Gibbs' Reflective Cycle
Gibbs’ Reflective Cycle is a model for reflective practice that is commonly used, particularly in academic, healthcare, and professional development settings.
Gibbs' Reflective Cycle: A Structured Approach to Academic Reflection
Gibbs’ Reflective Cycle is a model for reflective practice that is commonly used, particularly in academic, healthcare, and professional development settings. The reflective cycle, originally developed by Graham Gibbs in 1988, guides learners in evaluating and reflecting on experiences to improve future performance. It is particularly useful for coursework that requires learning journals, reflective essays and portfolios; this aspect of reflective practice is common in nursing, teaching, business and social work dissertations.
What is Gibbs’ Reflective Cycle?
Gibbs’ cycle model has six stages and provides structure in a cyclical way, which means it lends itself well to one-off experience, and a series of experience with continuous planning and reflection.
The Six Stages of Gibbs’ Cycle:
1. Description – What happened?
2. Feelings – What were your thoughts and emotions during the experience?
3. Evaluation – What aspects of the experience were positive or negative?
4. Analysis – In what ways can you understand the situation more clearly?
5. Conclusion – What have you learned?
6. Action Plan – What would you change if a similar situation arises again?
2. Feelings – What were your thoughts and emotions during the experience?
3. Evaluation – What aspects of the experience were positive or negative?
4. Analysis – In what ways can you understand the situation more clearly?
5. Conclusion – What have you learned?
6. Action Plan – What would you change if a similar situation arises again?
How it Works: A Stage-by-Stage Summary
1. Description
This stage describes the situation. It will focus on factual recounting, not your interpretation or judgement.
Example Questions:
- What happened?
- Who was there?
- What was the result?
2. Feelings
Think about how your emotions may have shaped the events or influenced the results.
Example Questions:
- What emotions did you experience before, during, and after the event?
- What do you imagine other people were feeling?
3. Evaluation
Take time to reflect on both the beneficial and challenging parts of the experience.
Example Questions:
- What worked well?
- What did not work?
- What was your contribution?
4. Analysis
Think about the underlying reasons for what happened. Here you can draw on academic theory or research to help you reflect.
Example Tools/Theories:
- Belbin's Team Roles for group dynamics
- Groupthink (Janis, 1991) to explain poor group decision-making
5. Conclusion
Summarise what you have learned and what you might do differently next time.
Focus on:
- Skills to develop
- Lessons learned
- Mistakes to avoid
6. Action Plan
Formulate a plan for future improvement. This reflection is essential for turning the experience into a learning opportunity for future growth.
Example Prompts:
- What would you do differently next time?
- How will you ensure this happens?
Example in Practice: Group Work Scenario
A group of students divided sections of an assignment based on their strengths. But once the sections were combined, the group realized that there were inconsistencies with each individual’s writing style, and pressure was heavily on them to rewrite the entire assignment! Working through a reflective process with Gibbs’ reflective model helped them to appreciate that proper planning, and avoiding groupthink, could have saved them a lot of time and hassle. The group presented many solutions to be considered for improvement, including using Belbin’s team roles, and creating a draft structure together before work began.
Why Use Gibbs' Reflective Cycle?
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