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Gibbs' Reflective Cycle

One of the most famous cyclical models of reflection leading you through six stages exploring an experience: description, feelings, evaluation, analysis, conclusion and action plan.

Gibbs' Reflective Cycle was developed by Graham Gibbs in 1988 to give structure to learning from experiences.  It offers a framework for examining experiences, and given its cyclic nature lends itself particularly well to repeated experiences, allowing you to learn and plan from things that either went well or didn’t go well. It covers 6 stages:

• Description of the experience
• Feelings and thoughts about the experience
• Evaluation of the experience, both good and bad
• Analysis to make sense of the situation
• Conclusion about what you learned and what you could have done differently
• Action plan for how you would deal with similar situations in the future, or general changes you might find appropriate.

Below is further information on:

• The model – each stage is given a fuller description, guiding questions to ask yourself and an example of how this might look in a reflection
• Different depths of reflection – an example of reflecting more briefly using this model

This is just one model of reflection. Test it out and see how it works for you. If you find that only a few of the questions are helpful for you, focus on those. However, by thinking about each stage you are more likely to engage critically with your learning experience.

This model is a good way to work through an experience. This can be either a stand-alone experience or a situation you go through frequently, for example meetings with a team you have to collaborate with. Gibbs originally advocated its use in repeated situations, but the stages and principles apply equally well for single experiences too. If done with a stand-alone experience, the action plan may become more general and look at how you can apply your conclusions in the future.

For each of the stages of the model a number of helpful questions are outlined below. You don’t have to answer all of them but they can guide you about what sort of things make sense to include in that stage. You might have other prompts that work better for you.

Description

Here you have a chance to describe the situation in detail. The main points to include here concern what happened. Your feelings and conclusions will come later.

Helpful questions:

• What happened?
• When and where did it happen?
• Who was present?
• What did you and the other people do?
• What was the outcome of the situation?
• Why were you there?
• What did you want to happen?

Example of 'Description'

Here you can explore any feelings or thoughts that you had during the experience and how they may have impacted the experience.

• What were you feeling during the situation?
• What were you feeling before and after the situation?
• What do you think other people were feeling about the situation?
• What do you think other people feel about the situation now?
• What were you thinking during the situation?
• What do you think about the situation now?

Example of 'Feelings'

Here you have a chance to evaluate what worked and what didn’t work in the situation. Try to be as objective and honest as possible. To get the most out of your reflection focus on both the positive and the negative aspects of the situation, even if it was primarily one or the other.

• What was good and bad about the experience?
• What went well?
• What didn’t go so well?
• What did you and other people contribute to the situation (positively or negatively)?

Example of 'Evaluation'

The analysis step is where you have a chance to make sense of what happened. Up until now you have focused on details around what happened in the situation. Now you have a chance to extract meaning from it. You want to target the different aspects that went well or poorly and ask yourself why. If you are looking to include academic literature, this is the natural place to include it.

• Why did things go well?
• Why didn’t it go well?
• What sense can I make of the situation?
• What knowledge – my own or others (for example academic literature) can help me understand the situation?

Example of 'Analysis'

Conclusions.

In this section you can make conclusions about what happened. This is where you summarise your learning and highlight what changes to your actions could improve the outcome in the future. It should be a natural response to the previous sections.

• What did I learn from this situation?
• How could this have been a more positive situation for everyone involved?
• What skills do I need to develop for me to handle a situation like this better?
• What else could I have done?

Example of a 'Conclusion'

Action plan.

At this step you plan for what you would do differently in a similar or related situation in the future. It can also be extremely helpful to think about how you will help yourself to act differently – such that you don’t only plan what you will do differently, but also how you will make sure it happens. Sometimes just the realisation is enough, but other times reminders might be helpful.

• If I had to do the same thing again, what would I do differently?
• How will I develop the required skills I need?
• How can I make sure that I can act differently next time?

Example of 'Action Plan'

Different depths of reflection.

Depending on the context you are doing the reflection in, you might want use different levels of details. Here is the same scenario, which was used in the example above, however it is presented much more briefly.

Adapted from

Gibbs G (1988). Learning by Doing: A guide to teaching and learning methods. Further Education Unit. Oxford Polytechnic: Oxford.

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Article • 5 min read

Gibbs' Reflective Cycle

Helping people learn from experience.

By the Mind Tools Content Team

Many people find that they learn best from experience.

However, if they don't reflect on their experience, and if they don't consciously think about how they could do better next time, it's hard for them to learn anything at all.

This is where Gibbs' Reflective Cycle is useful. You can use it to help your people make sense of situations at work, so that they can understand what they did well and what they could do better in the future.

What Is Gibbs' Reflective Cycle?

Professor Graham Gibbs published his Reflective Cycle in his 1988 book " Learning by Doing ." It's particularly useful for helping people learn from situations that they experience regularly, especially when these don't go well.

Gibbs' cycle is shown below.

Figure 1 – Gibbs' Reflective Cycle

From "Learning by Doing" by Graham Gibbs. Published by Oxford Polytechnic, 1988.

Gibbs' original model had six stages. The stage we haven't covered here is "Analysis" – we've included this as part of the Evaluation stage.

Using the Model

You can use the model to explore a situation yourself, or you can use it with someone you're coaching – we look at coaching use in this article, but you can apply the same approach when you're on your own.

To structure a coaching session using Gibbs' Cycle, choose a situation to analyze and then work through the steps below.

Step 1: Description

First, ask the person you're coaching to describe the situation in detail. At this stage, you simply want to know what happened – you'll draw conclusions later.

Consider asking questions like these to help them describe the situation:

• When and where did this happen?
• Why were you there?
• Who else was there?
• What happened?
• What did you do?
• What did other people do?
• What was the result of this situation?

Step 2: Feelings

Next, encourage them to talk about what they thought and felt during the experience. At this stage, avoid commenting on their emotions.

Use questions like these to guide the discussion:

• What did you feel before this situation took place?
• What did you feel while this situation took place?
• What do you think other people felt during this situation?
• What did you feel after the situation?
• What do you think about the situation now?
• What do you think other people feel about the situation now?

It might be difficult for some people to talk honestly about their feelings. Use Empathic Listening at this stage to connect with them emotionally, and to try to see things from their point of view.

You can use the Perceptual Positions technique to help this person see the situation from other people's perspectives.

Step 3: Evaluation

Now you need to encourage the person you're coaching to look objectively at what approaches worked, and which ones didn't.

• What was positive about this situation?
• What was negative?
• What went well?
• What didn't go so well?
• What did you and other people do to contribute to the situation (either positively or negatively)?

If appropriate, use a technique such as the 5 Whys to help your team member uncover the root cause of the issue.

Step 4: Conclusions

Once you've evaluated the situation, you can help your team member draw conclusions about what happened.

Encourage them to think about the situation again, using the information that you've collected so far. Then ask questions like these:

• How could this have been a more positive experience for everyone involved?
• If you were faced with the same situation again, what would you do differently?
• What skills do you need to develop, so that you can handle this type of situation better?

Step 5: Action

You should now have some possible actions that your team member can take to deal with similar situations more effectively in the future.

In this last stage, you need to come up with a plan so that they can make these changes.

Once you've identified the areas they'll work on, get them to commit to taking action, and agree a date on which you will both review progress.

Frequently Asked Questions About Gibbs' Reflective Cycle

What is purpose of Gibbs' Reflective Cycle?

The reflective cycle is a way to better learn from experience. It can be used to help people learn from mistakes, to make sense of situations, and analyse and refelct on their reactions to different situations.

What are the six stages of reflection?

The stages of Gibbs' Reflective Cycle are the following: descrition, feelings, evaluation, conclusion, and action. In the original model Gibbs included a sixth stage, analysis, which we've included in the evaluation stage.

What is the difference between Gibbs and Kolb's reflective cycles?

David Kolb's cycle has only four stages: concrete experience, reflective observation, abstract conceptualization, and active experimentation. Kolb's model is more about explaining the concept of what he calls "experiential learning" – whereas Gibbs' cycle is an attempt to provide a practical method for learning from experience.

This tool is structured as a cycle, reflecting an ongoing coaching relationship. Whether you use it this way depends on the situation and your relationship with the person being coached.

Graham Gibbs published his Reflective Cycle in 1988. There are five stages in the cycle:

• Description.
• Evaluation.
• Conclusions.

You can use it to help team members think about how they deal with situations, so that they can understand what they did wel and where they need to improve.

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• Learn From Your Past Experience with Gibb’s Reflective Cycle
• Exploring Different Types of Reflection Models with Examples

You must have heard about Gibbs' reflective cycle. It is a widely prominent reflective cycle that helps individuals to work through past experiences and improve future practices. Gibbs' The reflective cycle was developed by Graham Gibbs in 1988 with the main aim of structuring individual learnings from past experiences (Markkanen et al., 2020). Effective utilization of this cycle offers a wide opportunity to examine past experiences and improve future actions.

Table of Contents

Six stages of gibbs' reflective cycle.

• Example of Gibbs' reflective cycle

Hence, the efficacious use of Gibbs' reflective cycle helps individuals to learn from past experiences that went well as well as past experiences that did not. The 6 stages of Gibbs' cycle include description, feelings, evaluation, analysis, conclusion, and action plan (Smith & Roberts, 2015).

For each step of this framework, you can work on a set of helpful questions given below to properly reflect on your past experiences and situations.

Stage 1: Description

The first step in Gibbs' reflective cycle is a description where you get an opportunity to properly describe a situation based on your experience. The following questions can assist you in describing your experience are

• What happened? In this, you will explain the factual information about the experience you want to reflect upon.
• Why did it happen? In this, you will underline the main reason behind the occurrence of the event.
• What did you do? While answering this question, you will highlight all the actions taken by you.
• Who was present? In this, you will highlight all the people that were present during the event.
• What were the major outcomes? In this, you will underline the results of the actions that were taken by you.

Using these questions, you will provide complete background information about an incident as well as a factual description of the event you want to reflect upon.

Stage 2: Feelings

The second step in Gibbs’ reflective cycle is an analysis of your feelings where you can describe your thoughts as well as feelings in detail to reflect on the corresponding experience of your feelings. You can reflect on this phase on the basis of a few assisting questions given below:

• What did you feel? In this section, you will highlight your feelings during the experience.
• Why did you feel this way? You will highlight the major reasons behind feeling the way you were feeling.
• How did other external factors influence your feelings? In this section, you will underline the positive or negative influence of other external factors such as the environment, and other involved people on your feelings.
• How did other internal factors influence your feelings? In this section, you will highlight the influence of various internal factors such as mindset, attitude, and physical or mental health.

These questions will help you to describe your feelings and the way in detail and will also assist in making the reader understand your emotional aspect from the incident you are reflecting upon.

Stage 3: Evaluation

In the evaluation phase, you get a chance to properly evaluate what worked well and what didn't work well. This phase includes the evaluation of experiences from both good as well as bad points, allowing you to mentally create a report of the experience. Below given are the questions that can be answered in this phase

• What worked well? In this, you will highlight the positive outcomes of your actions throughout the experience.
• What didn't work well? This will highlight all the negative outcomes of your actions taken by you throughout the experience.
• What did you contribute? Through this question, you will highlight your contribution to the whole experience.
• What did others contribute? While answering this question, you will highlight the actions of others that were involved in the situation.
• What was missing? In this, you will highlight the actions that were missing in the experience as per your opinion.

Based on these questions, you can honestly and objectively evaluate the past situation which will also help you in setting a base for future actions.

