This paper is a self-evaluation that is concerned with recognition of personal participation levels and its subsequent effect on the group. The group is called Multi-Garden where all subjects, including myself, participated fully. While explaining my participation in the group, the paper will delve into personal development through reflective practices done in the course of and outside group environments.
A group is defined as a number of individuals who come together and are considered as one unit. A group is formed when different people come together, influence each other and end up setting common goals (Ross, 2008) . The members then become dependent on the other members of the group . This refers to interdependence and each member is expected to participate in the group in accordance to certain norms and expectations. The members who participate and develop the group usually feel as if they have a sense of reward in their lives. In this personal reflection, the paper examines personal rewards obtained as a result of reflective practice in the course of group interactions in Multi-Garden.
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According to McKinley (2008), reflection occurs when one considers their actions during an exercise for continuous learning. This means that reflection is not a passive activity, but an active process where one pays attention to values and theories and their applications in daily life for developmental insight in their daily practice (Bolton, 2010) . As a student, I have enjoyed various benefits of reflective thinking, including the fact that it has fostered critical thinking and adequate decision-making skills. Such skills are foundational to my continuous learning and personal improvement in the learning environment and also at a professional level. Working with the Multi-Garden Group has improved my self-awareness as I worked with the group during the discussions. Engaging in well-researched conversations with group members so as to come up with meaningful solutions to problems was an exercise of critical and creative thinking processes to make informed decisions.
One of the skills that was gained in the course of reflective practice was the quality of work I was submitting, and how it would meet the set criteria for het benefit of all the members. Therefore, reflective processes aided my ability to make better the effectiveness of my effort and plan for improvements. Research has shown that reflective practice directly impacts on a person’s cognitive function and meaningful learning (Rolheiser, Bower, & Stevahn, 2000) . Moreover, reflective practice has been beneficial to the self-learning process in many learning environments, including healthcare (Mann, Gordon, & MacLeod, 2009) , leadership (Lambert, 2002) , and self-regulated learning processes (McAlpine & Weston, 2000) .
With these in mind, I found that discussions in the group enabled the development of meta-cognition, which is the capacity to think about my thinking (Hartman, 2001) . This fostered the ability to judge the quality of my work based on existing evidence and research and applying the explicit criteria set out for quality assurance in my work. Therefore, there was adequate development of critical and creative thinking, decision making and problem solving skills as a learner (Ontario Ministry of Education, 2007) . Furthermore, teacher understanding of the application of theoretical concepts on the group was heightened during this exercise.
In the course of learning, cognitive skills were taught. At the beginning, therefore, I was aware of the benefit of cognitive skills in promoting personal monitoring and regulations. As a result, I have experience intellectual growth through the ability to reason and bring out evidence-based arguments. Further, I have noticed the increased need for academic achievement, where sub-standard work is quickly shunned. All pieces of research included in my work are subjected to quality testing to ensure their applicability in the academic scenario (Thorpe, 2004) . Additionally, the transfer of skills such as critical thinking, team-work and inter-professional collaboration was evident. In this case, the coming together of group members to deal with the issues of the group improved our ability to engage different problem solving strategies at different junctures for the benefit of the entire group. For instance, the amalgamation of research at the group level to produce a knowledge-producing process can be attributed to the individual applications of self-reflective practice in the course of research. This way, we only identified the teacher as a facilitator to make meaning, rather than the producer of knowledge. Therefore, self-reflective practice within the group empowered me to give personal evidence-based contributions to problem-solving initiatives within the group. According to Rolheiser and his colleagues (2000), students are empowered when they understand their thinking processes since they are better equipped at employing the relevant cognitive skills to complete the task at hand (p. 34). In line with this, I was able to use my cognitive skills to compensate for areas of insufficient information through the employment of research skills and critical thinking processes.
Therefore, reflection has helped me to transform my learning and has also led to the bridging of the gap between the theory and practical elements of the group work activities. Reflection has caused me to apply the knowledge I learnt during the group work into real life. For example, future group activities as a professional will be greatly informed by the lessons learned during the group interactions with Multi-Garden. Reflection has also enhanced my self-esteem and self-awareness. The ability to adequately research and present well-analysed information leading to inferences and conclusions has greatly improved my ability to present ideas.
As a result, I have learned that the presentation of good ideas requires the employment of personal cognitive strengths for the purpose of effective pitching. Another result of reflection is that it has highlighted the poor practices (such as non-evidenced conclusions). It has also led to empowering me towards changing my attitude towards group activities. This is because, with good management, teamwork can be a productive exercise for the benefit of a large number of people at the same time. As embodied in the definition of a group, the common objective means that its achievement distributes a common benefit to all members of the group. My participation in Multi-Garden has informed my change of heart concerning group participation.
Grading of the learning experience is not possible as the value of learning obtained from the Multi-Garden group has had immense impact in my learning ability. My perception of learning has changed from one of information consumption to information production. Through the application of reflective processes, I have adequately learned how to engage research skills, critical and creative thinking, and decision-making skills to turn data into best-practice information for the benefit of a personal and group scenario. As such, it becomes easier for me hereon forward to participate as a useful member of groups, including the classroom and organizational scenario. Therefore, a promotion of teamwork skills and personal effectiveness has been witnessed during the exercise.
Personal strides made during this period include time management during discussions due to evidence-based presentations and arguments, increased trust in personal abilities to present objective work and improved public speaking as a result of confidence in what I was saying. In accordance to McKinley (2008), the experience developed personal abilities for cohesion, trust and transformational change among group members, including myself.
In conclusion, it is my strong belief that my participation in Multi-Garden was unhindered and was a great learning process for me. This was demonstrated in the course of group discussions through initiative and dedication during the discussions. Furthermore, there was recognition of personal growth areas in the course of discussions as a means of improvement for future personal and group engagements. Critical and creative thinking, problem solving and decision making are among some of the skills that were cultivated in the course of this exercise.
References
Bolton, G. (2010). Reflective practice: writing and professional development (3rd ed.). Los Angeles: Sage Publications.
Hartman, H. J. (2001). Teaching metacognitively. In H. J. Hartman, Metacognition in learning and instruction: theory, research, and practice. Neuropsychology and cognition (pp. 149–172). Dordrecht; Boston: Kluwer Academic Publishers.
Lambert, L. (2002). A framework for shared leadership. Educational leadership, 59(8) , 37-40.
Mann, K., Gordon, J., & MacLeod, A. (2009). Reflection and reflective practice in health professions education: a systematic review. Advances in health sciences education, 14(4) , 595.
McAlpine, L., & Weston, C. (2000). Reflection: Issues related to improving professors' teaching and students' learning. Instructional Science, 28(5) , 363-385.
Ontario Ministry of Education. (2007). Capacity Building Series: Student Self Assessment (PDF). Retrieved from Literacy and Numeracy Secretariat Capacity Building Series, Queens Printer: http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/literacynumeracy/inspire/research/studentselfassessment.pdf
Rolheiser, C., Bower, B., & Stevahn, L. (2000). The Portfolio Organizer: Succeeding with Portfolios in your Classroom. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
Ross, H. (2008). You and others: Reflective practice for group effectiveness in human services. New York: Pearson Allyn and Bacon.
Thorpe, K. (2004). Reflective learning journals: From concept to practice. Reflective practice, 5(3) , 327-343.
