A Reflection on my Experiences as a Student

(Think about the act of reflection and your semester experience in incorporating
reflection in your experience and your blog.)

Reflection is a skill that I should have been practicing a long time ago.  It opens a door for me to see things from a different perspective.  It’s good to reflect on not only my experiences in life but also how I behave and approach certain situations that pose a personal challenge.  I know that this skill cannot be developed and perfected instantly.  It requires commitment, energy, hard-work and the willingness to learn, until it becomes a normal part of my day-to-day life.

It has been a habitual practice of mine to write about things that inspire me, situations with which I become emotionally involved, and compelling events that have great impact on me and especially in my nursing practice.  When I started writing, I had not yet known about reflection.  All I knew is that writing was a means of emotionally venting about the things around me, how life evolves, and events that affect my life, values, beliefs and family dynamics.   As I proceed to review some of the things I had written in the past, I realized that I had raised more questions than answers in my mind.  An example would be in my writings about end-of-life care. Reflecting on how I see it from my own perspective as a health care giver and how I see it from the patient and his family’s veiwpoint has given me a deeper understanding and insight.  My reflection helps me to see things differently and to better align my actions to holistically benefit both patient and family.

Now that I am already back in school, I have gained a better understanding of what reflection is all about.  I realized that incorporating reflection in studies and practice promotes autonomous learning that develops students’ understanding and critical thinking skills.  In this semester, I have learned more about becoming a reflective thinker and a reflective practitioner.  When we speak of “reflective practitioners,” we usually refer to adult learners who are engaged in some kind of activity which they can use to reflect on their strengths, weaknesses, and areas of development.  Using reflection in my studies made me think not just about the meaning of things and events, but also about the way things work and how events evolve, in order to gain more knowledge, skills and understanding.

Furthermore, information technology and the advent of social media tools have taken reflective practice to an entirely new level. One of the brilliant reflective processes that I learned in this semester is by means of blogging.  Blogging removes reflective practice from the constraints of time and place.  Now, instead of engaging in reflection only on my limited experiences, this social tool enables me to share and gain access to the insights of other reflective practitioners who are interested in the same questions as I am and who want to pursue same path of learning.  As a blogger, I can connect to a global network of peers who are willing to provide the support, resources, and culture of ongoing reflection on experiences that support me as a reflective learner.  Finally, I can say that this semester has given me many fruitful experiences in discovering new things, developing my critical skills and expanding my horizons beyond the limits of my sight in a broader and wider perspective.