Stage 4: Analysis

In an analysis phase, you can make sense of a whole situation and determine the exact meaning of a situation along with the reasons for its success or failure. Some helpful questions for the analysis phase of Gibbs’ reflective cycle include

• Why did things not work well? In this, you will point out the reason as per your knowledge that contributed to the failures of your actions in your experience.
• Why did things go well? Through this section, you will highlight the reasons behind the success of your actions.
• What is the exact meaning that we can drive from a situation? While answering this question, you will highlight the overall analysis of the situation.

Based on the analysis, you can get a clear picture of the situation and ensure that every aspect of the situation is covered and understood meticulously.

Stage 5: Conclusion

After a proper situation analysis, you can also conclude the whole situation by reflecting on your learnings. In this phase, you can highlight changes that you need to make to your actions while dealing with future situations. In this phase, a list of questions includes

• What did you learn? In this, you will highlight all of your main learnings of the situation.
• What skills do you need to gain to handle situations more effectively? Through this, you will highlight the requirements of the skills for handling the situation better in the future.
• What else could you have done to deal with situations differently? In this, you will highlight the alternative actions that you could have taken to respond to the same situation in a different manner.

After the analysis, in the conclusion phase, using the above questions, you will clearly outline your learnings and the skills gained through the experience.

Stage 6: Action plan

In the action plan stage in Gibbs’ reflective cycle, you can plan to deal with future situations. It is an important phase of this reflective cycle as this phase helps to determine ways to deal with similar situations in the future and actions that you need to take to improve your ability to deal with various situations. Some questions that can be considered in this stage include

• How will you deal with this situation more effectively in the future? In this, you will highlight the actions that you have thought of that will help you in dealing with a similar situation differently in the future.
• How will you develop your skills and abilities to deal with similar situations? In this situation, you will highlight the methods in which you will develop the skills for dealing with situations more effectively.

After understanding the cycle, let us now take an example of reflective practice in health education to reflect on the learning situation using Gibbs’ reflective cycle.

Gibbs’ reflective cycle example in health education

Case assessment - This reflective example will highlight the experience of students in a group task of completing a health project. In this, a student will reflect upon a group task assigned to students during their MSc in health practice.

While doing my MSc in health practice, I was required to engage in various group work assignments and during a certain group work task, my team members decided to divide tasks among group members. All team members encouraged me to divide the tasks among the team. I divided tasks among team members according to their knowledge regarding various healthcare practices to ensure that all tasks are completed within a set deadline. All team members encouraged me to divide the tasks among the team. I divided tasks among team members according to their knowledge regarding various healthcare practices to ensure that all tasks are completed within a set deadline. However, I failed to consider the risk of various contingencies in completing projects and the same occurred when one of our team members was hospitalized due to some health emergency which resulted in a lack of task completion assigned to that team member. My whole team was present when I got a call from the injured team member about the accident that occurred to him. This then resulted in an increased burden to complete tasks among team members and failure to complete a task on time.

Before beginning the health project, I was very confident regarding my team management capabilities. I felt that our team will be able to complete assigned tasks on time due to my strong knowledge and abilities. I was already feeling very guilty that our project got delayed because of my lack of planning but the external factors made me feel even worse. Other than that, I felt like it was my overconfidence that made me feel more guilty because things did not work as planned.

During the group health project, a thing that worked well was the effort of team members to complete work within the extended deadline was cooperation as well as motivation among all team members. However, I believe that the hospitalization of one team member resulted in a lack of task completion on time. I felt that contingency planning is one most important requirement in a team project which was missing in this project. Thus, I believe that I am also responsible for the bad repercussions of this situation as I failed to properly plan and did not consider the risks of contingencies in a group. But still, till the end, everyone contributed effectively and did not lose hope till the end and gave their best.

I think the major reasons behind the successful completion were group efforts, cooperation abilities, self-identification of strengths, effective division of tasks, and ability to help others. However, the only thing that created a problem in completing a project is a lack of time management and planning capabilities. Through this whole experience, I believe that I need to focus on improving my time management skills as well as leading the ability to effectively manage group tasks.

After getting into this group health project, I got to know that time management and contingency planning are important skills that every project manager needs to possess to effectively manage group tasks. I also found that team management is possible only through the cooperation of team members as well as their effort to give the best results to a team project. I learned that as a project manager, it is always better to have a contingency plan ready for implementation than to develop one as risk is taking its toll (Heimann, J. F. 2000). However, I found that various problems can arise in a group task which could be managed effectively by making contingency plans for such situations in advance. I would have prepared contingency plans in the beginning and I believe that it would have helped me in dealing with situations differently.

In order to deal with this situation in the future, I have decided that I will use various time management tools such as PERT and CPM while planning various group tasks to keep separate times for various contingencies. For enhancing my time management and planning skills, I have decided to use time management skills such as making time tables and assigning time blocks for each task. If a similar situation occurs again in the future, I will ensure that in the planning phase only, I take time for contingency planning and plan things accordingly.

How to reference Gibbs reflective cycle?

To reference Gibbs' reflective cycle, include the author's name "Gibbs" and the publication year (if available) in parentheses. For instance, in APA style, it would be: (Gibbs, 1988). If you use a direct quote, add the page number as well.

Can Gibbs' Reflective Model be used in any profession?

Yes, the model is versatile and applicable in various professions and fields, including education, healthcare, social work, and more.

What are the disadvantages of Gibb's reflective cycle?

Gibbs' reflective cycle lacks a strong theoretical foundation and may not suit complex or long-term learning experiences. Some of you may even find its structured approach restrictive that could potentially overlook unique aspects of individual experiences. Additionally, it may not be universally applicable to various learning contexts.

Previous Model

Markkanen, P., Välimäki, M., Anttila, M., & Kuuskorpi, M. (2020). A reflective cycle: Understanding challenging situations in a school setting. Educational Research, 62(1), 46-62. https://doi.org/10.1080/00131881.2020.1711790

Smith, J., & Roberts, R. (2015). Reflective Practice. Vital Signs For Nurses, 222-230. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119139119.ch14

Heimann, J. F. (2000). Contingency planning as a necessity. Paper presented at Project Management Institute Annual Seminars & Symposium, Houston, TX. Newtown Square, PA: Project Management Institute.

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Reflective writing: Gibbs

• What is reflection? Why do it?
• What does reflection involve?
• Reflective questioning
• Reflective writing for academic assessment
• Types of reflective assignments
• Differences between discursive and reflective writing
• Sources of evidence for reflective writing assignments
• Linking theory to experience
• Reflective essays
• Portfolios and learning journals, logs and diaries
• Examples of reflective writing
• Video summary
• Bibliography

On this page: ​​

Gibbs' framework “emphasises the importance of being able to generalise, to transfer knowledge and insights gained from one situation to another ” Williams et al., Reflective Writing

Gibbs' Reflective Cycle

Similar to Kolb's Learning Cycle , Gibbs (1988) Reflective Cycle also provides a structure for a reflective essay.

The structure of a piece of reflective writing, whether it be an essay or learning log entry, might consist of six components or paragraphs that follow Gibb’s cycle:

Model of Gibbs' Reflective Cycle

Criticism of this framework

Don't let it put you off using Gibbs' Reflective Cycle, but do take into account that there has been some criticism about it's lack of depth. For example, the Open University suggest the following:

Despite the further breakdown, it can be argued that this model could still result in fairly superficial reflection as it doesn’t refer to critical thinking/analysis or reflection. It doesn’t take into consideration assumptions that you may hold about the experience, the need to look objectively at different perspectives, and there doesn’t seem to be an explicit suggestion that the learning will result in a change of assumptions, perspectives or practice. You could legitimately respond to the question ‘What would you do next time?’ by answering that you would do the same, but does that constitute deep level reflection?

Open University (2014) in  OpenLearn

The Reflective Cycle has six distinctive stages, leading from a description of the event/experience through to conclusions and consideration for future events.

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Gibbs Reflective Cycle

Gibbs’ Reflective Cycle is one of the most well known cyclical models used in professional reflective practice . 

It guides practitioners through an experience in six stages: description, feelings, evaluation, analysis, conclusion, and action plan. 

Gibbs Reflective Cycle was originally developed for use in higher education as a way for teachers and learners to link theoretical learning to experiential practice to reinforce the knowledge they have acquired through the use of real-world examples. It has numerous applications, but it is predominantly used in the fields of teaching and health and social care. As Gibbs’ argues:

It is not sufficient simply to have an experience in order to learn. Without reflecting upon this experience it may quickly be forgotten or its learning potential lost. It is from the feelings and thoughts emerging from this reflection that generalisations or concepts can be generated. And it is generalisations which enable new situations to be tackled effectively….It is not enough just to do, and neither is it enough just to think. Nor is it enough simply to do and think. Learning from experience must involve links between the doing and the thinking.

In this article, we will be discussing this cycle, its pros and cons, along with a worked example of its use in practice and some alternatives to the Gibbs Reflective Cycle.

Table of Contents

About Graham Gibbs

The reputation for excellent teaching at Oxford Brookes University is in large part due to the work done by Professor Graham Gibbs. He was Head of the Center for Staff and Learning Development and later Director of the Oxford Learning Institute at Oxford University, where he helped many students develop strong fundamentals that would help them to succeed beyond academia.

Graham’s career has been dedicated to improving university teaching and student learning. He founded the International Consortium for Educational Development in Higher Education and the Improving Student Learning Symposium while also receiving Honorary Doctorates from Sheffield Hallam University and the University of Utrecht.

He retired in 2007 after a long and distinguished career.

Gibbs’ Model Of Reflection

The purpose of Gibbs’ Model of Reflection is to provide a structured approach to self-reflection or ‘structured debriefings’ as Gibbs himself describes them. He argues that problems relating to discussions following an experience include:

– they often lurch from superficial descriptions of what happened to premature conclusions about what to do next, without adequate reflection or analysis; – if the experience has been especially powerful then discussion may never get further than a description of what happened or of the feelings associated with the experience; – if description and feelings are not dealt with adequately, learners may return to these at a later stage when they should be considering implications and action plans.

These issues may be avoided if a structured approach is used because there is less likelihood of deviation that could inhibit the learning experience. Gibbs proposed the following cyclical process for reflective practice:

Stage 1: Description

The first stage involves making a factual account of what happened during the experience. This should be an objective description and we should try to avoid recording thoughts and feelings or performing analysis as this will come later. Some things to consider at this stage include:

• When and where did the experience happen?
• Is there any relevant background information that influenced the experience?
• Who was present?
• What happened?
• What did each person do?

Stage 2: Feelings

In stage 2, we should record the feelings and emotions of ourselves and others. Again, we should not try to carry out any analysis yet, simply make a truthful account of how we felt at each stage of the experience. Questions to consider include:

• How did I feel prior to the experience?
• How did I feel during the experience?
• How did I feel after the experience?
• What were the feelings of other people that were involved?

Stage 3: Evaluation

Here, we make value judgments about the positive and negative aspects of the experience. Our evaluations should be as objective as possible. Questions to ask include:

• What went well?
• What did not go well?
• What was positive/negative about the experience?
• Were my contributions positive/negative?
• Were the contributions of others positive/negative?

Stage 4: Analysis

In the fourth stage, we critically analyse the experience using the information that we collated in the previous section along with knowledge from other sources, such as theory, research, standards and the perspectives of others. By bringing all the information together, we can begin to make sense of the experience. Questions you may ask include:

• Why was the experience positive?
• Why was the experience negative?
• Did the perspectives of others align with your own? If not, why not?
• Which literature is relevant to the experience?
• How did the experience align with the theory?
• How did the experience align with standards?

