Phase J—Taking Stock

Goal

“To feed into my future learning and other work, I have taken stock of what has been working well and what needs changing.”

Background

Reflective practitioners in any profession pilot new practices, take stock of outcomes and reflect on possible directions, and make plans to revise their practice accordingly. This phase is listed last because it is important not to move on from a project (or meeting, workshop, etc.) without making time to take stock of where you have come and what you might take into the next project. However, taking stock should occur from the very start of the project.

Tools and Processes

Support and Coaching Structure
Plus-Delta Feedback
Self-Assessment, Mid-Project
Sense of Place Map
Written Evaluation
Self-Assessment, at the End
Process Review
Plan for Practice
Manifesto

Sequence

Note: Most of these processes to take stock of your process over the course of the project not only feed back into your future learning but also contribute to your advisors (instructors) taking stock of how you have learned, which feeds back into their advising (teaching) and their future learning about how advisees (students) learn.

Early in the course of the project
Discussion among a group of peers discussion with your peers about establishing a Support and Coaching Structure to get everyone to finish their research and writing in the time available.


During the project (“formative evaluation”)
Although the Self-Assessment at the End with respect to Goals of Research and Engagement should be prepared and submitted with your final report, it is also useful to undertake this self-assessment along the way (using the simple Plus-Delta feedback) and to attach the latest version with each submission. If there are discrepancies between an advisor's assessment and what you submit, they can note this in their comments on the submission. The discrepancies can then be discussed and a shared understanding arrived at.

Mid-project (mid-semester) Self-assessment (This brief self-assessment of your project can be expanded to encompass a report on the gap between where you are and where you would like to be in relation to Research Organization—both on paper and on your computer)

At end of project
Standard evaluation forms are not very conducive to participants taking stock of their own process and contributions. Taking stock can be achieved in other ways that complement each other:
Sense of Place Map
Written Evaluation of the process or course that begins with a quick self-assessment (as distinct from the extended Self-Assessment below).
Process Review including annotations and cover note
Plan for Practice having two dimensions: how you will put into practice the tools, processes, and knowledge being learned; and how and with whom you will practice putting these into practice then take stock so as to improve.
Manifesto: similar to Plan for Practice, but with elements from sources encountered during and before the course or workshop selected and organized to inspire as well as inform your efforts beyond the course/workshop.
Self-Assessment at the End with respect to two sets of goals:

• I. Goals of Phases of Research and Engagement
• II. Reflective Practitioner Goals, including Taking Initiative In and Through Relationships

Share the self-assessment with your advisor(s). If there are big discrepancies between their assessment and your self-assessment, you should discuss the discrepancies and try to come to a shared understanding so as to inform the planning and conduct of your future projects.

Follow up

During the course of the project, you can refer back to the Plus of the Plus-Delta to reassure you about the progress you have made and to the Delta to remind yourself of changes to be made or tasks to be undertaken. Similarly, you can use the Self-Assessment at the End to inform the planning of your future projects, the Plan for Practice to direct their conduct, and the Manifesto to inspire them. You can also ponder the Sense of Place Map, which you might pin on the wall above your work area. Although the thinking that went into the pictorial elements of that map may gradually be lost to you, that is nothing to worry about. Perhaps that simply means it is time to draw a new Sense of Place Map.