Reflective Learning in Professional Practice for Indigenous Health Workers

Reflection template

The following template may be useful to use when reflecting on the event you attended. Some of you will already be familiar with structured, critical reflection, for those who aren't familiar this template should help you to extend your reflections beyond simply saying what you thought to a deeper critical analysis. These skills will become part of your professional skill set when you graduate.

Reflection steps

Learning prompts

Step 1: Identify key issues/ideas

Identify 3-4 key issues that were raised by the event you attended. For example: What made you wonder? What questions did you have? What was unexpected? What were you already familiar with?

Step 2: Describe the issues/ideas

Describe the key issues in more detail without, at this point doing any analysis. This second step is about fleshing out the original idea so that there is enough detail to understand what the issue or idea is.

Step 3: Explain the key issues/ideas

Explain and give reasons for the issues you have described in step 2. Your explanation should be based on your understandings of the readings, lectures so far and other resources and should include a discussion of why the issues are important. This is where you begin to do some analysis of the idea. What made me think that? Why didn't I expect that?

Step 4: Interpret the key issues

Interpret your reflection so far and consider what the issues mean for you personally in your understanding of Indigenous Australians and yourself. Outline what new understandings you have. Has your thinking changed? Has something you already understood been confirmed? What made that happen?

Adapted from Rose, M and Devonshire, E. “Rethinking Reflection: using Online Reflective Learning in Professional Practice for Indigenous Health Workers”, Educational Media International 41:4 307-314 http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0952390410001680897

Event and Exhibition ideas: