Assignment: Self-Reflective Portfolio

Length: Max. 6 pages

Task: Students are required to submit an individual self-reflection portfolio consisting of three sections:

1. A pre-subject reflection on student's main assumptions and expectations on the subject including tensions students have identified in their experience with managing, leading, stewardship.

2. A mid-subject reflection on learning/changes/tensions as a result of in-class and out-of-class discussions/materials/experiences; students must include a reflection on the ‘lived case' that will be role played in class. This section requires students to identify major learning and changes as well as new/ongoing tensions/open questions.

3. A post-project reflection on learning including an outlook for the future and the development of your personal action-guiding principles. In this section, students are required to reflect on their experience in the subject, what they have learnt, what has changed for them, what tensions were resolved, what tensions remained or what new tensions opened. A concluding paragraph has to be included on the student own philosophy of managing, leading & stewardship. This paragraph need to articulate the student's own action-guiding principles and how these will guide the student's judgements and actions in the future.

Students will have to bring a work-in-progress self-reflective portfolio to one of the tutorials (to be advised) and provide peer assessment to another student.

Please note: No portfolio will be assessed without peer-assessment.

What is a self-reflective portfolio?

A self-reflective portfolio is a collection of thoughts, ideas, concerns and reflections on your learning as you take the journey over the course of this subject. You should reflect on your original assumptions, what you are learning, what is changing and how you are putting into practice what you are learning as you study. Your reflections must include:

- your original assumptions of managing, leading, stewardship and your expectations of the subject

- your experiences in the seminars

- your thoughts while reading and reflecting

- thoughts and feelings from your learning that you notice have entered your head while working and dealing with organisational and management issues and problems

- thoughts and feelings during and after completing exercises, doing your individual and group assignments and so on.

The self-reflective portfolio must be a creative piece. It is advised that students take notes from their first session which they will use to complete the portfolio.

Why a self-reflective portfolio?

Several studies in management education, and postgraduate education generally, have provided strong evidence that reflective learning is one of the most critical and powerful components to lifelong learning (Gustavs and Clegg, 2005). Many studies have shown that when students are asked to keep journals the impact of learning is far greater, richer and rewarding- this is especially so when approached creatively and symbolically [through art for example] (Barry, 1996).

You are doing a self-reflective portfolio because it will facilitate your learning in a way that how you think and what you think is influenced by what you learn. Typically, what you know usually affects what you do. Hence, the portfolio aims to bridge the gap between what you think and what you do (i.e. Theory and Practice or the Knowing-Doing Gap), while at the same time developing and improving the knowledge and how it is applied.

How do I keep and present a self-reflective portfolio?

It is strongly advised that students keep notes from their first session in this subject which they then can use to complete the self-reflective portfolio.

While we do not want to determine what students' creativity will look like, we do have to place some boundaries around the self-reflective portfolio in order to ensure it serves its purpose. The self-reflective portfolio must contain the following:

• Three sections of entries: One at the start of the subject, one half-way through (written mid-April) and one after the last session.

• A description of thoughts and feelings before starting the subject, at mid-point and after finishing the last session.

• Discussions of how you implemented or utilised learning from this subject in practical ways.

• Students can include a collage of creative works; references to movies, readings, and news paper articles; proverbs and metaphors, drawings, cartoons, etc that have either caused you to reflect on the topics discussed in class or exemplified an issue or topic covered in class or in your readings and discussions and assignments.

• A final entry of about 300 words that seeks to synthesise all your entries and bring together all your key learning including the articulation of your personal philosophy of managing and leading (this is part of the post-subject reflection section of the portfolio).

• We are not too fussed how students present their portfolios. Students may type it using word (etc), or can keep an art scrapbook. Students can do a combination of both, and print their word documents, cut them up and place them in the scrapbook. Use whatever is most comfortable with. However, please do not handwrite as handwriting is almost always difficult to read.