Saturday, October 18, 2008

A bit about me

I am a Social Worker and a PhD candidate at La Trobe University. I have commenced my PhD, studying part time this year, and I am plodding along, while trying to balance a home renovation and full time work. I enjoy being busy and I love to learn new things, so I am always interested in hearing about and trying something new.

I went along to the Reflective Practice conference in Rotorua, NZ in September 2008. There were lots of new ideas there - a visit to a country that I have always wanted to visit and an opportunity to find out about how a conference works and what is involved in presentating a paper or a poster. I was surprised at the diversity of topics presented, from really interesting to quite ‘out there’. I was really looking forward Sarah’s presentation about Blogging - I had some basic ideas about an on-line blog but I don’t think I had actually seen one before. I was captivated with Sarah’s enthusiasm and energy, and her bubbly, humorous presentation style. I was drawn to her simple, basic approach which gave me confidence that this was something that I might be able to do to.

My previous studies have included a Master of Professional Practice (Development) at La Trobe University - the focus of this was Critical Reflection and I studied with two amazing teachers - Jan Fook and Fiona Gardner. So this has found me meandering along a pathway of critical reflection and I am exploring the ways that people learn to be reflective, and their experiences of practicing using different reflection tools and methods.

I have used a reflective journal for some time now, and I am interested in seeing and feeling how an on-line journal complements or distracts from my written notes. But more of that another day.

cheers

Helen

2 comments:

Sarah Stewart said...

Do you use delicious? If so, you'll see that I have started saving some references of reflection:

http://delicious.com/sarahmstewart/reflection

Helen said...

hi Sarah - I haven't seen delicious before - sounds lovely though!. I will check it out. thanks
Helen