Stage 5: Conclusions

Gibbs splits this stage into general conclusions and specific conclusions.

General conclusions are broad deductions that can be derived from the experience. Specific conclusions relate to our own personal experiences, practice and development. Examples of questions that may be asked at this stage include:

• What have I learned from this experience?
• How might I have performed better?
• What would I do differently if a similar situation occurred in the future?
• What learning and development opportunities may strengthen this area of my practice?

Stage 6: Action Plan

Finally, we develop an action plan for addressing areas of our practice that we may wish to develop, based on our findings from the reflective process. This could be undergoing further training, gaining additional knowledge, practising a procedure or another similar activity. The action plan should contain objectives and timescales (SMART targets are useful here). Pertinent questions include:

• What will I do differently next time?
• What training will I undergo?
• How will I gain further knowledge or experience?

Gibbs advocated for his reflective cycle to be used in situations practitioners find themselves in often. This is primarily because practitioners who reflect on the same set of experiences are more likely to build up a bank of knowledge and expertise pertaining to that situation. 

However, the stages of the Gibbs model can be used in single, isolated experiences. This means that elements of the reflective cycle, the action plan aspect, for example, will likely be more generalised and ultimately less practical when considering the applications of the reflective cycle process. 

Advantages And Disadvantages Of Gibbs Reflective Cycle

As with all reflective practices, there are advantages and disadvantages of using Gibbs’ reflective cycle. 

These advantages and disadvantages are somewhat subjective, as not every method of reflective practice works for all practitioners in every situation. 

• Gibbs’ reflective cycle underpins many other models of reflective practice
• It provides a structured approach to experiential learning
• It is a relatively simple model that is a good introduction for individuals that are new to self-reflection

Disadvantages

• It was developed as a generalised approach to reflective practice within a teaching setting and so does not focus on specialised practice, such as nursing or social care

Alternatives To Gibbs Reflective Cycle

Kolb’s (1984) model is a more simplified model based on a set of theories around how people learn – in fact, Gibbs’ model was based on Kolb’s research. It revolves around four key stages: Concrete Experience, Reflective Observation, Abstract Conceptualization, and Active Experimentation.  

Schon’s model of reflection builds on the idea that reflection can be performed both after an experience (reflection-on-action) as well as during an experience (reflection-in-action).

There are also models of reflection that are designed to be used by specific vocations – for example, Johns model and Atkins & Murphy’s model were developed for the nursing profession.

A list of other models of reflective practice can be found here.

An Example Of Gibbs Reflective Cycle

Now that we have established the stages of Gibbs’ Reflective Cycle, we’ll now walk through an example. Following is a self-reflection from a care worker.

Description – Stage One

I was working with two individuals with learning disabilities in a supported living environment. Each of the individuals was supposed to be receiving one-on-one support but due to staff absences, I was supporting them both. We all had an enjoyable day but when I came to administer one of the individual’s medication (1mg Risperidone) at 6PM, I realised that I’d forgotten to give him his morning dose earlier in the day.

I called the pharmacy for advice. They advised that I should continue with the evening medication as usual and to call NHS 111 if the individual experienced any side effects or changes in behaviour. I informed the client of what had happened and apologised as well as wrote up the appropriate medication administration error form, made a record on the MAR sheet and informed my manager.

My manager thanked me for letting her know and said not to worry about it too much as it can happen from time to time. She also recommended that I reflect upon the experience when I had time.

Feelings – Stage Two

When I first came onto shift I was feeling a little nervous about working on my own with two clients and a bit overwhelmed by all the information that I was being given during the handover. As I’d only worked with the clients a few times, when the previous shift worker left I felt my priority was to get to know them and make them feel at ease with me. It was during this time that I should have administered the medication but completely forgot.

When I realised my mistake in the evening I felt instant dread and was worried about my error causing harm to the individual as well as getting into trouble with my manager and organisation. I also felt guilty and disappointed in myself. After a few moments, I regained my composure and followed company protocols by calling for advice from a medical professional.

When the pharmacy told me that the missed medication shouldn’t affect the individual’s health very much, I felt relieved but still felt a little scared that my employer would be angry or disappointed. However, I did feel better about it once I had spoken to my manager.

Evaluation – Stage Three

The thing that did not go well in this experience was that I forgot to administer an individual’s medication. However, there were also positive elements such as knowing what to do when a medication error occurs and owning up to the mistake. I fulfilled my duty of care by seeking immediate support from a medical professional and my duty of candour by apologising to the individual and being transparent in my explanation of what had happened.

Analysis – Stage Four 

Although the missed medication was not a major issue on this occasion, I work with individuals that could have much more serious consequences if they miss a dose of their medication – for example, individuals that have epilepsy and heart conditions.

In addition, being overloaded with information about two different clients, it was perhaps inevitable that something would be forgotten.

Conclusions – Stage Five 

Through this experience, I have learned that I can keep a level head in unexpected situations and that I have a thorough understanding of my responsibilities as a care worker and the standards that I must meet as well as my employer’s policies and procedures.

However, I think that I need to have a system in place to remember medication administration because it is so important to my role – although other aspects of my job role are important, medication administration can quite literally be life-or-death.

Action Plan – Stage Six

Going forward, I want to ensure that I do not forget to administer medication to my clients. I will do this by ensuring that I check the medication schedules for all the individuals that I am responsible for as soon as I come on to shift and setting a reminder on my phone.

• Gibbs: Learning by Doing (1988)

• Your Project

Gibbs’ Reflective Cycle

What is the gibbs' reflective cycle.

The Gibbs’ Reflective Cycle is a Tool that helps professionals Grow and Learn from their past Experiences .

To do this, it proposes to analyze the Situations in which someone wants to Improve.

• Drawing Conclusions that allow us to do things better in the future.

It consists of  6 Repetitive Steps (a cycle):

• Description .
• Evaluation .
• Conclusion .
• Action Plan .

This cycle must be repeated until Obtaining the Desired Results .

The Six Steps of Gibbs' Reflective Cycle

1. Description : Describe in detail the Situation in which you want to improve .

• A Negotiation, A Decision you made, a Discussion with your employees, etc.

2. Feelings : Reflect on How you Felt in that Situation, How you Coped with it.

• Did you feel Insecure? Did you feel Determined? Did you Hesitate?

3. Evaluation : Evaluate the Experience and its Outcome , Objectively.

• What Consequences did it have, What worked, What did not, etc.

4. Analysis : Analyze the Reasons that explain the Result of this Situation.

• Why something worked or didn’t work. Why you Made that Decision, etc.

5. Conclusion : Get the Lessons from this Analysis; How to do things better.

• What could have been done better? What could be done in a different way?

6. Action Plan : Develop and Implement a Plan to do things better.

• Applying the Conclusions obtained in this Cycle.

Repeat the Cycle until Reaching the Desired Results .

Gibbs’ Reflective Cycle Template

Now, before sharing some examples , we want to explain one important thing:

• How to use this Cycle .

We know that it can get a bit Confusing (Feelings, Action Plan, etc).

That is why we’ll offer you a Guideline that you can Follow .

• It can be used for your Personal Analysis or, in Coaching Situations.

How to use the Gibbs Reflective Cycle

Description : Details are important, as is the Context of any Situation.

• The Place and People Involved.
• What Interactions happened.

Feelings : They Can give us a Clue as to what we need to Improve .

• If we feel Insecure, it is usually because we do not know the Subject well enough.
• What made you feel Uncomfortable?
• What made you feel Determined?

Evaluation : Here, you should not try to find Reasons , only Facts .

• What worked, What didn’t work, and under What Circumstances.
• The Outcome: What happened After the Situation?

Analysis : Now it is the time to find the Whys .

• Why is the Reason something Worked? The Root Cause.
• Potential Root causes causing you a Problem.

Conclusions : Time to “Connect the Dots” and obtain Solid Conclusions .

• What Solid Conclusions have you Obtained?
• What Could have been done better?

Action Plan : Now, you have to put things into Practice .

• Set Specific, Measurable, Realistic and Time-Related Goals.
• Use Objective Metrics.

Let’s see some examples:

Gibbs Reflective Cycle examples

Now, let’s Imagine that you have recently been Promoted to Manager .

You are very happy about it, but you do not feel very Comfortable when you face your employees .

• Sometimes you have to impose yourself, so that what you say is done.

Also, it is something you would like to Improve on .

That is Why you decided to use Gibbs’ Reflective Cycle .

Let’s see How you use it:

Description - Gibbs Reflective Cycle example

The Situation in which you want to Improve :

• It is You and your Employees (no matter Who).
• You are In front of them alone or in a collective meeting.
• You Want things to be done in a New way.
• You Tell them how they have to do things from now on .

Feelings - Gibbs Reflective Cycle example

After thinking Carefully about it, you Discover that you Felt :

• Anxious about Compelling People to do Something.
• Insecure about you Authority.
• Determined about the Need of doing the Things in a New Way.

Evaluation - Gibbs Reflective Cycle example

You then Evaluate what happens in these Situations :

• You Compel your employees to do what you say.
• They obey you.
• Those who know you best Respond much better to your Commands .
• Those who don’t know you are more Reluctant to change .

Analysis - Gibbs Reflective Cycle example

Now, you start thinking about the Whys :

• This makes you Feel Insecure.
• They don’t make you Feel Anxious or Insecure .
• That and , the fact that you are New in the Position .

Conclusion - Gibbs Reflective Cycle example

You Obtain important Conclusions from this Analysis :

• Or People that don’t know your Skills when making decisions.

This People are Reluctant to “obey” you, and make you Feel Insecure and Anxious.

• So they will Trust you more.
• And they will Trust your Authority more.

Action Plan - Gibbs Reflective Cycle example

Finally, you decide to Develop an Action Plan :

• Starting with those who know you least.
• Comparing the Previous Results with the Current ones.

You Estimate that you will need 2 months to have met with all your employees.

• And decide if you need to repeat this Cycle again.

The Gibbs’ Reflective Cycle is a Tool that helps professionals Grow and Learn from their past Experiences.

Consists of 6 Repetitive Steps that must be repeated until getting the desired Results:

• Description : Describe in detail the Situation in which you want to improve.
• Feelings : Reflect on How you Felt in that Situation, How you Coped with it.
• Evaluation : Evaluate the Experience and its Outcome, Objectively.
• Analysis : Analyze the Reasons that explain the Result of this Situation.
• Conclusion : Get the Lessons from this Analysis; How to do things better.
• Action Plan : Develop and Implement a Plan to do things better.
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• Gibbs' Reflective Cycle

May 9, 2023

Delve into Gibbs' Reflective Cycle, a powerful tool fostering critical thinking, deep learning, and professional growth through reflection.

Main, P (2023, May 09). Gibbs' Reflective Cycle. Retrieved from https://www.structural-learning.com/post/gibbs-reflective-cycle

What is Gibbs' Reflective Cycle?

Gibbs' Reflective Cycle is a popular model for reflection, acting as a structured method to enable individuals to think systematically about the experiences they had during a specific situation.

Gibbs’ Reflective Cycle is a widely used and accepted model of reflection . Developed by Graham Gibbs in 1988 at Oxford Polytechnic, now Oxford Brookes University, this reflective cycle framework is widely used within various fields such as healthcare, education, and management to enhance professional and personal development . It has since become an integral part of reflective practice, allowing individuals to reflect on their experiences in a structured way.

