Equine Reflection

As far back as completing our first reflections towards this module, I have been able to see the benefits of reflective academic pieces as well as keeping an e-portfolio in order look back on our first year at Writtle. This e-portfolio has enabled me to make detailed evaluations of my current strengths and weaknesses in each particular subjects, it has also allowed me to begin in developing a professional display whereby all my work is collated for future employers. According to educationist and practitioners of writing, reflections are considered to be an essential feature in student portfolios (Kathpalia et al 2010). The reflective aspects of my portfolio have enabled me to pick out my strengths and weaknesses enables further development

and improvement of skills for the future. Having access to other people’s academic pieces is particularly helpful as it allows me to further develop my skills in reflecting and builds my confidence further in different areas, both practically and theoretically.

Through undertaking practical reflections such as our mock ospe and animal handling skills, I have been able to critically analyse my strengths and weaknesses in equine and canine practical skills and allow me to build on them for the upcoming ospe exams in

May.
Reflective works enables students to become more mindful of their learning this includes what is involved in their learning, how they learn and the value of learning (Fink 2004). This is correct in the sense that we undertook a VARK quiz as part of our module in order to gauge our best suited learning preference; this has become particularly helpful in revision towards our Semester B exams as I am able to use techniques which echo my learning style in order to obtain a good grade.
Students which regularly engage in reflective dialogue are supposedly more aware of themselves as learners and the learning process is said to be more powerful and long lasting. This is due to the part which reflection plays in learning through linking ‘experience and emotions to the neural pathways of the brain where information and ideas are stored and can be recalled’ (Fink 2004). Throughout my reflective pieces of work, I have attempted to use the Gibbs framework in terms of reflection whereby I have stated a description of the event and have then gone into detail on how I felt and my thoughts during the particular time frame which creates a sense of self awareness. The Gibbs structure then goes on to evaluate the situation, analysing the components each separately, then comes the conclusion whereby you develop an insight into the behaviour of yourself and others and the time and decide in how this may have contributed towards the outcome. The last section is the action plan whereby you look through the situation again and decide if there would be anything you would do differently if you were to repeat it. The Gibbs model incorporates all the most important skills of reflecting. Due to it being primarily focused upon reflection on action, with practice over the coming years of my course, I could use it to focus on reflection both in and before action (Boyd E et al 1983).
I found it extremely helpful in discussing my feelings and including an action plan in my reflections as it meant that I was able to identify areas of improvement in order to implement them in the future.

This was particularly noticeable in my mock ospe reflection whereby I picked up on the fact that nerves play a large part in the end result of an exam, however, this highlighted the importance of preparation and practice towards the final exam in order to build my confidence in key areas of improvement in my handling skills. This process of action planning was particularly motivating and prompted me to tackle my weaknesses head on. It became apparent throughout my work, that I lacked the required practical and academic skills relating to equine as opposed to other animals, particularly in both the mock ospe whereby although I passed the equine subsection, there was a lot more to improve on than the canine aspect. This was similar for the nutrition assignment whereby our overall grade was affected due to having less background knowledge in horse feeds and using internet sources rather than journals. In order to improve in the weaknesses found between these reflections, I plan to undertake more equine based work experience in order to improve my handling skills whilst paying special attention to the BHS standards, I also aim to take time to further read around my subjects in more depth whilst using a variety of sources including books and

journals.
Reflective writing enables the development of a number of key skills whether this is analytical skills, research skills, critical thinking, cognitive development and creativity as well as making connections between information (Jasper 2014). I chose to use a range of reflections within my eportfolio, whilst many were written pieces, I have also reflected with the use of pictures and diagrams which have enhance my creativity and opened my eyes to realise the different means of reflection. The word cloud was an aspect of my mahara page which I particularly enjoyed as it allowed me to broaden my thinking, there were no restrictions as to what you could include and there was no right or wrong answers which gave me the freedom to reflect on what aspects I believed where important when becoming a qualified physiotherapist. Demonstrating my research skills has become more of a problem within this module so far, although I have developed my research skills in terms of academic writing in general, I could perhaps take this to be an area of improvement over the four years of this course as is it an important aspect in day to day university life. Without a good basis in research skills, you will not be as successful, they are important in terms of contributing knowledge to your work, as well as keeping up with current aspects of the animal therapy industry due to it being ever changing.
Overall, this module has begun to develop a number of transferrable skills which include a sense of self-awareness as well as professionalism. Through the next four years, I hope to further develop the skills which I have touched upon through reflections in this module in order to become a well-rounded physiotherapist.