Masters in Adult Education

I completed the Master of Adult Education programme at St. Francis Xavier University in 2007. This distance program is self-directed and self-study. The Master of Adult Education has a professional development focus. It is a self-directed, distance learning program wherein we designed, implemented, and evaluated our own content curriculum. The Master's program assisted me in defining and solving educational learning problems by using adult education methods and principles of planning and evaluation. I chose a learning project and developed goals on the basis of my own experiences and interests in consultation with our assigned advisor.

My Overall Learning Intentions

I have focussed my studies on ther incorporation of critical reflection as a key pedagogical practice in a graduate course that I team-teach, University Teaching: Theory and Practice. I have also worked with faculty in groups and individually across many disciplines in the University, helping them incorporate critical reflection into their teaching practices.

Solidifying my understanding and application of critical reflection in a variety of situations has enabled me to become seen as having expertise in this area. For example, I have:

• presented on critical reflection internally at the University of Guelph a number of times
• presented at afaculty development workshop on journalling and critical reflection at McMaster University
• presented on critical reflection at two conferences (Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education and The International Conference on Communication in Veterinary Medicine).
• two articles in the works directly based on the work I have done on incorporating critical reflection in higher educational settings (both articles will be submitted in 2005):
  • Using reflection to leverage veterinary and medical student learning of communication skills is being co-authored with two veterinarians, one based at the University of Guelph and the other from Monash University (Australia). It is based on fostering communication skills of veterinary students through critical reflection assignments. This article will be submitted to the Journal of Veterinary Medical Education.
  • A model for implementing and assessing critical reflection in higher learning is based on the graduate course I team-teach and articulates innovative practices in fostering critical reflection. This article, co-authored with my team-teacher, Dr Julia Christensen-Hughes, will be submitted to Innovative Higher Education.

Some things about me I believe to be relevant:

• I am very good at making things happen. Being an extreme Accomodator (Kolb, LSI), and showing very little comfort at reflection has led to some interesting experiences.
• I am very good at the nuts and bolts of designing and facilitating, and coaching faculty and learners. I have learned as I go, incorporating information and strategies as I see possible application.
• Due to my learning style, my (previous) fear of academic writing, and the path of my life, I have spent a lot of time of techniques and not much on the underpinnings of what I am doing.

That is why I have chosen critical reflection as the main topic for my studies. It relates directly to where I believe that I can improve. I want to make sure the philosophical foundation on which I facilitate is solid, and the assumptions upon which my work is based are clearly articulated. I would also like to reflect on my own development as a critically reflective practitioner. My challenges in journalling over the last few years have been great. Although I consider myself much more reflective than when I started the programme, journalling has not been the major factor in that development. Yet journalling seem the technique most advocated for in the literature. And I would like to explore how I have been able to embed critical reflection in my work with educators in higher education to develop their ability to integrate critical reflection into the design and delivery of courses across a diversity of disciplines.

The focus of my studies involved:

• developing a conceptual understanding of critical reflection
• developing design strategies that incorporate critical reflection development
• minimizing any obstacles in the development of critical reflection that might be impacted by distance education or face-to-face environments, including large classes and a range of disciplines
• the utilization of critical reflection in higher learning
• developing research skills
• exploring how to help faculty in integrating critically reflective pedagogy into their own courses, in sustainable and effective ways

I assessed my development based on a number of sources of information:

• evidence of critical reflection in courses that I have consulted on with faculty at the University of Guelph
• artifacts of my own teaching of courses and workshops
• personal reflection in my log