The cycle consists of six stages which must be completed in order for the reflection to have a defined purpose. The first stage is to describe the experience. This is followed by reflecting on the feelings felt during the experience, identifying what knowledge was gained from it, analyzing any decisions made in relation to it and considering how this could have been done differently.

The final stage of the cycle is to come up with a plan for how to approach similar experiences in future.

Gibbs' Reflective Cycle encourages individuals to consider their own experiences in a more in-depth and analytical way, helping them to identify how they can improve their practice in the future.

A survey from the British Journal of Midwifery found that 63% of healthcare professionals regularly used Gibbs' Reflective Cycle as a tool for reflection.

"Reflection is a critical component of professional nursing practice and a strategy for learning through practice. This integrative review synthesizes the literature on nursing students’ reflection on their clinical experiences." – Beverly J. Bowers, RN, PhD

The Six Stages of Gibbs' Reflective Cycle

The Gibbs reflective cycle consists of six distinct stages: Description, Feelings, Evaluation, Analysis, Conclusion, and Action Plan. Each stage prompts the individual to examine their experiences through questions designed to incite deep and critical reflection. For instance, in the 'Description' stage, one might ask: "What happened?". This questioning method encourages a thorough understanding of both the event and the individual's responses to it.

To illustrate, let's consider a student nurse reflecting on an interaction with a patient. In the 'Description' stage, the student might describe the patient's condition, their communication with the patient, and the outcome of their interaction. Following this, they would move on to the 'Feelings' stage, where they might express how they felt during the interaction, perhaps feeling confident, anxious, or uncertain.

The 'Evaluation' stage would involve the student reflecting on their interaction with the patient, considering how they could have done things differently and what went well. In the 'Analysis' stage, the student might consider the wider implications of their actions and how this impacted on the patient's experience.

Finally, in the 'Conclusion' stage, the student would summarise their reflections by noting what they have learned from the experience. They would then set an 'Action Plan' for how they will apply this newfound knowledge in their future practice.

Gibbs' Reflective Cycle is a useful tool for nurses to utilize in order to reflect on their past experiences and improve their practice. By using reflective questions , nurses can actively engage in reflection and identify areas for improvement. 

• Description : Start by objectively recounting the experience. Helpful questions to ask include: What happened? Who was involved? When and where did this occur?
• Feelings : Capture your emotional response to the experience. It's essential to acknowledge both positive and negative emotions, as they significantly affect our interpretation of the event.
• Evaluation : Assess the good and bad aspects of the experience. What worked well, and what didn't? What were the positive impacts and negative consequences?
• Analysis : Dig deeper into understanding why things unfolded as they did. This analysis stage is where you draw on relevant literature and professional knowledge to interpret the experience.
• Conclusion : Determine what you could have done differently and what you've learned from the experience.
• Action Plan : Develop a plan detailing what you'll do if a similar situation arises in the future.

Examples of the Reflective Model in Practice

The Gibbs Reflective Cycle, a model of reflection, can be a powerful tool for learning and personal development across various vocations. Here are five fictional examples:

• Nursing : A nurse named Jane had a challenging interaction with a patient. Using the Gibbs Reflective Cycle, she first described the situation and her initial reactions. She then reflected on her feelings, identifying negative emotions that arose. During the analysis stage, she realized that her communication skills needed improvement. She concluded that better communication could have led to a more positive outcome. Finally, she developed a personal development plan to improve her communication skills, demonstrating the positive impacts of deep level reflection.
• Teaching : A teacher, Mr. Smith, had difficulty managing his classroom . He used the Gibbs Reflective Cycle to reflect on a particularly chaotic day. He identified negative aspects of his classroom management strategy and, through critical thinking, realized that he needed to set clearer expectations for his students. He then developed a plan to implement these changes, showing how the approach to reflection can lead to actionable improvements .
• Customer Service : Sarah, a customer service representative, received constructive feedback from a customer who was dissatisfied with the service. She used the Gibbs Reflective Cycle to reflect on the interaction, identifying her feelings of disappointment and analyzing what went wrong. She concluded that she needed to improve her problem-solving skills and developed a plan to do so.
• Management : A manager, Tom, struggled with delegating tasks to his team. He used the Gibbs Reflective Cycle to reflect on a project that was delayed due to his reluctance to delegate. He identified his fear of losing control as a negative emotion and realized during the analysis stage that trust in his team was crucial. He then developed a plan to practice delegation in future projects.
• Counseling : A counselor, Dr. Lee, felt that her recent sessions with a client were not productive. She used the Gibbs Reflective Cycle to reflect on these sessions . She identified feelings of frustration and, upon analysis, realized that she needed to adjust her counseling techniques to better suit her client's needs. She then developed a plan to implement these changes.

These examples illustrate how the Gibbs Reflective Cycle can facilitate learning and reflection across different vocations, leading to personal and professional growth.

An Exploration of Gibbs' Model

Gibbs' Reflective Cycle offers a structured approach to reflection, making it a helpful tool for educators and learners alike. The model encourages critical reflection , stimulating the ability to analyze experiences through questions and transform them into valuable learning opportunities.

Experiential Learning , a concept closely tied with reflection, suggests that we learn from our experiences, particularly when we engage in reflection and active experimentation . Gibbs' model bridges the gap between theory and practice, offering a framework to capture and analyze experiences in a meaningful way.

By using Gibbs' model, educators can guide students through their reflective process , helping them extract valuable lessons from their positive and negative experiences.

Application of Gibbs' Reflective Cycle in Real-World Scenarios

The flexibility and simplicity of Gibbs' Reflective Cycle make it widely applicable in various real-world scenarios, from personal situations to professional practice.

For instance, Diana Eastcott, a nursing educator, utilized Gibbs' model to facilitate her students' reflection on their clinical practice experience. The students were encouraged to reflect on their clinical experiences, analyze their reactions and feelings, and construct an action plan for future patient interactions. This process not only enhanced their professional knowledge but also fostered personal growth and emotional resilience.

In another example, Bob Farmer, a team leader in a tech company, used Gibbs' Cycle to reflect on a project that didn't meet expectations. He guided his team through the reflective process, helping them identify areas for improvement and develop strategies for better future outcomes.

These scenarios underline the versatility of Gibbs' model, demonstrating its value in both educational and professional settings.

• ( Gibbs Reflective Cycle , University of Northampton, https://www.northampton.ac.uk )
• ( Gibbs' Reflective Cycle , Oxford Brookes University, https://www.brookes.ac.uk )
• ( Reflective Practice , San Francisco State University, https://www.sfsu.edu )

Gibbs' Reflective Cycle for Personal and Professional Development

The use of Gibbs' Reflective Cycle can have profound effects on personal and professional development. It aids in recognizing strengths, weaknesses, and areas for improvement, providing an avenue for constructive feedback and self-improvement.

In the context of professional development , Gibbs' model promotes continuous learning and adaptability. By transforming bad experiences into learning opportunities, individuals can enhance their competencies and skills , preparing them for similar future situations.

Moreover, the reflective cycle promotes emotional intelligence by encouraging individuals to explore their feelings and reactions to different experiences. Acknowledging and understanding negative emotions can lead to increased resilience, better stress management, and improved interpersonal relationships.

Transforming Experiences into Learning: The Role of Gibbs' Reflective Cycle

Gibbs' Reflective Cycle is a practical tool that transforms experiences into learning. It incorporates principles of Experiential Learning and emphasizes the importance of abstract conceptualization and active experimentation in the learning process.

In the field of education, Gibbs' model can significantly influence teaching methods. It encourages educators to incorporate reflective practices in their teaching methods, promoting a deeper understanding of course material and facilitating the application of theoretical knowledge in practical scenarios.

Moreover, the model can be used to encourage students to reflect on their experiences, both within and outside the classroom, and learn from them. This process fosters critical thinking, problem-solving skills, and personal growth, equipping students with the skills they need for lifelong learning.

Embracing Gibbs cycle in your organisation

Here's a list of guidance tips for organizations interested in embracing Gibbs' Reflective Cycle as their professional development model.

• Understanding the Gibbs Reflective Cycle : Before implementing, ensure that everyone in the organization understands the Gibbs Reflective Cycle model. This model consists of six stages: Description, Feelings, Evaluation, Analysis, Conclusion, and Action Plan. The goal is to encourage deep level reflection on experiences to foster learning and improve future actions.
• Promote a Culture of Reflection : Encourage everyone in the organization to incorporate reflection into their daily routine. Reflection should not be seen as an added task, but rather as an integral part of the professional development process.
• Use Real-Life Situations : For the methods in education to be effective, use real-life situations when applying the Gibbs Reflective Cycle. This way, employees can relate to the experiences, making the reflection process more relevant and meaningful.
• Encourage Sharing of Reflections : Create a safe space for individuals to share their reflections. This could be through team meetings, one-on-one sessions with managers, or through online platforms. Sharing allows for collective learning and may provide different perspectives on the same situation.
• Integrate Reflective Practice in Training Programs : Use the Gibbs Reflective Cycle in training programs. After each training session, encourage participants to go through the reflective cycle. This can help them understand the training content better and apply it in their work.
• Link Reflection to Personal Development : Connect the outcome of the reflection to personal development plans. The Action Plan stage of the cycle should feed into the individual's personal development plan, helping them identify areas of strength and areas needing improvement.
• Provide Guidance and Support : Provide guidance and support in the early stages of implementing the Gibbs Reflective Cycle. This could include providing templates or guides, or offering training on how to use the model effectively.
• Continuous Review and Feedback : Regularly review the use of the Gibbs Reflective Cycle in your organization and provide feedback. This will help ensure that the model is being used effectively and is helping individuals in their professional development.
• Model Reflective Practice : Leaders and managers should model reflective practice themselves. This shows that the organization values reflective practice and can motivate employees to engage in it themselves.
• Celebrate Success : Recognize and celebrate when reflective practice leads to positive changes or improvements. This can motivate employees to continue using the Gibbs Reflective Cycle in their professional development.

What is the Difference Between Kolb's and Gibbs' Reflective Cycle?

Both Kolb's Experiential Learning Theory and Gibbs' Reflective Cycle are influential learning methods used extensively in education and professional development. While they share similarities, such as promoting a cyclical learning process and fostering a deeper understanding of experiences, there are key differences.

Kolb's cycle consists of four stages: Concrete Experience, Reflective Observation, Abstract Conceptualization, and Active Experimentation. It focuses more on the transformation of direct experience into knowledge, emphasizing the role of experience in learning.

On the other hand, Gibbs' cycle, with its six stages, places a greater emphasis on emotions and their impact on learning. For example, a team leader might use Kolb's cycle to improve operational skills after a failed project, focusing on what happened and how to improve. However, using Gibbs' cycle, the same leader would also reflect on how the failure made them feel, and how those feelings might have influenced their decision-making.

Other notable Learning Methods and Cycles

Please note that each of these theories or models has been developed and refined over time, and they each have their own strengths and weaknesses depending on the specific learning context or goals.

Adopting the Cycle in Education

Gibbs' Reflective Cycle is an invaluable tool for nurturing professional skills and fostering personal growth. By systematically integrating this reflective model into educational practices, institutions can significantly enhance their students' professional development.

Here are seven innovative ways educational institutions can harness the power of Gibbs' Reflective Cycle to boost skill acquisition , operational proficiency, leadership capabilities, and personal skills mastery.

