I undertook a small-scale practitioner enquiry into the role
of the Reflective Commentary in students’ experiences of A215 (Creative Writing).
The commentary is compulsory in tutor marked assignments on this course module
and carries 20% of the total marks, with the rest awarded to a piece of
creative writing. My objective was to explore the way that the commentary contributes
to students’ learning, and whether this kind of activity might be usefully
included in other Arts subjects. My premise was that reflection should be a
developmental tool, rather than merely a means of gaining marks in a tutor
marked assignment. I felt that this element of the course module might have the
added benefit of making students feel ‘listened to’, since the associate
lecturer is reading an account of the student’s own practice, and it may even
increase retention of students on a course module.
I conducted questionnaire-based
telephone interviews with eleven students from my tutor group. During this
qualitative research I asked them about their previous experiences of
reflection, their perceptions of the purpose, value and content of the
Reflective Commentary, their practical approach to it and whether it had any
impact on their feelings about the course module.
