarding the use of technology. I asked the student to prepare PowerPoint presentations on various topics of their interest in Social Science and present them in an interactive online session.
Changes Implemented
The changes that were implemented were focused on the involvement of the students to make the teaching-learning process to be more interactive and emergent student experiences such that they do not have any communication gaps due to the use of technology. This reflection research can effectively help to analyse the valuable insights about the incorporation of technology and involving the students which will reflect in the evolution of the entire teaching-learning process.
As an educator, I felt that the students are all concerned about taking into consideration different multimedia and sensory experiences as a means of technological involvement in the teaching-learning process. But it is effective to consider interactive learning scenarios with the use of technology by breaking the physical barriers and ensuring telecollaboration by enhancing the emotional connection while giving the lessons and enhancing the teaching-learning process (Van et al., 2021). Using interactive elements with the use of technology can inherently ensure to evaluation of the problems arising from the above-mentioned aspect. I insisted my students present a short introduction video for an interactive meet and greet before the presentation. A survey at the end of the session was asked to be presented by the students in terms of evaluating the engagement of the students based on the feedback. Many students also have different learning requirements such as the need for translation which can be inherently enhanced by the use of technology and an inherent interactive learning process.
Impact of the Change
The implementation of such changes in the entire teaching-learning process through the use of technology has enhanced the emotional connections among the students that had effectively enhanced their communication abilities. I noticed that the digital environment can effectively end face barriers in terms of developing effective connections among the cohorts (Ullmann, 2018). Effectively using the interactive element during the online mode of the classroom, explicitly helped them to enhance their communication abilities with the use of technology and made them aware that the use of technology is not just confined to using multimedia materials but that technology can be inherently used for greater involvement among themselves. Interactive elements in the online classroom have ended the typical disadvantages of the use of technology in the teaching-learning process.
Defining the...