• Incorporate Reflective Practice in Curriculum: Educational institutions can incorporate Gibbs' Reflective Cycle into their curriculum, making it a regular part of learning. This can encourage students to develop professional skills by continually reflecting on their experiences and learning from them.
• Real-World Scenarios: By using real-world situations or case studies, educational institutions can provide practical instances for students to apply the reflective cycle. This will help them understand the type of situation they might encounter in their professional life and how to handle it.
• Promote Skill Acquisition: Gibbs' cycle can be used as a tool for skill acquisition. By reflecting on their performance in various tasks and projects, students can identify their strengths and areas that need improvement. This can aid in the development of operational skills, leadership skills, and personal skills.
• Professional Development Workshops: Educational institutions can organize workshops that focus on the application of Gibbs' Reflective Cycle for professional development. These workshops could provide hands-on training on how to use the cycle effectively.
• Reflective Journals: Encourage students to keep a reflective journal. This practice can help students regularly apply Gibbs' cycle, promoting introspection , and the development of key leadership skills.
• Mentorship Programs: Implement mentorship programs where experienced professionals guide students in applying Gibbs' Reflective Cycle. This can provide students with valuable insights into how reflective practice can enhance their professional skills.
• Assessments Based on Reflection: Design assessments that value reflective practice. Instead of solely focusing on theoretical knowledge, consider students' ability to reflect on their experiences and learn from them. This approach can make learning more engaging and relevant to real-world situations.

In the journey of life and work, we continuously encounter new situations, face challenges, and make decisions that shape our personal and professional trajectory. It's in these moments that Gibbs' Reflective Cycle emerges as a guiding compass, providing a structured framework to analyze experiences, draw insights, and plan our future course of action.

Underlying the model is the philosophy of lifelong learning. By encouraging critical reflection, it empowers us to not just passively experience life, but to actively engage with it, to question, and to learn. It's through this reflection that we move from the realm of 'doing' to 'understanding', transforming experiences into knowledge.

Moreover, the model emphasizes the importance of an action-oriented approach. It propels us to use our reflections to plan future actions, promoting adaptability and growth. Whether you're an educator using the model to enhance your teaching methods , a student exploring the depths of your learning process, or a professional striving for excellence in your field, Gibbs' Reflective Cycle can be a powerful tool.

In an ever-changing world, where the pace of change is accelerating, the ability to learn, adapt, and evolve is paramount. Reflective practices, guided by models such as Gibbs', provide us with the skills and mindset to navigate this change effectively. They empower us to learn from our past, be it positive experiences or negative experiences, and use these lessons to shape our future.

From fostering personal growth and emotional resilience to enhancing professional practice and shaping future outcomes , the benefits of Gibbs' Reflective Cycle are manifold. As we continue our journey of growth and learning, this model serves as a beacon, illuminating our path and guiding us towards a future of continuous learning and development.

• Reflection in Learning and Professional Development
• The Reflective Practitioner
• Reflective Practice: The Teacher in the Mirror
• The Impact of Reflective Practice on Teaching Effectiveness
• Reflective Practice: A Guide for Nurses and Midwives
• Reflective practice in nursing
• Learning by Doing: A Guide to Teaching and Learning Methods
• Gibbs’ Reflective Cycle

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• v.108(3); 2020 Jul 1

Elevation through reflection: closing the circle to improve librarianship

Jolene m. miller.

1 [email protected] , Director, Mulford Health Science Library, and Assistant Professor, Library Administration, University of Toledo, Toledo, OH

Stephanie Friree Ford

2 gro.srentrap@drofeerirfs , Manager, Library Resources, Mental Health Sciences Library, McLean Hospital, Belmont, MA

3 ude.etatsonserf.liam@98gnaya , Science Librarian, University Library, California Health Sciences University, Clovis, CA

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Reflective practice is a strategy promoted as a way to improve professional performance and to develop expertise. Intentional reflection on work situations can lead to improved understanding of a specific situation, identify strategies for similar situations in the future, and uncover assumptions that hinder service to patrons. Research has identified lack of knowledge to be a barrier to health sciences librarians engaging in reflective practice. This article introduces the use of intentional reflection at work: what it is, how it helps, and how it can be applied in librarianship. It also provides practical advice on how to choose a format, how to use a model to guide reflection, and how to incorporate it into work.

Jolene M. Miller, MLS, AHIP

INTRODUCTION

In her 2017 article in the Journal of Information Literacy , Corrall captures the challenge of incorporating intentional reflection into professional practice: “reflection is a deceptively simple idea that is easy to grasp at a basic level but may be hard to put into practice in a professional [librarian] context” [ 1 ]. It is an everyday process that often happens without conscious thought, but reflection with the goal of improving professional practice requires intention. Reflective practice is the process of bringing intentional reflection to one's work to improve practice: providing better instruction, managing electronic resources more effectively, interacting with coworkers more collaboratively, and so on. It closes the loop: new understandings are applied to personal and organizational processes to improve performance. Discoveries about oneself have an impact on thoughts, feelings, and behavior; and relationships improve.

The good news is that no one is a blank slate with respect to reflection at work. The language of reflective practice and the use of models may be new, but the experience of thinking back on a situation and trying to make sense of it is universal. Having a formal process of reflective practice can help health sciences and medical librarians identify and develop best practices. This article, born out of an immersion session offered at the Medical Library Association (MLA) 2019 annual meeting [ 2 ], is designed to help readers incorporate reflection into their professional practice.

There are many diverse published models of reflective practice ( supplemental Appendix A ). They all have three main components: (1) description of the experience, (2) reflection on and exploration of why things happened as they did, and (3) identification of changes to thinking and behavior to improve the outcomes of future experiences. Reflective practice usually starts with consideration of a specific experience that had an unexpected outcome. Most models include guiding questions to make sure that all aspects of the experience are considered, such as external aspects (what happened, who was involved) and internal aspects (how one was feeling before, during, and after the experience). External sources of information such as observations of other people or data from evaluation forms may also be included.

After describing the experience, one reflects on it. This is the core of reflective practice. “Why” questions are common in this stage, guiding analysis and interpretation of the experience [ 3 ]. This stage includes judgments: What went well in the experience? What could have gone better? What was one's role in the outcome? What important aspects still need to be identified and considered? After reflection, there is an invitation to action. What could have been done differently? How might the outcome have been different? What needs to be done to improve practice in the future? This could be a change in how things are done or how other people are treated. It could also be a change in thinking about and approaching situations with a different mindset [ 4 ].

In addition to having different stages and questions, models approach reflective practice from different perspectives [ 5 ]. While all reflective practice models encourage deeper thought about a situation, critical reflection models encourage exploration of the assumptions underlying situations, which is a key step in critical librarianship. Use of critical reflective practice can “direct and inform action that carries social and ethical implications beyond the technical execution of library work” [ 6 ]. It provides a method for identifying personal and professional values, exploring where thoughts and actions diverge from these values [ 7 , 8 ], and identifying courses of action that are consistent with these values. It uncovers hidden biases that influence decision making and hinder high-quality service. In the context of critical librarianship, it is used to identify opportunities to dismantle oppressive social structures and systems such as white supremacy, patriarchy, and capitalism [ 9 ].

REASONS TO TAKE THE TIME TO ENGAGE IN REFLECTIVE PRACTICE

One of the greatest human attributes is the ability to think about and reflect on actions and experiences, whether an unexpected flash of self-reflection, a well-thought-out journal entry, or somewhere in between. As Taylor states, “Thinking can be a gift and a curse, depending on how we employ it in our daily lives” [ 10 ]. Based on one's mindset, an experience can be used for good or for ill. For example, an employee may use a negative evaluation as a reason to place full blame for their poor performance on others, rather than use it as a sign to explore their strengths and weaknesses, structural challenges, and ways to improve their performance.

Making the deliberate choice to engage in reflective practice harnesses the power of thought to improve professional practice. Using intentional reflection at work offers a variety of benefits. While the process directly benefits the librarian doing the reflecting, the resulting changes can extend out to the library, institution, and the profession. Some of the ways that reflective practice improves professional practice are explored below.

Uncovering inconsistencies in thought and action

There are often inconsistencies between what people say they believe and how they act. Critical reflective practice can be used to examine espoused theories (what one says one believes) and theory-in-use (how one acts) [ 11 , 12 ]. Identifying inconsistencies is the first step in understanding them and resolving them. Are they true inconsistencies or nuanced distinctions? What next actions are needed? Reflection can also facilitate the application of professional standards and ethics in practice [ 13 ].

Improving regulation of emotions

Reflective practice can improve regulation of emotions. It allows librarians to approach situations more objectively and less reactively by the process of cognitive reappraisal. Cognitive reappraisal is a way of thinking differently about a situation that changes internal emotional experiences and, in turn, external emotional expression [ 14 ], with the goal of modifying emotions that hinder effectiveness. Reflective practice provides space to explore situations and new ways of thinking about them, reducing their emotional impact and the emotional impact of future situations.

Reducing burnout

Health sciences and medical librarians provide an array of intensive services: systematic reviews, liaison support, evidence-based practice or critical appraisal instruction, and in-depth research assistance. Managing and providing these services can increase stress and burnout. As noted above, reflective practice facilitates cognitive appraisal, which in turn reduces the risk of burnout caused by emotional labor and suppression of emotions.

While reflective practice in and of itself cannot solve organizational issues that lead to burnout, it can be used to explore how role ambiguity and overload contributes to personal stress and burnout [ 15 ]. The results of this reflection can be used in conversations with supervisors to improve position-related and structural issues. In addition, reflective practice can reduce the chance of burnout resulting from “over-learning” repetitive and routine tasks [ 16 ]. Taking time to reflect interrupts the “hamster wheel” of activity, reconnecting daily work to the importance of health sciences librarians' role in patient care, education, and research.

Maximizing professional development

Library school cannot prepare graduates for every possible future, especially health sciences and medical librarians. They must take an active role in their continuing professional development. Many attend webinars and training, while others obtain their credentials through MLA's Academy of Health Information Professionals. Reflective practice can be used to get the most out of the time and money invested in both continuing education and the development of a portfolio for the academy. Taking time to reflect before and after continuing professional development activities can improve learning and assist in the application of new knowledge and skills. Reflective practice can also be used for big-picture planning for professional development [ 17 ]. While some continuing education courses include reflection, many do not, requiring librarians to take a more proactive role. Suggestions on how to apply reflective practice in continuing professional development are provided in Table 1 .

Using reflective practice for professional development

Demonstrating professional performance

While reflective practice works best when the librarian wants to be engaged in reflection, some institutions require self-reflection as a part of the performance evaluation process, such as part of a portfolio [ 18 , 19 ]. Because meaningful reflection requires privacy and a trusted environment, reflection on one's performance takes place before the self-evaluation document is written. The document reports on the outcomes of the self-reflection, rather than the full reflective process.

FORMATS FOR REFLECTIVE PRACTICE

Reflective practice can take on a variety of formats that can be used with a model, combination of models, or no model. Find the formats that work best, remembering that as needs change, so might preferred formats.

Reflecting alone without recording the reflections

The simplest way to engage in reflective practice is to reflect alone without recording the reflections. This is somewhat similar to meditation in that it is internal reflection; however, analysis and judgment occur that are absent in meditation. This format is a good option if time for reflective practice is short. It is better to think about a situation and not record, than to skip reflection altogether because of lack of time. One drawback to this format of reflective practice is that it relies on memory to track the outcomes of reflection.

