The work-reflection-learning cycle - Department of Computer and ...

presentation. In 2008, there were 11 teams of 3-5 students; 46 students altogether. The grade
distribution in the course was 3 As, 4 Bs, 3 Cs and one D. B is a good grade that all but the
most ambitious students would be satisfied with. The overarching learning goal of the course
is to “get experience with SE project work in a team with a customer”, and postmortem
reflection is seen as important to the learning outcome. In 2008 it was decided to provide
support for this reflection by running a facilitated workshop with each team, to achieve active
participation by all team members. The workshops were obligatory and scheduled between
the final delivery and the oral project presentation.
The author of this paper was the workshop facilitator. She started the semester as course
coordinator, and after the course startup she continued only as researcher on the teams’ work.
At the outset of the workshop, the students were informed that the facilitator was not involved
in project evaluation, and that nothing said or written would be referred to outside the room,
except made anonymous and for research purposes. All teams accepted audio recording and
having pictures taken of the resulting work on the whiteboard. The photos were sent to each
team at the end of the workshop as a resource for their work on the reflection notes.
The workshop setting was as follows: The participants were sitting by a table in a
room with a large-size whiteboard. Each participant was provided with an A3 paper
form containing a timeline marked with some major project events (e.g. main
deliveries). On top of the sheet was a smiley face, and at the bottom a sad face (See
Figure 1). On the table, there were pens and whiteboard markers in different colors.
The workshop lasted 60 minutes and was divided into eight tasks (see Table 1). Task
1 is the introduction, in which background information is provided. Tasks 2-3
comprises individual and shared work to draw the project timeline. Individual timelines
are made on the A3 sheets and the shared timeline is drawn by the facilitator on the
whiteboard. Tasks 4-5 comprise individual drawing of experience curves on the A3
sheets and the drawing and presentation of the curves along the timeline on the
whiteboard (see Figure 1). With reference to Boud et al.’s reflection model, tasks 2-5
can be seen as a ‘Returning to experience’ reflection step. Tasks 4-5 explicitly prescribe
‘attending to feelings’. In tasks 6-7, the team is ‘re-evaluating experience’ by taking
different perspectives: those of tasks, roles and lessons learned. In this way, issues that
have emerged in tasks 2-5 are re-examined, and issues that have so far been missed may
be brought up. The wrap-up in task 8 encourages an overall perspective on the process
and can be used by the facilitator to have participants’ feedback on the workshop itself.
Task name
1 Intro
(5 min)
2 Individual
timelines
(5 min)
3 Shared
timeline
(15 min)
4 Individual
experience
curves
(5 min)
5 Present
curves
(10 min)
Description
Explain the purpose and agenda of the workshop. Clarify issues of confidentiality
and research
Each participant gets an A3 sheet of paper with a timeline reporting common
events in the course (mainly the deliveries). The participants are asked to
individually add events that they perceived had an impact on their project.
Participants take turn in explaining the events they have listed The facilitator
marks the events on the whiteboard on a timeline similar to the one on the
individual sheets.
The team members each draw their experience curve (or ‘satisfaction curve’) on
the A3 sheet. The smiley face on top of the sheet indicates a level of great
satisfaction. Down at the bottom is great dissatisfaction, and the timeline itself
marks a neutral position in the middle.
Each member in turn goes to the whiteboard, which holds the shared
timeline. The team member first draws her curve with her whiteboard
marker, next explains its shape. At the end of the session, all team
members’ experience curves can be found on the whiteboard.
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