Reflective practices as masks: thinking about online reflection in higher education.
Jen Ross, Associate Lecturer, Department of Higher and Community Education,
Abstract
This seminar draws on my ongoing research project looking at how students and teachers deal with issues of identity, authenticity, audience, ownership, and privacy in high-stakes online reflection in higher education. I define high-stakes reflection as reflection which counts towards a final grade or has some bearing on entry to a profession or professional body. Reflective practices are often described by teachers, students and in the literature as a way of recording or improving a 'true' or 'authentic' self, but in my view these practices should support the development of academic or professional voice through explicit engagement with issues of identity, audience and power. I use the metaphor of the mask to draw out different aspects of high-stakes reflection online: performance, disguise, protection, transformation, discipline and trace. Thinking about online reflective practices in these multiple and overlapping ways has implications for how we understand reflection, and the expectations we place on our students in terms of what high-stakes reflective writing, especially online writing, can and should accomplish.