Reflective writing aims to get you to think about and understand your learning experiences. Reflective writing can be included in a variety of different assignment tasks. It can include keeping a reflective journal or learning log with multiple entries – particularly for professional placements – or be part of an essay or report.
Some
reflective papers can be informal, focusing on self-‐awareness, while other may be more formal, including theory and developing a framework for professional development. It is, therefore, important to follow the lecturer’s guidelines. This outline presents one approach to reflective writing, using a DIEP strategy. THE DIEP strategy
The four steps in this approach (adapted from Boud, Keogh, & Walker, 1985) are to describe,
Interpret, evaluate and plan.
D – Describe objectively what happened.
•
Answer the question: ‘What did I do, read, see, hear, etc.?’
I – Interpret the events.
•
•
Consider why events happened in the way they did. Explain: o What you saw and heard o Your new insights o Your connections with other learning o Your feelings o Your hypotheses and/or conclusions
Answer the question: ‘What might this mean?’
E – Evaluate the effectiveness and usefulness of the experience
•
•
Make judgments that are clearly connected to observation you have made.
Answer the questions: o What is my opinion about this experience? o What is the value of this experience? o Why I think this?
P – Plan how this information will be useful to you.
•
•
Consider how this learning experience might be useful for you: o Course o Program o Future career o Life generally
Answer the question: ‘How will I transfer or apply my new knowledge and insights in the future?’
Study Tips: Reflective writing - DIEP
1
Oct 2013
Using the DIEP strategy for writi ng a reflection In your writing, attempt to:
•
•
•
•
•
•
analyse your own pertormance as a learner evaluate your