Reflecting alone and capturing the reflection

Reflecting alone and recording the reflection is a popular format for reflective practice. Reflective writing (handwritten journal entry or typing an electronic document) is a common way to reflect, though audio or video recordings can also be used. The obvious benefit of this format is that the reflection is captured for future review. A less obvious but more important benefit of reflective writing is that the writing “is the reflective process,” rather than just a recording of the reflection [ 20 ], because the physical process of writing helps clarify thoughts and conclusions. Librarians who are not comfortable with writing could use a form (perhaps based on steps in a reflective practice model) to jot down key ideas from reflection.

Talking with another person, such as a colleague or mentor

For some, talking through reflection can be effective. Reflective conversation with another person, such as a colleague or a mentor, can lead to additional insight. An outsider's perspective and questions might shed some light on the situation and increase understanding. These conversations need to take place in an environment that is confidential in order to explore situations fully and honestly. Reflective conversations can also be held with a supervisor, though the power differential may hinder deep reflection and honesty. Reflective conversations have additional aspects that need to be considered, which are listed in supplemental Appendix B .

Talking with a group of people

Small group discussions are another format for those who would like to verbalize their reflections. Group members can support one another in their reflections and learn from each other's successes and mistakes. It can be a regularly scheduled meeting or one called specifically when someone is looking for outside perspectives. Health sciences and medical librarians who work in different environments (e.g., academic, hospital, corporate) can consider forming groups with the intention of conducting reflection. Having some commonalities and some differences supports rich discussion. While reflecting in a group has similar considerations as reflecting with one other person (confidentiality and potential power differentials), it has additional considerations, such as how the group will be facilitated. Supplemental Appendix B lists considerations for being part of a reflective small group.

Reflecting alone, followed by talking with others

Another option is a combination of reflecting alone and then talking with others, either one-on-one or in a group. This is particularly helpful for those who have trouble identifying the outside perspective or overcoming other challenges in the reflective process. Talking to one or more colleagues can foster deeper individual reflection. Personality, preference, and opportunity will have an impact on format choice. Regardless of the chosen formats, reflection can be freeform or follow a model.

USE OF A MODEL

There is no formal model for conducting reflection that is geared toward health sciences and medical librarians; however, there are many published models in other professions. A reflective practice model can be used exactly as described in the literature or it can be used as a loose guide. As noted above, it can be turned into a form, where brief answers or comments can be jotted down without extra narrative. Models often provide a visual structure of the reflective process, which allow individuals who are reflecting to incorporate a process for thinking about their experiences, rather than have thoughts float around out of context [ 10 ]. Using a model can be particularly helpful for people who are new to reflective practice or for those who want to deepen their practice. Three example models are described below. Additional models can be found in supplemental Appendix A .

Situation, Evidence, Action (SEA)-Change Model

There are varied reflective practices models from many disciplines, yet the nature of intentional reflection requires the three components described earlier: description of the experience, reflection on and exploration of why things happened as they did, and identification of changes to thinking and behavior to improve the outcomes of future experiences. Some models—such as the Situation, Evidence, Action (SEA)-Change Model ( Table 2 ) that originated in professional library education—focus on these three elements. Instead of including generic questions to guide reflection, the SEA-Change Model identifies characteristics of deep reflection, as defined by Moon [ 21 ]. While the complete model includes a de-scaffolding component to help instructors facilitate student autonomy during reflection, leading to independence, the core of the model is three steps: identify the situation, provide the evidence, and follow through with an action or change [ 22 ].

Situation, Evidence, Action (SEA)-Change model

Adapted by permission of Barbara A. Sen.

Gibbs Reflective Cycle Model

Other models, such as Gibbs' Reflective Cycle Model ( Table 3 ) from the literature of teacher education, include more stages—"Description,” “Feelings,” “Evaluation,” “Analysis,” “Conclusion,” and “Action Plan”—and provide guiding questions to foster a more complete reflection [ 23 ]. Even with these extra stages, the three core components of reflective practice are present.

Used under Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License by Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development, Oxford Brookes University, Wheatley Campus, Wheatley, Oxford, UK, OX33 1HX.

Kim's Critical Reflective Inquiry Model

Some models apply the three main elements of reflective practice to a specific focus. Kim's Critical Reflective Inquiry Model ( Figure 1 ), from the literature of advanced nursing practice, describes three phases: “Descriptive,” “Reflective,” and “Critical/Emancipatory” [ 24 ]. In addition to reflection on the situation, it explicitly calls for reflection on one's espoused theories and intentions. This provides appropriate material for the final stage: critiquing practice and participating in the process that leads to change. The key aspect of this model requires critiquing beliefs, assumptions, and personal and professional values. Because of the nature of critical reflective practice, this model benefits from a combination of individual reflection and reflective conversation with others.

These three models are a small sample of published reflective practice models. When reviewing models for possible use, consider whether you are:

• New to reflective practice? Consider a model that includes guiding questions.
• Short on time? Consider a simple three-component model.
• Interested in a specific theoretical underpinning? Some models are highly informed by specific theories; others are more practical. Make sure to review the theories used and the assumptions made by potential models. For example, Ghaye offers a strengths-based model [ 25 ].
• Interested in creative expression? There are models that incorporate storytelling [ 26 ] and poetry [ 27 ] as part of the reflective process.

Remember that all models include describing a situation, using reflection to make sense of it, and identifying and making appropriate changes.

REFLECTIVE PRACTICE IN ACTION

The beauty of reflective practice is that it can be used by health sciences and medical librarians in any type of library, in any type of work, and at any stage in their careers. There are many ways in which reflective practice can be applied to librarianship.

Evidence-based library and information practice

Reflective practice is an important component of evidence-based library and information practice (EBLIP) [ 28 , 29 ]. Koufogiannakis and Brettle state that “EBLIP asks librarians to think critically about their practice and the process they use in making decisions” [ 30 ]. Reflection is embedded throughout the process, starting with an articulation of the problem to solve or decision to be made and ending with evaluation of the implemented solution or decision made. The journal Evidence-Based Library and Information Practice has a column called “Using Evidence in Practice,” which provides a place for librarians to share their experiences with applying evidence to a situation, including a reflection on their processes.

Reflective practice can also be used to improve librarians' skills as creators of evidence. Some authors focus on specific techniques, such as reflective writing [ 31 ], while others situate reflective practice in the broader context of research [ 32 , 33 ]. Hypothesis , the journal of the MLA Research Caucus, recently introduced a column called “Failure,” which is an opportunity for health sciences library researchers to reflect on challenges in the research process and how the challenges could have been avoided, allowing others to learn from their experiences [ 34 ].

Critical librarianship

Critical librarianship, “bringing social justice principles to…work in libraries” [ 35 ], relies on critical reflection to explore areas where libraries and librarians are supporting systems of oppression and to identify alternatives [ 36 ]. Articles on critical librarianship often identify examples and questions from librarianship or other disciplines that can be incorporated into critical reflection. For example, the #CritLib moderators post questions to be discussed at upcoming Twitter chats that can be adopted for individual critical reflection [ 35 ], and questions from parts of the chats are archived on the website. Regardless of the source of guidance for critical reflection, it is important to critical librarianship that the reflection results in action: “linking reflection to action is the enactment of critical practice ” [ 6 ].

Improvement of teaching

Teacher education has a long tradition of reflective practice to improve instruction and classroom management, resulting in a large body of knowledge that has informed the professional development of librarians in teaching roles. Reflective practice has been promoted as a tool for improving teaching skills [ 37 – 39 ] and as a technique for developing one's identity as a teacher [ 4 , 38 ]. The Association of College & Research Libraries' Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education has been suggested as a tool to guide reflection with the purpose of improved instruction [ 40 ]. Reflective practice is a key component in the development of a teaching portfolio [ 18 ].

Management and leadership

Reflective practice is a helpful tool for administrators, both for helping employees improve their performance and improving the supervisor's own practice. An institution may require employees to complete self-evaluations of their performance prior to the supervisors' evaluations. These annual self-evaluations can be difficult as employees struggle to remember a year's worth of activity. Reflective practice can mitigate the process. Supervisors can encourage their employees to reflect on a regular basis, whether it be monthly, quarterly, or biannually, as an effective way for employees to review their own work and track what was done, constructively gain insight into their performance, and document outcomes of practice improvement processes. This use of reflective practice enables thoughtful consideration of performance and can be used in informal or structured ways.

Reflective coaching can be used with employees between annual evaluations [ 41 ]. Reflective practice is beneficial to individual managers and to management teams. Just as the act of reflecting on one's own past work is a helpful tool for employees, it is also helpful for managers. It is a learning process itself, and that learning enables future change and a higher understanding of one's own strengths and weaknesses. Beyond specific work situations, resources are available to use reflection to explore core aspects of leadership [ 19 , 42 ].

It is not easy to engage in reflective practice. It takes time, dedication, and energy, any or all of which can be in short supply. Investing in one's self and one's career to become a better health sciences or medical librarian is worth the cost. Here are some tips to support exploration of reflective practice.

Pay attention

Reflective practice includes aspects of mindfulness, as only through paying attention can situations that would benefit from reflection be identified, such as surprising outcomes or uneasy feelings [ 43 ]. With a mindful approach, one can explore situations and alternatives in a way in which defensiveness is reduced, improving one's ability to plan and take action.

Be intentional and purposeful

Start each reflection with an intention to guide the time: why reflect on the identified situation? It is easy to start reflecting on a particular situation and then drift to something else. Granted, the tangent might lead to an important discovery, but an intention can help maintain focus. Sample intentions are how to improve an instruction session with negative evaluations or how to work more efficiently with the information technology (IT) department to streamline access to library resources.

Use a model to get started

As noted above, using a model can help visualize the process and provide a structure for the reflection. Most reflective practice models include a series of questions that can be used to guide reflection. Pick one that seems likely to work well for the current situation (time available, experience with reflective practice, complexity of the intention, and so on). If it does not work as well as expected, try another.

McCorquodale advises: “Value yourself enough to take time to reflect on your practice” [ 44 ]. One of the most common factors identified as a barrier to engaging in reflection is lack of time [ 45 , 46 ]. Everyone leads busy lives, and scheduling time for reflection is the first step to incorporating reflective practice into work life. What is needed: scheduling reflection time regularly or reflecting when a situation arises? If regular reflection is desired, when would be the best time and day to schedule it? Is it scheduled after certain kinds of events, such as after each instruction session? How long might a reflection period last? Block out reflection time on the schedule and defend it. Remember why investing time and effort in reflective practice is worthwhile.

Finding a space to reflect is as important as making time. The office is not ideal as there are often too many distractions and interruptions. Whether it is a couch in the library or a table at a coffee shop, find a space to conduct reflection. The space should be a place where one feels confident, protected, free from discrimination, and secure to conduct efficient reflection.

Find support

There are many different types of support that can be utilized to help to make the reflection process easier. Support from a supervisor can help facilitate the process by helping to find time to reflect. This support will allow the supervisor to see an interest in assessing the quality of the employee's work for professional growth. Supplementing independent reflection with conversation with trusted colleagues (individually or in a group) can provide feedback, clarity, support, and accountability. There are multiple opportunities to find a mentor through professional organizations such as MLA, the Association of Academic Health Sciences Libraries, and regional or state associations.

Be consistent

Reflective practice is not a skill learned overnight. Like all skills, experience brings improvement both in the reflective process and the application of insights from reflection to professional practice. Consider keeping track of reflections and outcomes in order to reflect on them. Reviewing that history can help identify how reflective practice skills have improved. Reflective practice is not a “one-size fits all” methodology, and there will be some trial and error to find what works best. Additional resources about reflective practice can be found in supplemental Appendix C .

