I was the Convenor for the 2018 Engineering Education Showcase Workshop on Reflective Practice. The purpose of the workshop is to facilitate further a discussion around reflective practice in the Faculty of Engineering so that a framework can be created. There are many areas within Engineering where students can use reflective practice to reinforce and build upon what they have learnt in their program of study. The questions for the educators is how do we align the skills they acquired with set criteria for recognition, in line with UNSW's Educational Excellence Objective 3 where the stated aim is to ensure UNSW students obtain a holistic education and secure real-world skills needed for a rapidly evolving workplace through program design.
The workshop focused on: (1) Program wide implementation of reflective practice; and (2) Use of reflective practice in design and laboratory courses. It will also touch on micro-credentialing (badging). The topics that were addressed in the workshop include:
How the Faculty of Science introduced reflective practice into their curriculum.
- What are the benefits of reflective practice to the students?
- Which program area is appropriate for reflective practice?
- How can we design authentic and relevant reflective practice?
- How can we put a framework around reflective practice in UNSW Engineering?
- Would a uniformed framework that is easy for the student to access and complete be beneficial?
- What tools or resources do need to implement reflective practice into their teaching?
- How can students retain their reflections after graduation, e.g. use it as a portable document?
- How does reflective practice relate to students’ future employability skills?