My research question
Gone Bloggin’ : fostering critical reflections on developing professional, and regenerative creative practice in the Diploma in Professional Studies (DPS).
My project will focus on designing ‘blog prompts’ to serve as optional starting points / excersises for DPS reflective journal posts.
I will do this by:
collecting information on
– reflexive quality of student blog posts (Create a critical matrix to evaluate)
– how the blog is used by students (semi-structured interviews, when, where, why)
sharing findings with tutor team to revise weekly prompts as we progress through term.
References
Bolton, Gillie E J. Reflective Practice : Writing and Professional Development, SAGE Publications, 2010.ProQuest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/ual/detail.action?docID=743628.
Brookfield, D. (2012) Teaching for critical thinking. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass
CAST (2011) Universal design for learning guidelines version 2.0. Wakefield, MA: Author.
Dirkx, J.M. (2008), The meaning and role of emotions in adult learning. New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education, 2008: 7-18. https://doi.org/10.1002/ace.311
Dirkx, J.M. (2006), Engaging emotions in adult learning: A jungian perspective on emotion and transformative learning. New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education, 2006: 15-26. https://doi.org/10.1002/ace.204
Francis, P. (2009). Inspiring writing in art and design. Bristol, UK.: Intellect Books. University Press
James, A & Brookfield, S.D (2014) Engaging imagination: helping students become creative and reflective thinkers. New York: John Wiley and Sons.
Kolb, David A. (1984) ‘Experiential Learning: Experience As The Source Of Learning And Development’ Prentice-Hall
Moon, Jennifer (1999) Learning journals: a handbook for reflective practice and professional development. Oxon: Routledge
Nicole, DJ and Macfarlane -Dick, D (2006) Formative assessment and self-regulated learning: a model and seven principles of good feedback practice, Studies in Higher Education, 31 (2):199-218
Schön, D. (1991) The reflective practitioner. New York: Basic Books.
Taveras-Dalmau, V., Becken, S. & Westoby, R. (2025) ‘From paradigm blindness to paradigm shift? An integrative review and critical analysis of the regenerative paradigm’ Ambio. Available at:https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-025-02232-7
Williams, Kate, et al. 2012 Reflective Writing, Macmillan Education UK. 40 – 45ProQuest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/ual/detail.action?docID=4763232.
Williams, K 2003, Getting Critical, Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke. Available from: ProQuest Ebook Central. [6 October 2025].
Project Findings
Data and reflections
Presentation
I would add in any draft presentations I did for class exercises or tutorials. And at the end, just before I give my final assessed presentation, I would add my Final Presentation slides here. I would be clear in my file naming so the tutors/examiners know which is the final presentation.
Participant facing documents
Here I would upload and link to any participant-facing documents, like information sheets and consent forms.
As with the Ethics form, I would include brief notes around feedback received and amendments made.
Ethical Action Plan
I would upload my Ethics form to my blog’s media folder by clicking on the ‘+ Add New…’ on the top bar and selecting ‘Media’ from the menu. I would then copy the URL to the clipboard, start a post on Ethics, and link to the form here:
Ethics form v1
I would write some brief notes about the feedback I received on my Ethics form and how I responded to it.
If I had submitted further iterations of the form, I would upload and link to them in the same way and link to them by going back into my Ethics post:
Research Methods
This is where I might write about any primary research I have been doing. E.g., if I was going to interview someone and have written a list of questions, I would add the ‘interview schedule’ (that’s what you call the list of questions!) here. I may add comments on what I have been reading about Research Methods to evidence that also.
One thing I would NOT do, is include any raw data that has participant information on it, or anything I did not get informed consent to share. That would be unethical. I would keep that elsewhere (private) and I may write about the findings from it on this page, but I definitely would not paste it up in raw unedited form.
Action Plan
| What | When | Completed |
| Review examiners report | 6th October | Yes |
| Introduce weekly blog prompts | weekly | in progress |
| Review blogs written by current students | every 4 weeks | in progress |
| Prepare questions, consent forms, participant information sheets | … | |
| Semi-structured interviews with students as part of progress tutorial | 24th Oct | possibly too early to complete consent forms / participant information and prepare questions |
| Review blog prompts | ||
| Student blog self assessment at Formative assessment point |
Rationale
Throughout the DPS, students are required to keep a reflective journal in the form of a online blog. There are no stipulations on how many posts, or how frequently a student should produce an entry to their blog, although they are advised that they should try to keep a weekly rhythm. There is an old document that provides 9 questions for the blog, however these questions stand alone and make no reference to the ciriculum. The blog is not an assessed part of a students final submission, instead it serves as a space to store critical reflections through the academic year which summates in a 4000 word ‘report’ and 15 minute presentation evaluating the creative industries, enterprise and their own practice.
After putting the course through revalidation last academic year, there is significant focus on the student beginning to applying a decol + decarb approach to their own practice, implementing UAL’s Climate, Racial, Social principles as they progress their independent practice.
Aims:
The project aims to:
- provide students with ‘jumping off’ points to support the creation and direction of reflections
- support the core curiculum (delivered weekly by myself and collegues)
- increase the ‘quality’ of students’ reflexive practices
- close the gap between students who are experienced and confident in writing reflective journals and those who are less experienced or confident
I suspect/ predict / know that the contextual factors; English as an additional language, learning disability, academic history/ exposure to reflective writing practices; will have an impact on a student’s experience and confidence when using writing to critically reflect on their professional experiences. This puts disabled/ international/ and or less academically privileged students at a disadvantage compared to their peers. When considering that global majority and social mobility students are more likely to identify with one or more of the contextual factors listed above, (citation needed) this project will acknowledge the racial and social biases present.* I will collect data on these factors to provide contextual information of student journey.*
The success of implemented changes will be assessed through discussion with DPS students, DPS tutors, & course lead, and through analysis of the blogs produced. This project will quote external examiner’s feedback from previous year’s exam boards, and will be revisited after future exam boards post submission of this unit.
add references