Developing a practice of using intentional reflection does not happen quickly or spontaneously. It requires practitioners to be purposeful and build processes for reflective practice. The investment of time and energy in intentional reflection allows health sciences librarians to learn from their experiences and most importantly, helps them close the circle and apply what they have learned to improve their professional practice.

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4 Models of reflection – core concepts for reflective thinking

The theories behind reflective thinking and reflective practice are complex. Most are beyond the scope of this course, and there are many different models. However, an awareness of the similarities and differences between some of these should help you to become familiar with the core concepts, allow you to explore deeper level reflective questions, and provide a way to better structure your learning.

Boud’s triangular representation (Figure 2) can be viewed as perhaps the simplest model. This cyclic model represents the core notion that reflection leads to further learning. Although it captures the essentials (that experience and reflection lead to learning), the model does not guide us as to what reflection might consist of, or how the learning might translate back into experience. Aligning key reflective questions to this model would help (Figure 3).

This figure contains three boxes, with arrows linking each box. In the boxes are the words ‘Experience’, ‘Learning’ and ‘Reflection’.

This figure contains three triangles, with arrows linking each one. In the top triangle is the text ‘Experience - what? (Description of events)’. In the bottom-left triangle is the text ‘Learning - now what? (What has been learned? What is the impact of the learning?’. In the bottom-right triangle is the text ‘Reflection - so what? (Unpicking the events)’.

Gibbs’ reflective cycle (Figure 4) breaks this down into further stages. Gibbs’ model acknowledges that your personal feelings influence the situation and how you have begun to reflect on it. It builds on Boud’s model by breaking down reflection into evaluation of the events and analysis and there is a clear link between the learning that has happened from the experience and future practice. However, despite the further break down, it can be argued that this model could still result in fairly superficial reflection as it doesn’t refer to critical thinking or analysis. It doesn’t take into consideration assumptions that you may hold about the experience, the need to look objectively at different perspectives, and there doesn’t seem to be an explicit suggestion that the learning will result in a change of assumptions, perspectives or practice. You could legitimately respond to the question ‘what would you do or decide next time?’ by answering that you would do the same, but does that constitute deep level reflection?

This figure shows a number of boxes containing text, with arrows linking the boxes. From the top left (and going clockwise) the boxes display the following text: ‘Experience. What happened?’; ‘Feeling. What were you feeling?’; ‘Evaluation. What was good or bad about the situation?’; ‘Analysis. To make sense of the situation’; ‘Conclusion. What else could you have done?’; ‘Action plan. What would you do next time?’.

Atkins and Murphy (1993) address many of these criticisms with their own cyclical model (Figure 5). Their model can be seen to support a deeper level of reflection, which is not to say that the other models are not useful, but that it is important to remain alert to the need to avoid superficial responses, by explicitly identifying challenges and assumptions, imagining and exploring alternatives, and evaluating the relevance and impact, as well as identifying learning that has occurred as a result of the process.

This figure shows a number of boxes containing text, with arrows linking the boxes. From the top (and going clockwise) the boxes display the following text: ‘Awareness. Of discomfort, or action/experience’; ‘Describe the situation. Include saliant feelings, thoughts, events or features’; ‘Analyse feeling and knowledge. Identify and challenge assumptions - imagine and explore alternatives’; ‘Evaluate the relevance of knowledge. Does it help to explain/resolve the problem? How was your use of knowledge?’; ‘Identify any learning. Which has occurred?’

You will explore how these models can be applied to professional practice in Session 7.

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Reflective practice toolkit, introduction.

• What is reflective practice?
• Everyday reflection
• Models of reflection
• Barriers to reflection
• Free writing
• Reflective writing exercise
• Bibliography

If you are not used to being reflective it can be hard to know where to start the process. Luckily there are many models which you can use to guide your reflection. Below are brief outlines of four of the most popular models arranged from easy to more advanced (tip: you can select any of the images to make them larger and easier to read).

You will notice many common themes in these models and any others that you come across. Each model takes a slightly different approach but they all cover similar stages. The main difference is the number of steps included and how in-depth their creators have chosen to be. Different people will be drawn to different models depending on their own preferences.

• Reflection 

The cycle shows that we will start with an experience, either something we have been through before or something completely new to us. This experience can be positive or negative and may be related to our work or something else. Once something has been experienced we will start to reflect on what happened. This will allow us to think through the experience, examine our feelings about what happened and decide on the next steps. This leads to the final element of the cycle - taking an action. What we do as a result of an experience will be different depending on the individual. This action will result in another experience and the cycle will continue. 

Jasper, M. (2013). Beginning Reflective Practice. Andover: Cengage Learning.

Driscoll's What Model

By asking ourselves these three simple questions we can begin to analyse and learn from our experiences. Firstly we should describe what the situation or experience was to set it in context. This gives us a clear idea of what we are dealing with. We should then reflect on the experience by asking 'so what?' - what did we learn as a result of the experience? The final stage asks us to think about the action we will take as a result of this reflection. Will we change a behavior, try something new or carry on as we are? It is important to remember that there may be no changes as the result of reflection and that we feel that we are doing everything as we should. This is equally valid as an outcome and you should not worry if you can't think of something to change. 

Borton, T. (1970) Reach, Touch and Teach. London: Hutchinson.

Driscoll, J. (ed.) (2007) Practicing Clinical Supervision: A Reflective Approach for Healthcare Professionals. Edinburgh: Elsevier.

Kolb's Experiential Learning Cycle

• Concrete experience
• Reflective observation
• Abstract conceptualization
• Active experimentation 

The model argues that we start with an experience - either a repeat of something that has happened before or something completely new to us. The next stage involves us reflecting on the experience and noting anything about it which we haven't come across before. We then start to develop new ideas as a result, for example when something unexpected has happened we try to work out why this might be. The final stage involves us applying our new ideas to different situations. This demonstrates learning as a direct result of our experiences and reflections. This model is similar to one used by small children when learning basic concepts such as hot and cold. They may touch something hot, be burned and be more cautious about touching something which could potentially hurt them in the future. 

Kolb, D. (1984) Experiential Learning: Experience as the Source of Learning and Development. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall.

Gibb's Reflective Cycle

• Description
• Action plan

As with other models, Gibb's begins with an outline of the experience being reflected on. It then encourages us to focus on our feelings about the experience, both during it an after. The next step involves evaluating the experience - what was good or bad about it from our point of view? We can then use this evaluation to analyse the situation and try to make sense of it. This analysis will result in a conclusion about what other actions (if any) we could have taken to reach a different outcome. The final stage involves building an action plan of steps which we can take the next time we find ourselves in a similar situation. 

Gibbs, G. (1998) Learning by Doing: A Guide to Teaching and Learning Methods. Oxford: Further Education Unit, Oxford Polytechic .

Think about ... Which model?

Think about the models outlined above. Do any of them appeal to you or have you found another model which works for you? Do you find models in general helpful or are they too restrictive?

Pros and Cons of Reflective Practice Models

A word of caution about models of reflective practice (or any other model). Although they can be a great way to start thinking about reflection, remember that all models have their downsides. A summary of the pros and cons can be found below:

• Offer a structure to be followed
• Provide a useful starting point for those unsure where to begin
• Allow you to assess all levels of a situation
• You will know when the process is complete
• Imply that steps must be followed in a defined way
• In the real world you may not start 'at the beginning'
• Models may not apply in every situation
• Reflective practice is a continuous process 

These are just some of the reflective models that are available. You may find one that works for you or you may decide that none of them really suit. These models provide a useful guide or place to start but reflection is a very personal process and everyone will work towards it in a different way. Take some time to try different approaches until you find the one that works for you. You may find that as time goes on and you develop as a reflective practitioner that you try different methods which suit your current circumstances. The important part is that it works - if it doesn't then you may need to move on and try something else.

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Reflective practice

Guidance on the value of and models for reflective thinking and writing.

Reflective thinking at university

Throughout your time at university, you will be asked to think and write reflectively. Sometimes what we've learned from an activity or piece of work isn’t always obvious, which is why we need to reflect on our experiences.

Being able to recall what happened, and apply your insights to future behaviour isn’t always easy and this online resource will take you through that process step-by-step. 

Reflective thinking involves the following:

• Evaluating your first-hand experience of an event, process or activity, then;
• Analysing the the experience to understand what has gone well and less well, then;
• Drawing on the experience to improve or refine your performance if a similar situation arises again.

Reflective writing is evidence of reflective thinking in which your personal experience forms a case study or data set for exploration. Reflective writing is a method for transforming this powerful subjective experience into a form of academic evidence by putting it into a broader context and drawing out its implications.

MySkills and Reflection

MySkills is a digital skills portfolio available to all students at the University of Sheffield providing a space to reflect on your learning and co-curricular experiences during your programme. 

Recording your reflections in MySkills will allow you to build an authentic portfolio that will be invaluable in creating CVs and strengthening job applications and interview performance.

Why, when and how to reflect

Why reflect.

Reflecting can help you to:

• Apply experiences from one situation to another
• Deal with new challenges confidently
• Identify ways to improve your performance
• Demonstrate that you are an independent and critical learner

When is reflective thinking and writing needed?

Reflective thinking and writing could be needed for the following:

• On your course: reflecting on group work, practical work and coursework, including reflective assessments.
• Dissertation or research: understanding what went well or badly, where your approach was limited and what would you do differently if you were to continue with the research. 
• Job applications or interviews: competency-based questions will encourage you to demonstrate your ability to reflect on experience, for example: 'Tell me about a time when you worked collaboratively and what challenges you had to overcome'.
• Professional development: engaging in continuous professional development and accreditation in the workplace will usually involve elements of reflection on performance to evidence your 

Reflective thinking – how?

When thinking reflectively, you should aim to:

• Be objective, honest and be critical of your own actions. 
• Discuss your experiences with others (peers, lecturers, personal tutor) to gain perspective.
• Compare your experience with that of others, or explore relevant theory – does it match up? Can you learn from, or challenge the theory?

Types of reflective writing

There are various types of reflective writing, for example:

• Stories or narratives : Analysis of an event with a beginning, middle and end and a set of characters
• Learning journals and logs : Reflect on various events at different times
• Learning diaries : Reflect on events frequently, eg daily or weekly. An entry might be on something as specific as a particular lab method or data analysis technique
• Personal Development Planning (PDP) : eg  Doctoral Development Programme  (DDP) that all PhD students must demonstrate engagement with. The DDP helps students determine their training needs (action plan) given their past experiences and aspirations
• Blogs, Twitter, video diaries : Good ways of selling yourself to potential employers and collaborators as a reflective, self-sufficient learner

Reflective Models

You may be asked to use different reflective models within your assignments, or you may wish to choose a reflective model of your own. This guide introduces you to some of the most common models of reflection used within academic writing. 

Gibbs Reflective Learning Cycle 

The Gibbs Reflective Learning Cycle [google doc]  is one of the most commonly-used reflective models in academic writing. It is especially useful if you would like a highly structured way to reflect on an experience, e.g. if you are new to reflective writing.

The stages of the Gibbs model are as follows. Try reading them with an experience in mind, for example, a recent job interview:

• Describe an experience:  What happened and when? This will be important later on to help keep track of your experiences and look back on them.
• How did it make you feel?  This is your raw data that needs to be immediate and authentic. If you think back later on it is unlikely that you will be able to remember your emotional response.
• Evaluate the experience:  What went well? What went less well? Why do you think that may have been the case?
• Analyse the experience:  Can you put your experience in a wider context? Have you had similar experiences before and how did they compare? Is there literature that can help you to understand your experience?
• What conclusions can you draw?  What were the alternatives? What have you learned from the experience?
• What will you do differently next time?  Looking ahead, what can you take away from this experience that you can learn from and improve on in the future?

