John
Upon the conclusion of each course I have taken since cornerstone, I have written a reflection for those classes. While this was a requirement for the capstone class, it also provided a great opportunity to sit back and think about everything that I had learned in those courses. During the process of writing the reflections I also took the time to include how I planned on utilizing the newly found information both in future courses as well as in my future career. Now that I am in capstone, I have the opportunity to strategically place these reflections into places that I feel will best represent my abilities and academic accomplishments. This way a potential employer will have the opportunity to look at my e-portfolio and see what I have taken from those learning experiences, and how I feel I can employ it in the future.
I view a reflection as an opportunity to think back and talk about my experience, not just what the course of events were but what the significance of those events were. If I were to just give the course of events without the significance of them I feel that I would just be describing the events. In order to take a description and turn it into a reflection you need to add some critical thinking, and tell what you have obtained as a result of participating in those endeavors. Descriptions are easier to produce than reflections. If you are having trouble coming up with a reflection, I think a good place to start is with a description. Once you have made a description, go back and ask yourself “why?” to each of the things you described, and add the answers to the description without having is sound like and answer to a question.
Mike
After every class that I have taken at UCF I have written about a paragraph of a basic overview of the class. I do this for many reasons, One being because it was required for cornerstone class. The second reason is because if I need to reference anything I know where to go. I save every book that I have bought because all the courses I have taken require a little bit of knowledge from everything. This has helped me reflect back to the past classes I have taken to help me in the future. I believe that you need to be able to go through an experience before you can have a proper reflection of it. A description is something that gives you an overview on a subject. An example of description would be when you are in the market for a book, and you turn it over and read the back of it to get an idea of what its about. After you are done reading that book you can then write a reflection paper. Description is to describe what something is about before experience, and reflection is describing something after you have experienced it.
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Mike and John,
ReplyDeleteI have never really reflected on any of my classes I have tooken. After reading both of you guys experience with reflecting on a past glass it really inetrest me. I feel like it's a great idea to review everything you have learned in the courses you took throughout the semester. Maybe that is why sometimes I forget little things that I learned that semester. Now that I saw that his helped both of you, I will begin to do it also.
Mike,
ReplyDeleteIs it a bad thing that I usually return all my books back? Majority of the books I have used in the previous semester I felt like I had no use for them. All of those books were dealing more with core classes. Also I feel like I should keep the books that will help me with my minor and areas of study. One thing I have noticed though is that students that keep their books are better off in school, because they seem to review and maintain that knowledge from that course. Do you think that is true?
To me reflection is the process of reviewing past work then seeing what mistakes I may have made and how I can improve my work, then obtaining an understanding of my work. Reflection is different from description because describing something is just offering basic information about whatever it is you’re describing. For example, say I am describing a term paper to a professor; I will offer basic information and depictions about my paper, like what I wrote about. However, if I were to reflect on my term paper I would review my work and see what information I may have missed and how I can improve my paper, and ultimately gain a better understanding of my work. I am planning to use reflection in developing my e-Portfolio content pages by reviewing all the work I have submitted in the past few months and seeing if there are any areas that need improvement. After reviewing the individual areas I will compile the entire e-Portfolio and then review and reflect on it in its entirety. I will attempt to gain a better understanding of my past work and efforts and then try to aim my e-Portfolio at my designated target, which would be a graduate school.
ReplyDeleteJohn,
ReplyDeleteI like your explanation of what a description and a reflection is; I agree that once you have a description of something (which is simple to accomplish) you should ask yourself “why?” and the response generated will be a reflection of that description. A reflection does involve some critical thinking, and I also think that it involves criticism as well. I think that a good reflection involves someone reviewing their material and gaining an understanding of their work, and then seeing what mistakes and possible improvements could be done.
Mike,
ReplyDeleteI too save my books from previous classes and found that having them are a great help when I want to go back a review a subject in a particular course. Since I am an interdisciplinary student and have taken many different courses, including criminal justice, health, and business, I have reviewed so much information that it can be easy to forget something. So occasionally I do refer back to texts from previous semesters to refresh my memory on certain topics. I think this is a great was to reflect on my areas of interest and minor.
Andy,
ReplyDeleteWell as I mentioned above I never saved any of my texts from previous classes. I would like to know if they actually have helped you. At times I have not been able to keep my books because I have to return them to athletics, but this year they changed the system. So I'm actually asking you if you think it would really be a good idead to keep my books, including the ones that have nothing to do with my minor or areas of study?
Mike,
ReplyDeleteYeah, I think it is hard to be able to reflect over something before I have experienced it. So, I think you are absolutely right when you stated , “ Description is to describe what something is about before experience, and reflection is describing something after you have experienced it.” I am also going to take your advice to do descriptions and reflections of my classes that I will take after this course. This will be useful because it will be a part of the capstone class I will be taking in spring of 2011.
John,
ReplyDeleteI also think that e-portfolio can be a great asset for me. It can actually show my future employer what I have learned in college and how I can adapt this to my future career. Also, the knowledge I have gotten from one class I can apply to another. I think e-portfolio itself is a great artifact to show to my future employer.
I think I might use e-portfolio in the future, even though it won’t be necessary when I apply for the graduate school I am going to attend after college. I may use e-portfolio when I apply for summer jobs and extra jobs while attending graduate school. This is because when one applies for graduate school in Europe you can only apply with your academic grades and “MCAT, or other graduate exams”. No name is visible for the graduate school and every person is a number. This is because no one should have an advantage to get accepted due to knowing someone or coming from a specific family. To get accepted to a graduate school is hard because of this, since it is exactly as a lottery, but it is also a fair system. So that is why I will only use my e-portfolio for extra jobs and summer jobs meanwhile I am attending school.
ReplyDeleteIts always a good idea to save your books.. I am finishing moving to Dayton for graduate school (starting this january ) and one thing i did was a buy a nice book shelf for my books. I kept books like chem, bio, immunology, health, nutrition, orgo, anatomy, physiology. Depending on what you want to do there is a bit of knowledge needed in every subject. EX) if Im confused about something in my immunology class about cells division, ill open my old bio book.
ReplyDeleteI also like to save my books. I believe it is a great reference point for future essays and research. I need a shelf too haha! I think the e-portfolio or a blog type setup is a great way to market and showcase yourself as well. If done properly it is a great reference!
ReplyDeleteMike and Jenny,
ReplyDeleteI do to like your statement about descriptions. I really like what you said "that you need to be able to go through an experience before you can have a proper reflection of it. A description is something that gives you an overview on a subject." It is important to understand this, because it allows one to really thoroughly grasp the subject matter and its worth to them.
John,
ReplyDeleteI can't wait to be in capstone and look back on everything I have done and accomplished. The e-portfolio must be a great way to see your progress. It is like an online scrapbook!
Reflection is a major part of your e-portfolio. Take the time to make sure you are properly reflecting so that these reflections will be a useful tool in your e-portfolio. It is never too early to review and revise your work. You can always make improvements to your work and resubmit it to the e-portfolio. If you take the time to make improvements now, you will have more free time when your get to capstone to concentrate on other assignments.
ReplyDelete