This paper will explore how a portfolio approach to teaching and learning can help the educator incorporate unique forms of reflective practice into his or her daily work. By being able to express ideas more clearly to himself, the educator can better promote the relational construction of knowledge in his educational communities. This paper, as part of a larger body of research asks, how can a portfolio approach to teaching and learning help the educator develop unique forms of reflective practice that will help him express his ideas more clearly, first to himself and then secondly to his educational communities? Research methodology is primarily participatory action research and includes an autoethnographic review of the author's work, reviews, interviews, observations, and focus groups with student teachers and professional teachers in the United Arab Emirates. The research concludes that in consideration of McLuhan's (1964) notion that the "medium is the message," the interactions that arise through the use of new media tools can lead us to relational, co-constructed ideas that are not those simply passed on from other texts. By making our thinking visible, the portfolio approach allows the educator to capture the contextual relationship between the author, the audience or community, and the knowledge being created.
Critical reflection, addressing students’ attitude, beliefs and values related to pressing topics in the world, plays a crucial role in developing ethical sensitiveness and critical design literacy in design education. Critical reflection is provoked by discussing self-made photos, as is demonstrated in the research method Photovoice. This paper considers Photovoice in design education for its ability to foster learning through self-guided critical reflective interactions with peers based on self-made photos. Research on how to support this is lacking. This paper addresses this gap by studying students engaging in self-guided Photovoice assignments. Results consist of adapted steps for Photovoice in education and illustrate potential as well as boundaries of self-guided Photovoice through students’ quotes and photomaps. Also, five frames of interpretation, suggested by students engaged in self-guided Photovoice, contribute to previous knowledge and may inspire the design education community to start experimenting with Photovoice in course work. The final aim is to support students in critical reflection, a crucial skill for responsible design professionals.
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This study investigates whether creative, expressive, and reflective writing contributes to the formation of a work-life narrative that offers both meaning and direction among students in higher education. The content of writing done by students who participated in a two-day writing course at the start (or in preparation) of their work placements and of a control group who did not take part in the course were compared. Writing samples were analysed using the Linguistic Index Word Count program (Pennebaker, Booth, & Francis, 2007) and an instrument based on Dialogical Self Theory (Hermans & Hermans-Konopka, 2010). Results show writing promotes the development of career narratives.
