Reflexive Journals

DesignSurfer > Creativity > Reflexivity

Aim

The aim in introducing a reflexive element to your workbook is to help you do better in this course and as a working engineer. A definition might help: Reflexivity = thinking about what has happened so far in order to plan what will happen in the future. It is more than thinking about what happened, it’s also thinking about what you will do about it. It is a way to systematize your thoughts and improve your practice through better planning and through learning from your mistakes.

Procedure

As well as recording your actual technical work in your workbooks, you are required also periodically to include a reflexive session. We suggest you do this once a week. The following pro forma is intended as a guide and you are welcome to vary it as you see fit as long as you attain the same goal of using past experience to improve future practice.

We suggest you structure your reflexive sessions by asking yourself the following three questions:

What Happened? Obviously you don’t need to record everything. What were the significant events? If nothing happened in the last week, this should also be recorded.

So What? Why were these events significant? If something went wrong, what was the cause of the failure? What consequences does this have for the rest of the project? If nothing happened, how does this affect your progress?

Now What? What do you do next? What issues arise out of the last week’s work? Is there unfinished business to be resolved before you can move on? If you are having a problem, what are you going to do to start solving it?

An Example

The following example of a reflexive entry in a journal/workbook is based on work done in Semester 1, 1997 in E4408 in which groups of four people worked together on designs. It has been recast slightly to preserve anonymity and to fit the pro forma suggested for this semester.

What Happened? Had lecture on D4MA. Encouraged to ask whether we have taken mff methods into accnt, assembly, reassembly, repair. What R and controllg mf/assembly factors in our case? Group meeting to apply these principles. Not too happy with A’s input. Also group tends to fly off in 4 different directions.

So What? Choices emerging so far: Metal spinning, Casting metal, Casting polymer, Laminating wood
Wood looks like it’s going to be cheapest but I’m not convinced that cost ought to be our deciding factor here. Seems to me the group needs to pay attention to prioritising. For our project this probably needed to be done much earlier. This may depend on the size and scope of the project.

Now What? Jobs allocated to group:
A - pole defn, bolt calc’ns
B - draw steps, plugs, bolts, brackets
C - handles, o-rings
Me - timber $, maths of laminations
I’m going to be wild if A doesn’t pull his weight this week. Don’t know whether to talk to him about it now or not. Probably wait till after he hasn’t done it (!). Also want to talk to others about organisation and priorities. Might do this over coffee.

Assessment of Reflexive Entries

Every two weeks you will swap workbooks with a fellow student who will check that you have entered your reflexive sessions. This is your opportunity to talk over your progress with a peer, but it also forms part of the assessment process. In week 6 we will collect the workbooks for the stage 1 deliverables. At this time we will also review your reflexive entries in the workbook and give you written feedback. At the end of semester you will be marked on this part of your work. The criteria used in marking will be:

Diligence	Regular (at least weekly) entries.
Application	Serious attempt to use the reflexive session as intended. Even if no work has been done, some reflexivity should be applied to this fact, and future planning honestly outlined.
Development	It is not expected that you will be comfortable with this system all at once. However, we do expect that you will be more committed and more fluent in the process as the semester progresses.

These notes were prepared by Lesley Jolly of the Department of Anthropology and Sociology at the University of Queensland.

*What Happened?*	Obviously you don’t need to record everything. What were the significant events? If nothing happened in the last week, this should also be recorded.
*So What?*	Why were these events significant? If something went wrong, what was the cause of the failure? What consequences does this have for the rest of the project? If nothing happened, how does this affect your progress?
*Now What?*	What do you do next? What issues arise out of the last week’s work? Is there unfinished business to be resolved before you can move on? If you are having a problem, what are you going to do to start solving it?

*What Happened?*	Had lecture on D4MA. Encouraged to ask whether we have taken mff methods into accnt, assembly, reassembly, repair. What R and controllg mf/assembly factors in our case? Group meeting to apply these principles. Not too happy with A’s input. Also group tends to fly off in 4 different directions.
*So What?*	Choices emerging so far: Metal spinning, Casting metal, Casting polymer, Laminating wood Wood looks like it’s going to be cheapest but I’m not convinced that cost ought to be our deciding factor here. Seems to me the group needs to pay attention to prioritising. For our project this probably needed to be done much earlier. This may depend on the size and scope of the project.
*Now What?*	Jobs allocated to group: A - pole defn, bolt calc’ns B - draw steps, plugs, bolts, brackets C - handles, o-rings Me - timber $, maths of laminations I’m going to be wild if A doesn’t pull his weight this week. Don’t know whether to talk to him about it now or not. Probably wait till after he hasn’t done it (!). Also want to talk to others about organisation and priorities. Might do this over coffee.

Aim

Procedure

An Example

Assessment of Reflexive Entries

Last revised 13 December, 1999; ©The University of Queensland ,