In the study materials that describe the EMA, in the section that has the title ‘What you need to demonstrate in your Final Project Report’ there are two important bullet points which are related to reflection. These are:
Learn independently and reflect on what has been done, with a view to improving skills and knowledge.
Critically review how you have tackled the project.
These bullet points are learning outcomes 5 and 8. To get marks for any learning outcome, you need to show evidence of attaining them in your EMA report through what you write. Learning outcomes 5 and 8 are grouped together, along learning outcome 7, which is all about effective communication.
The study materials that has the title ‘evaluating your work’ has a useful section called ‘carrying out the evaluation’. It splits reflection into two parts: reflection before action, and reflection after action.
Reflection before action is defined as “purposeful thinking through of something before starting it”. You can use your project log to make notes of these thoughts as you progress throughout your project. Purposeful thinking is also demonstrated through the extent of your planning, and the way that you refer to resources, skills, and risks.
Reflection after action refers to questions that you can ask yourself about the effectiveness of what you have achieved, what has been learnt, what went well and what didn’t go well, and what you might have done differently.
What follows are some reflections on how to respond to two of the learning outcomes that relate to, well, reflection. For clarity, I’ve also included bits from the indicative marking scheme that you everyone has access to. This is then followed with some suggestions about how you could conclude your project report for maximum impact.
LO5 (Critically reviewing approach)
This learning outcome is quite concise: “critically review how you have tackled the project”. The Indicative marking scheme offers a bit of helpful guidance about what the examiners are looking for: “all students should update a project log/reflective journal on a weekly basis. This should be included as an appendix. Within the main body of the TMA, referring to the log/journal, identifying what went well and why; identifying what didn’t go well, why and what to do as a result.”
It is useful to pull this apart. Clearly, it is important to include your project log as an appendix. If you haven't been creating one as you go, don’t go making one up; that would be a waste of your time. Instead, just provide what you have. If you only have a couple of entries, this is a fine opportunity to share your views about the idea of a project log. When it comes to reflections, strong opinions are welcome.
The second bit of the guidance encourages you to identify ‘what went well and why’ and ‘what didn’t go well [and] why’. Reflect on your choice of project model by asking yourself “why did I do I did?”, “did it work?” and “was it easy to work with?”
Taking a very practical approach, one suggestion is to take those questions, and answer them as directly as you can. Another question to ask yourself if: ‘were there any surprises?’ If there were no surprises and everything ran as expected, then perhaps that might have been a surprise in itself.
Sometimes, projects do not go to plan. If you were rudely interrupted by the vicissitudes of life during your project, do tell the examiner what happened, and how you responded to the challenges you faced. A good project report is one that is interesting. As long as your reflections are clear and reasonable, you will get the marks.
LO8 (Learning Independently)
This learning outcome is as follows: “Learn independently and reflect on what has been done, with a view to improving skills and knowledge”. As before, here is the guidance from the indicative marking scheme: “Makes progress under own supervision, communicating regularly and accurately in respect of progress. Seeks guidance when needed but offers own ideas when doing so. Has clearly developed new skills and knowledge.”
As with the previous learning outcome, it is useful to break apart the guidance for this learning outcome too. Essentially, there are two parts: evidence about communication with your tutor (which can be used as evidence for your learning during the course of your project), and the bit about “new skills and knowledge”.
For the first bit, a good idea is to provide copies of all the email messages you have exchanged with your tutor. If you have exchanged a lot of messages, it is okay to summarise them, or to give only the titles.
For the “new skills and knowledge” ask yourself a long stream questions beginning with ‘WH’ words (or interrogative words). These are questions beginning with: what, when, who, where, why and how. You might begin by asking yourself the following: “What did I find difficult? What did I find easy? What has helped me? What did I enjoy? Where did I go to find out information to solve my problems?”. The exact questions you choose will depend on what is important within your project. A further practical recommendation is to share something about a variety of different subjects from your project.
As mentioned earlier, make your reflections interesting. The more personal they are the more interesting they can become. If you found something profoundly difficult, or have realised that you absolutely hate JavaScript and never want to work with it ever again, it is okay to mention it. This will give your report an edge of authenticity.
Bringing everything to a close
I recommend that everyone add a short summary section to the end of their EMA report, just to wrap everything up. This summary section can become a really nice way to emphasise some of your reflections.
I would begin a summary section by mirroring your introduction. Remind the examiner what your project was all about, then say what you did by referring to the project model that you adopted. When you have done this, summarise what you have built or what you have achieved. When you get to the reflection section, say something about what you have learnt from carrying out the management of your project, say something about what you have learnt by solving the problem or doing the work, and then say something about what you have learnt about yourself.
Reflections
This section is an opportunity to practice what I have been preaching.
Whilst writing this blog post, I have realised that I have been a project tutor for almost ten years. Initially, I found it quite hard going, for the reason that every project was different, and the project module had a very different character to the other modules I had tutored. After the first presentation, I realised about the importance of the learning outcomes, and adjusted my tuition practice. My role, of course, is to help everyone to get their highest possible mark. This meant that I felt that I had to make the learning outcomes more visible to all the students I support. This led me to start to blog about the project module.
A significant reflection is that a good well written and well-structured reflection section can turn a good project into one that is excellent. It really is about the learning, and the expression of what learning has taken place has the power to instil confidence in examiners.
Ask a lot of ‘WH’ questions. Tell us about everything that went wrong, but also say something about why you thought it went wrong. If everything went well, tell us what you are most proud of. Then tell us what you learnt from it.
