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

A Model of Retrospective Reflection in Project Based Learning 423
been used to analyse learning in educational [22-24] as well as work [25, 26] settings.
In the present study, the main reason for choosing distributed cognition among the
candidate frameworks is its focus on transformation between representations. Such
transformations can be seen as a core element in a process of retrospective reflection
incorporating construction of timelines and examination of historical data. The concept
of cognitive tools [23, 27] can shed light on how such representations aid work
and learning. Selecting distributed cognition as a framework we focus on its descriptive
power and what we want to achieve by applying it [18].
We want to develop a model which not only descriptively accounts for the elements
and dynamics of retrospective reflection in project based learning but which
also informs its organization. To this end we augment our theoretical framework with
theory addressing how the process of learning and reflection may be facilitated.
Reflection can be seen as active and careful consideration of any belief or supposed
form of knowledge [28], implying the reviewing and judging of present knowledge or
beliefs [29]. A model of the learning process linking reflection to the experience reflected
on in a reciprocal relationship is provided by Kolb and Fry [30]. Boud et al.
[31] present a model of the reflective process in which the returning to experience is
essential. The experience comprises the behaviour, ideas and feelings involved in the
situation reflected upon. In the reflective process, feelings about the experience
should be attended to and the experience re-evaluated. The desired outcomes of reflection
include new perspectives on the experiences, change in behaviour, readiness
for application and commitment to action. The model is descriptive with respect to
steps typically occurring in reflection but is also meant to provide guidance about how
to achieve successful reflection.
Project work experience can be understood in terms of the project trajectory [32], a
concept in line with the idea of temporarily distributed cognition. Strauss refers to
Mead on the issue of how a social world reflects on its history: “The temporal spans
of group life mean that the aims and aspirations of group endeavor are subject to reviewal
and recasting. Likewise past activities come to be viewed in new lights,
through reappraisal and selective recollection. ..History, whether that of a single person
or of a group, signifies a ‘coming back at self’ (Mead 1936)”. By ‘trajectory’
Strauss means “the course of any experienced phenomenon as it evolves over time”.
Distributed cognition “implies that the learners are enabled to think deeply and
create certain types of artifacts that represent their thinking by working with cognitive
tools” [23] p.209. Cognitive tools are tools that “help users represent what they know
as they transform information into knowledge and are used to engage in, and facilitate,
critical thinking and higher order learning.” [27]
Stahl [33] explicitly addresses the collaborative aspect of learning in his model of
collaborative knowledge building, “a cyclical process with no beginning or end”
(p.75). At the heart of the model are processes of building personal and collaborative
knowing. The model comprises the transformation of cultural and cognitive artifacts
and sheds light on the interplay of individual and collective reflection and learning.
Our aim is to develop model that sheds light on the elements and dynamics of retrospective
reflection in the particular setting of project based learning in which lightweight
collaborative tools are used to support work and retrospective reflection. We
want the model to account for the return to experience in the light of project trajectory
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