What a difference a day makes: reflection retreats as academic development in higher education

ABSTRACT

A growing body of research supports the learning and teaching of reflective practice in higher education; however, the application of reflective skills beyond the classroom, and specifically in professional development, is underdeveloped. While the value of reflective practice may not be clearly apparent for academic and professional staff, universities as complex organisations are searching for effective catalysts and supports for development and change. Reflective practice may be this catalyst and support. This paper introduces a new epistemological spectrum of approaches to reflection and examines a range of reflective activities from across the spectrum for their potential application in academic development. A mixed methods research approach generated findings from two reflection retreats: one for Australian university staff and one for Chinese academics. While some similarities and differences were identified across both groups, it is suggested that reflective practice activities can be a catalyst for positive academic and professional development.

KEYWORDS:

• Reflection
• reflective practice
• academic development
• professional development

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Marina Harvey

Marina Harvey is the Director, Academic Development Services, UNSW. She is a Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, an Australian National Teaching Fellow and has also received national and university citations for outstanding contributions to student learning. Marina has been recognised as a national expert on sessional staff, leading the development of the BLASST.edu.au national standards. Her scholarship in learning and teaching in higher education extends to a growing list of over 80 learning and teaching publications. Her work in enhancing quality learning and teaching is underpinned by, and focuses on, reflection for learning. Other scholarly interests include distributed leadership and mentoring for learning and teaching in higher education, all of which are examined through Participatory Action Research.

Panos Vlachopoulos

Panos Vlachopoulos is Associate Professor in Learning Innovation and Associate Dean Quality and Standards, Faculty of Arts, Macquarie University. He is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. Panos has international experience as an academic educator and researcher in the areas of online learning, learning design, social network analysis, and reflective practice. Some of his contributions in the area of learning and teaching in higher education include a model for online tutoring that draws heavily on reflective practice and the development of a learning design methodology to support academic and professional staff to design curriculum at programme level.