TM470 On Reflection
In the study materials that describe the EMA, in the section that has the title ‘What you need to demonstrate in your Final Project Report’ there are two important bullet points which are related to reflection. These are:
These bullet points are learning outcomes 5 and 8. To get marks for any learning outcome, you need to show evidence of attaining them in your EMA report through what you write. Learning outcomes 5 and 8 are grouped together, along learning outcome 7, which is all about effective communication.
The study materials that has the title ‘evaluating your work’ has a useful section called ‘carrying out the evaluation’. It splits reflection into two parts: reflection before action, and reflection after action.
Reflection before action is defined as “purposeful thinking through of something before starting it”. You can use your project log to make notes of these thoughts as you progress throughout your project. Purposeful thinking is also demonstrated through the extent of your planning, and the way that you refer to resources, skills, and risks.
Reflection after action refers to questions that you can ask yourself about the effectiveness of what you have achieved, what has been learnt, what went well and what didn’t go well, and what you might have done differently.
What follows are some reflections on how to respond to two of the learning outcomes that relate to, well, reflection. For clarity, I’ve also included bits from the indicative marking scheme that you everyone has access to. This is then followed with some suggestions about how you could conclude your project report for maximum impact.
LO5 (Critically reviewing approach)
This learning outcome is quite concise: “critically review how you have tackled the project”. The Indicative marking scheme offers a bit of helpful guidance about what the examiners are looking for: “all students should update a project log/reflective journal on a weekly basis. This should be included as an appendix. Within the main body of the TMA, referring to the log/journal, identifying what went well and why; identifying what didn’t go well, why and what to do as a result.”
It is useful to pull this apart. Clearly, it is important to include your project log as an appendix. If you haven't been creating one as you go, don’t go making one up; that would be a waste of your time. Instead, just provide what you have. If you only have a couple of entries, this is a fine opportunity to share your views about the idea of a project log. When it comes to reflections, strong opinions are welcome.
The second bit of the guidance encourages you to identify ‘what went well and why’ and ‘what didn’t go well [and] why’. Reflect on your choice of project model by asking yourself “why did I do I did?”, “did it work?” and “was it easy to work with?”
Taking a very practical approach, one suggestion is to take those questions, and answer them as directly as you can. Another question to ask yourself if: ‘were there any surprises?’ If there were no surprises and everything ran as expected, then perhaps that might have been a surprise in itself.
Sometimes, projects do not go to plan. If you were rudely interrupted by the vicissitudes of life during your project, do tell the examiner what happened, and how you responded to the challenges you faced. A good project report is one that is interesting. As long as your reflections are clear and reasonable, you will get the marks.
LO8 (Learning Independently)
This learning outcome is as follows: “Learn independently and reflect on what has been done, with a view to improving skills and knowledge”. As before, here is the guidance from the indicative marking scheme: “Makes progress under own supervision, communicating regularly and accurately in respect of progress. Seeks guidance when needed but offers own ideas when doing so. Has clearly developed new skills and knowledge.”
As with the previous learning outcome, it is useful to break apart the guidance for this learning outcome too. Essentially, there are two parts: evidence about communication with your tutor (which can be used as evidence for your learning during the course of your project), and the bit about “new skills and knowledge”.
For the first bit, a good idea is to provide copies of all the email messages you have exchanged with your tutor. If you have exchanged a lot of messages, it is okay to summarise them, or to give only the titles.
For the “new skills and knowledge” ask yourself a long stream questions beginning with ‘WH’ words (or interrogative words). These are questions beginning with: what, when, who, where, why and how. You might begin by asking yourself the following: “What did I find difficult? What did I find easy? What has helped me? What did I enjoy? Where did I go to find out information to solve my problems?”. The exact questions you choose will depend on what is important within your project. A further practical recommendation is to share something about a variety of different subjects from your project.
As mentioned earlier, make your reflections interesting. The more personal they are the more interesting they can become. If you found something profoundly difficult, or have realised that you absolutely hate JavaScript and never want to work with it ever again, it is okay to mention it. This will give your report an edge of authenticity.
Bringing everything to a close
I recommend that everyone add a short summary section to the end of their EMA report, just to wrap everything up. This summary section can become a really nice way to emphasise some of your reflections.
I would begin a summary section by mirroring your introduction. Remind the examiner what your project was all about, then say what you did by referring to the project model that you adopted. When you have done this, summarise what you have built or what you have achieved. When you get to the reflection section, say something about what you have learnt from carrying out the management of your project, say something about what you have learnt by solving the problem or doing the work, and then say something about what you have learnt about yourself.
Reflections
This section is an opportunity to practice what I have been preaching.
Whilst writing this blog post, I have realised that I have been a project tutor for almost ten years. Initially, I found it quite hard going, for the reason that every project was different, and the project module had a very different character to the other modules I had tutored. After the first presentation, I realised about the importance of the learning outcomes, and adjusted my tuition practice. My role, of course, is to help everyone to get their highest possible mark. This meant that I felt that I had to make the learning outcomes more visible to all the students I support. This led me to start to blog about the project module.
A significant reflection is that a good well written and well-structured reflection section can turn a good project into one that is excellent. It really is about the learning, and the expression of what learning has taken place has the power to instil confidence in examiners.
Ask a lot of ‘WH’ questions. Tell us about everything that went wrong, but also say something about why you thought it went wrong. If everything went well, tell us what you are most proud of. Then tell us what you learnt from it.