See G. Gibbs (1988), Learning by Doing: A guide to teaching and learning methods . Further Education Unit. Oxford Polytechnic: Oxford. Check out our  video on the Gibbs Reflective Cycle  to get some ideas of how to use it in your work.

What? So What? Now What? 

The What? So What? Now What? model [google doc] is one of the simplest models for reflective writing. While it was originally designed for reflecting on medical practice, it can be used for any kind of reflective writing. It is memorable and thus useful for reflecting on-the-go in practice-based disciplines.

The stages of the model are as follows:

• What? What happened, how did you react, and what did you do in response? If relevant to explaining your response, how did others who were involved respond? For an accurate record of the event, try to write this as soon as you can afterwards.
• So what? How did you feel, and were these feelings similar/different to others who were involved? This is your raw data that needs to be immediate and authentic. If you think back later on it is unlikely that you will be able to remember your emotional response. Did you benefit from any observations or feedback from others involved in the event?   
• Now what? What are the implications of the event for you and others involved - what have you learned, and what conclusions do you draw from the event? Is there literature that can help you to understand your experience? Looking forward, how could you change your approach if you faced a similar situation in the future?

See J. Driscoll (1994), ‘Reflective practice for practise’, Senior Nurse , 14(1), pp.47-50 and (2007), Practising Clinical Supervision . 2nd edn. Amsterdam: Elsevier.

Kolb's Experiential Learning Cycle

Kolb's Experiential Learning Cycle [google doc] describes the key stages that are involved in having an experience and learning from it. The cycle provides a model for explaining an experience you have had, how you have reflected on it, then what you have learned, and how you have implemented what you have learned.

This is cyclical because these experiments with implementing the learning lead to new experiences; we are constantly involved in this process of learning and putting what we have learned into practice. As such, this model is especially helpful in capturing continuous processes of learning, especially where you want to put focus on practically and actively implementing the learning as a result.

• Concrete experience: Describe a situation you have experienced. What happened and when? How did you feel/what did you think? How did you act in response? For an accurate record of the event, try to write this as soon as you can afterwards. Your feelings are raw data and should be immediate and authentic.
• Reflective observation: Now, taking a step back from the immediate experience, reflect on it. How did the situation happen? Why did you and any other relevant participants react and act the way you did? What went well, what went less well, and why do you think this was? 
• Abstract conceptualisation: This stage is about analysing your reflections from a broader perspective than your own. How do you know that the experience was successful/unsuccessful? This might involve reflecting on any feedback you have received from other participants in the interaction. At this stage, you should also read relevant literature in order to reflect on how your experience fits into a wider context. As a result of these reflections, how could you change your approach if you faced a similar situation in the future? 
• Active experimentation: Now, you can make a plan to put this learning into practice. To make sure it is realistic to act upon, formulate this as a SMART goal . At this stage, you can test out the different ideas you have come up with for improvement within similar situations. This will generate new concrete experiences and thus continue the cycle. 

See D. Kolb (1984), Experiential Learning: experience as the source of learning and development . Hoboken: Prentice Hall.

The Schön Reflective Model

The Schön Reflective Model [google doc] is helpful for practice-based disciplines, as it adds a distinction between the reflection we do during our practice (reflection-in-action) and the reflection we do after the fact (reflection-on-action). However, it is not very structured within these areas and so offers the scope to adapt it to your own needs. 

• Reflection-in-action: The reflection that takes place immediately while you are thinking on your feet. What is currently happening? What immediate feedback can I gather about how the experience is going? Is the event surprising? What should I do next in order to act and react to the situation? 
• Reflection-on-action: The reflection you undertake after the event has taken place. What went well? What went less well? Why do you think that may have been the case? Is there literature/theory that can help you to understand your experience? What have you learned from the experience? Looking ahead, what can you take away from this experience that you can learn from and improve on in the future?

See D.A. Schön (1991), The Reflective Practicioner: How professionals think in action . Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing Ltd.

301 Recommends:

Our Reflective Practice workshop explains what it is to be a reflective practitioner, and why it’s important in your academic studies to harness this skill. You will learn methods and techniques that will enable you to apply this to your university work and beyond. You will explore some of the theory behind reflective practice, and find out how you can turn this into a practical action plan.

Try using the following phrases to get you started:

• I learnt or I discovered…
• I was surprised or I was excited by…
• I was moved by or I felt…
• I wonder about…
• I need to know more about…
• I was reminded that…
• I’m challenged by… or challenged to…
• I need to remember… or remember to…

Ask yourself the following questions:

• What? When? Who? Why? Where?
• How? What if? So what? What next?

Remember the following:

• Insights – What I've learnt
• Applications – How I'll use what I've learnt
• Questions – What I need to learn or explore further

Related information

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Reflective practice - tips and resources

Introduction.

• Everyday reflection
• Models of reflection
• Barriers to reflection
• Free writing
• Reflective writing exercise
• Further reading

If you are not used to being reflective it can be hard to know where to start the process. Luckily there are many models which you can use to guide your reflection. Below are brief outlines of four of the most popular models arranged from easy to more advanced.

You will notice many common themes in these models and any others that you come across. Each model takes a slightly different approach but they all cover similar stages. The main difference is the number of steps included and how in-depth their creators have chosen to be. Different people will be drawn to different models depending on their own preferences.

• Reflection 

The cycle shows that we will start with an experience, either something we have been through before or something completely new to us. This experience can be positive or negative and may be related to our work or something else entirely. 

Once something has been experienced we will naturally start to reflect on what happened. This will allow us to think through the experience, examine our feelings about what happened and decide on the next steps. This leads to the final element of the cycle - taking an action. What we do as a result of an experience will be different depending on our own feelings and experiences leading up to it. This action will result in another experience and the cycle will continue. 

Jasper, M. (2013). Beginning Reflective Practice. Andover: Cengage Learning.

Driscoll's What Model

By asking ourselves these three simple questions we can begin to analyse our experiences and learn from them. Firstly we should describe what the situation or experience was to set it in context. This gives us a clear idea of what we are dealing with. We should then reflect on the experience by asking 'so what?' - what did we learn as a result of the experience? The final stage asks us to think about the action we will take as a result of this reflection. Will we change a behavior, try something new or carry on as we are? It is important to remember that it may be that nothing changes as a result of reflection and that we feel that we are doing everything we should during an experience. This is equally valid as an outcome and you should not worry if you can't think of something to change. 

Borton, T. (1970) Reach, Touch and Teach. London: Hutchinson. Driscoll, J. (ed.) (2007) Practicing Clinical Supervision: A Reflective Approach for Healthcare Professionals. Edinburgh: Elsevier.

Kolb's Experiential Learning Cycle

• Concrete experience
• Reflective observation
• Abstract conceptualization
• Active experimentation 

The model argues that we start with an experience, either a repeat of something that has happened before or something completely new to us. The next stage involves us reflecting on the experience and noting anything about it which we haven't come across before. Where this has happened we start to develop new ideas a result of this new experience, for example when something unexpected has happened we try to work out why this might be. The final stage involves us applying these new ideas to different situations and so learning as a direct result of our experiences and reflections. This model is similar to one used by small children when learning basic concepts such as hot and cold. They may touch something hot, be burned and be more cautious about touching something which could potentially hurt them in the future. 

Kolb, D. (1984) Experiential Learning: Experience as the Source of Learning and Development. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall.

Gibb's Reflective Cycle

• Description
• Action plan

As with other models, Gibb's begins with an outline of the experience being reflected on. It then encourages us to focus on our feelings about the experience, both during it an after. The next step involves evaluating the experience - what was good or bad about it from our point of view? We can then use this evaluation to analyse the situation and try to make sense of it. This analysis will result in a conclusion about what other actions (if any) we could have taken to reach a different outcome. The final stage involves building an action plan of steps which we can take the next time we find ourselves in a similar situation. 

Gibbs, G. (1998) Learning by Doing: A Guide to Teaching and Learning Methods. Oxford: Further Education Unit, Oxford Polytechic.

Think about ... Which model?

Think about the models outlined above. Do any of them appeal to you or have you found another model which works for you? Do you find models in general helpful or are they too restrictive?

Pros and Cons of Reflective Practice Models

A word of caution about models of reflective practice (or any other model). Although they can be a great way to start thinking about reflection, remember that all models have their downsides. A summary of the pros and cons can be found below:

These are just some of the reflective models that are available. You may find one that works for you or you may decide that none of them really suit. These models provide a useful guide or place to start but reflection is a very personal process and everyone will work towards it in a different way. Take some time to try different approaches until you find the one that works for you. You may find that as time goes on and you develop as a reflective practitioner that you try different methods which suit your current circumstances. The important part is that it works - if it doesn't then you may need to move on and try something else.

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The Library, Technological University of the Shannon: Midwest

Looking back on our past experiences and analysing them so we can learn from them in the future is a vital part of learning generally. The reflective process is also an essential part of professional development in many professions such as Education and Healthcare. More university courses and work experience placements now involve some form of reflective assignment to demonstrate this valuable life skill. 

Scroll down for our recommended strategies and resources. 

What is reflection?

Reflecting on an event involves more than just describing what happened. It involves thinking about possible reasons why it happened, drawing some conclusions from this, and deciding what you will do differently next time. See this video explaining what reflection is and how to get the balance right without describing too much:

Being reflective [video] (University of Hull)

Benefits of reflecting

For reflection to be effective we have to be honest, and genuinely examine our own beliefs and assumptions. Authentic reflection involves a process of self-discovery and allows us to change what we do for the better. This is why it can be an uncomfortable process, but one that comes with many benefits. See this guide for more on why it is good to reflect:

Why reflect? (University of Hull)

Choosing what to reflect upon

The first step in reflection is identifying the experience you want to reflect upon and why. Choose an event that has significance for you, perhaps it puzzled you or made you stop and think. See this guide for more on selecting an incident for reflection:

Critical incidents (Monash University)

Reflective frameworks

Reflective frameworks provide a structure and logical process to help us think through an event, as we might not have fully understood it at the time. Most frameworks lead us through what happened, why it happened, and what to do next. Look at these links explaining some of the common reflective frameworks:

Reflective writing - a health visitor at work [PDF]

About Gibbs' reflective cycle [PDF]

Using Gibbs: an example of reflective writing in a healthcare assignment [PDF]

About Johns' model of structured reflection [PDF]

About Holm and Stephenson's framework for reflection [PDF]

Language of reflection

Reflection uses the first person ‘I’ and discusses your emotions. However, you still need to be specific and formal. Instead of vague comments like ‘My presentation went well and I felt pleased’, say why it went well and what specifically you felt pleased about. For more on the writing style of reflection, see the University of Edinburgh resource below:

Language of academic reflections (University of Edinburgh)

Linking theory and practice

Most reflective writing asks you to compare your experiences to best practice or explain them using academic theories to help understand what happened and why. The video below looks at how to integrate theory and your experience which are both valid, but different, forms of evidence:

Notes and planning

Because reflective writing is about experiences we’ve had, the temptation is to jump in and start writing, but this can lead to a lot of descriptive ‘telling the whole story’. Good reflective writing needs careful thought both at the time and when writing it up. Capture your initial impressions in a journal or notes, and then use planning strategies to select the key learning points you want to focus on.

Note-making resources (Centre for Academic Development)

Planning resources (Centre for Academic Development)

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