Reflective Statement Assignment: Tasks, Style, Standards and Structure

Assignment Tasks

The assessment for the module is based on a reflective statement that should include the student’s experience of the whole of the inputs to the programme through its various modules. The fuller the part the student has taken in the programme as a whole, the easier it will be for the student to translate the contribution to these experiences into the requisite reflective statement.

Style and standards

The student should make sure their work follows the University’s general guidelines for presentation standards but should also consult the assignment assessment criteria, which appear below. These suggest, for example, that work should be well structured with a conclusion in a form that the student feels appropriate to the nature of the work they have been doing. The criteria are simple but important.

The student is expected to reference using the APA style and should cite sources in the text and list them at the end of their statement, the expectation being that the student will use appropriate references in order to support any points made and concepts/models used that are not their own.

Although this assignment is pass/fail you should still think in terms of achieving more than a mere pass which currently stands at 50% at postgraduate level. At the top end each of the tasks would be addressed in an outstanding way. A pass grade would be awarded if each of the points were addressed in at least an adequate fashion. The assignment would be a fail if the tasks were not addressed in an adequate way. Please consult the grid at the end of this brief.

Structure

The assignment must include the following three areas of reflection, elements of which should be clearly identifiable in your submission:

1.A review of the learning process and outcomes. Attempting an assignment of this nature will inevitably teach the student something about their main subjects, about themselves and also about working in teams (where applicable). Here the student should discuss what they have learned both whilst doing work on their programme and in completing the assignment for this module. The reflective statement should not merely describe these processes, but should evaluate them with the benefit of hindsight.

2.A critique of process and product. Students will be expected to reflect on what occurred whilst working on the assignment and the finished submission, with a view to identifying examples of good practice, and also what could be improved. Whilst area 1 above is reflective of the actual learning that has taken place, here the student is expected to critique how they tackled the assignment and the finished submission i.e. their working methods.

3.Review of models used. In completing the assignment, the student is required to include in the statement a review of the models and/or concepts used in the course of their study on their programme and any they may have rejected. The student is required to choose two theoretical models and/or concepts to illustrate why they have chosen to use or reject such models or concepts.