Simulated or Reproduced Reality Events as the Basis of Reflective Learning

Abstract

Within the literature, the authors observe a common pattern of learner reaction to simulations. Learners engage in simulated events that is similar to that which would be encountered in the real world. There is a translation, through cognition, of the simulated experience to real-world-learning, in a way that directly situates the learners for reengagement of the real world beyond the simulation. In the current study, the authors have linked these observations to a new set of response data from a study of university professors, in an effort to understand, develop, and support personal and professional development strategies and opportunities for professors across the university. A voluntary sample comprised of 40 professors from two different universities in the Midwest, were asked in a survey to define reflection and discuss cognitive processes that facilitated reflection on their own professional development. A constant comparative procedure, a qualitative coding strategy, was used to examine the data collected and the data were coded for clusters of similar behaviors. This coding was converted to visual representation using concept mapping techniques. A preponderance of participants used the same reflective process to consider, evaluate, describe and structure their professional activities, which began with an experience-an event-of practice and was clearly a precipitating experience linked to a subsequent cognitive processing. For many participants, the event serving as the basis for reflection is not grounded in an historical, real-world or authentic experience; but rather there was a shift to use of simulated or reproduced events that is clear and significant. It seems clear from the authors' research findings and that of others cited in this paper, that simulations of experience possess the ability to transfer to real-world growth, development, and decision-making and would be preferred for vocational education uses over the reliance on authentic field and clinical experiences. Consideration of simulations as an experiential method for professional growth and development efforts seems, in this analysis, quite more complex an issue when one considers the implications of linguistics and language development to behavioral coding; the uses of cognitive tools to aid learning; and the manner in which language itself shapes, empowers or impedes the embedding of experience into human memory-and activates that memory for professional and personal action. The authors perceive that, while much progress has been made in highlighting these issues and their relationships, much work remains ahead.