Learning to Learn: Flow, Critical Reflection, Feedback and Integration

Kay Fielden

Unitec Institute of Technology

What is it about?

It has always seemed to me that there are assumptions made about how learning to reflect critically occurs.  This workshop is grounded in the importance of providing immediate feedback as students develop critical thinking skills (Fielden, 2005; 2008; 2009a).  Whilst this session is grounded in the way in which students learn research skills, the emphasis is on how critical reflection is learned experientially and the importance of multiple feedback loops (which is topic independent).  The stance adopted is that learning and practicing critical reflection is reinforced by multi-layered feedback loops both from peers and lecturer.  This feedback enriches the learning experience so that the ‘flow’ experience is achieved effortlessly. In experiencing ‘effortless flow’ as they reflect critically students enter an integrated state of right brain/left brain from which effortless learning emerges. Because for many, postgraduate study is a solitary activity, it is important for students to reach a sufficient level of cognitive maturity so that they ‘know’ the integrated right brain/left brain state of being. 

Why is it important?

Learning to learn in an integrated fashion means that we use more of our brain functioning.  Research is a creative activity and is we only use left-brain functioning we do ourselves and our students an injustice. Integrating- the experiential state experienced when the brain makes use of analytical and critical thinking skills at the same time put the joy back into researching as it becomes an effortless flow. There are multiple implications for expanding human potential independent of discipline area.

How the session will run

The core concepts of flow (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990), critical reflection (Bain et al, 1999) and integration (Fielden, 2009b) will be introduced first as a brief discussion.  This will be followed by an experiential exercise to demonstrate each concept in turn and progressively, the concepts will be linked. Each exercise will be followed by double feedback loops, first in pairs and then for the whole group.  The remainder of the session will be a dialogue on the implications for process-based learning that is independent of topic, with a focus on how effective strategies for enhancing the relationship between the core concepts of flow, critical reflection and integration could be implemented.

References

Bain, J.D., Ballantyne, R., Packer, J., Mills, C. (1999):Using journal writing to enhance student teachers’ reflectivity during field experience placement. Teachers and Teaching: Theory and Practice, 5(1),51-73.

Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1990).Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience. New York: Harper and Row.

Fielden, K. (2009a).Reflecting on postgraduate completions. The New Zealand Journal of Applied Computing and Information Technology,(13) 1,30-35.

Fielden, K. (2009b).Best practice in postgraduate teaching. Workshop session Unitec Teaching and Learning Symposium, September 29.

Fielden, K. (2008).Reflections on postgraduate completions: Exploring links between skills and results. Presented at the Symposium on Tertiary Assessment and Higher Education Student Outcomes, November 17-19, Wellington.

Fielden, K. (2005).Evaluating critical reflection for postgraduate students in computing. Issues in Informing Science and Information Technology, 6,462-470.