Reflective journal The aim of this assessment is to demonstrate reflective practise in relation to your learning experience. Instructions 1. Maintain a diary outlining the individual and group activities and experiences you have during the marketing research project over the study period. 2. Read the article by Boud (2001) prior to commencing your reflective journal. It is expected that you would refer to a range of resources in your reflection (see suggestions below) a. Boud, D. (2001). Using journal writing to enhance reflective practice. New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education, 2001(90), 9–18. https://doi.org/10.1002/ace.16 b. Dwyer, J. (2013). Chapter 22 Writing reflective journals. In Communication for business and the professions: strategies and skills (5th ed., pp. 595–613). Frenchs Forest NSW, Australia: Pearson. c. Hinett, K. (2002). Developing reflective practice in legal education. Coventry, England: UK Centre for Legal Education. 3. Use the diary entries (your diary is not the reflective journal) to develop a reflective journal. Some suggestions are a. Provide reflections on your experiences, observations, impressions, critical analysis and evaluation of your role as a member of a marketing research team and the process you engaged in as a member of that team b. Discuss where appropriate, insight into marketing research practices and reflection upon how you can improve your own skills and marketing research knowledge c. How has your research experience enabled you to be a more informed professional researcher for future projects? d. Think about the problems/issues and challenges that you, as part of the team, were faced with and consider how you tackled the challenge. Was the approach you used the most suitable or could you have done things differently? Think about how you worked in the marketing research environment and how you related to your peers and client. Think about how nervous or scared you may have felt and any preconceptions you had about the marketing research environment when you first started and whether, and in what situations, these have changed and how you have gained skills and confidence. 4. Identify and describe specific marketing research tasks and team activities you undertook that challenged you. A maximum of 4 (four) challenges each to be named and a concise and informed description provided for each in table format 5. Based on the 2 (two) most important challenges, critically analyse and reflect upon experiences in these situations. You will not be able to do this without external resources. This means referring to the literature to use concepts, processes, and theories (including marketing research and wider learning literature). This will ensure that you are embracing higher level thinking to support the analysis. a. Engage in and explain self-assessment of your performance of these 2 (two) challenges; reflect upon the analysis and feedback obtained and whether and how you will improve on your performance for the future. b. Use relevant examples and materials to explain your understanding of your experience. 6. You will be graded on how well you have engaged in the learning process. That is, your ability to identify what you have learned in the marketing research project, how you have learned (process), and what have been the outcomes. The learning journey and your ability to self-evaluate the development of your skills will be assessed according to the criteria outlined in the rubric which is based on the following key factors. Useful information Reflection is an important human activity in which people recapture their experience, think about it, mull it over and evaluate it. It is this working with experience that is important in learning. (Boud, Cohen and Walker, 1985). Reflective practice is an excellent learning tool and is particularly important when reviewing performance and seeking approaches to improving knowledge and skills. These skills are learned through effective reflection. Reflection has been said to have four main purposes in helping learners to: 1. understand what they already know (individual) 2. identify what they need to know in order to advance understanding of the subject (contextual) 3. make sense of new information and feedback in the context of their own experience (relational) 4. guide choices for further learning (Hinett, 2002) Reflecting involves thinking about your learning, taking a critical stance to your problem solving and seeking feedback from your peers and Lecturer (may be the client).
