‘Reflection is embedded in my brain forever now!’: personal development as a core module on an Executive MBA

Professional progression and skills development are the main expectations of mid-career managers when enrolling on an Executive MBA (EMBA), yet it can be personal development (PD) that turns out to be the unexpected benefit of management education. Joining a growing number of voices making a case for personal development and self-awareness in management education, and calling for schools to incorporate it in the curriculum, this paper advances the case for personal development as a core Executive MBA module. The paper sets out the holistic rationale and philosophic principles used to design and deliver a course underpinned by curiosity and self-reflection on an EMBA in the United Kingdom, and presents empirical findings from a survey conducted among 230 students and alumni. These suggest that the focus on reflective practice and integration of PD promotes a richer and deeper appreciation of the value of reflection for lasting and sometimes unexpected personal growth. In addition, the raising of awareness of self also brings awareness of others, and develops critical thinking in application of the MBA at work. The paper concludes with a discussion re-evaluating the subject of tacit knowledge in reflective practice.     

Layers of engagement: Staff perceptions of spiritual care in residential aged care

ABSTRACT

Addressing the spiritual care needs of residents living in aged-care facilities should be an important dimension of quality care. We conducted semi-structured interviews with residential aged-care staff (including caregivers, nurses, managers, and chaplains) in New Zealand to explore how spiritual care is understood and operationalized. Many participants appeared to equate spiritual care with holistic care that respects the whole person. Participants discussed five types of spiritual care engagement requiring different skills, knowledge, and personal commitment, including information gathering, facilitation, companionship, end-of-life care, and counseling. Our findings suggest that the spiritual care that was offered by our participants, clergy and non-clergy alike, was predominantly informal and unplanned.     

Toward an Ethical Reflective Practice of a Theory in the Flesh: Embodied Subjectivities in a Youth Participatory Action Research Mural Project

The focus of this paper is to demonstrate how embodied subjectivities shape research experiences. Through an autoethnography of my involvement in a Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) after‐school program with low‐income and working‐class youth of Color from predominantly Latinx communities I examined my embodied subjectivities, via an ethical reflective practice, as these surfaced in the research context. Autoethnography is presented as a tool to facilitate an ethical reflective practice that aligns with heart‐centered work. Drawing from an epistemology of a theory in the flesh (Anzaldúa & Moraga, 1981), embodied subjectivities are defined by the lived experiences felt and expressed through the body, identities, and positionalities of the researcher. The article concludes with implications for the development of community psychology competencies that attend to the researcher's embodied subjectivities.     

Beyond hypercorrection: remembering corrective feedback for low-confidence errors*

Correcting errors based on corrective feedback is essential to successful learning. Previous studies have found that corrections to high-confidence errors are better remembered than low-confidence errors (the hypercorrection effect). The aim of this study was to investigate whether corrections to low-confidence errors can also be successfully retained in some cases. Participants completed an initial multiple-choice test consisting of control, trick and easy general-knowledge questions, rated their confidence after answering each question, and then received immediate corrective feedback. After a short delay, they were given a cued-recall test consisting of the same questions. In two experiments, we found high-confidence errors to control questions were better corrected on the second test compared to low-confidence errors – the typical hypercorrection effect. However, low-confidence errors to trick questions were just as likely to be corrected as high-confidence errors. Most surprisingly, we found that memory for the feedback and original responses, not confidence or surprise, were significant predictors of error correction. We conclude that for some types of material, there is an effortful process of elaboration and problem solving prior to making low-confidence errors that facilitates memory of corrective feedback.     

Effects of retrieval practice and presentation modality on verbal learning: testing the limits of the testing effect

ABSTRACT

The testing effect refers to improved memory after retrieval practice and has been researched primarily with visual stimuli. In two experiments, we investigated whether the testing effect can be replicated when the to-be-learned information is presented auditorily, or visually?+?auditorily. Participants learned Swahili-English word pairs in one of three presentation modalities – visual, auditory, or visual?+?auditory. This was manipulated between-participants in Experiment 1 and within-participants in Experiment2. All participants studied the word pairs during three study trials. Half of participants practiced recalling the English translations in response to the Swahili cue word twice before the final test whereas the other half simply studied the word pairs twice more. Results indicated an improvement in final test performance in the repeated test condition, but only in the visual presentation modality (Experiments 1 and 2) and in the visual?+?auditory presentation modality (Experiment 2). This suggests that the benefits of practiced retrieval may be limited to information presented in a visual modality.     

Do students really prefer repeated rereading over testing when studying textbooks? A reexamination

ABSTRACT

Experimental studies have shown that testing promotes better long-term retention than repeated rereading. Regarding implications for educational practice, based on a survey study seemingly showing that students prefer repeated rereading over testing when studying [Karpicke, J. D., Butler, A. C., & Roediger, H. L. (2009). Metacognitive strategies in student learning: Do students practise retrieval when they study on their own? Memory, 17, 471–479. doi:10.1080/09658210802647009], it has been concluded that increasing the number of tests may boost students’ achievement. However, a closer look at the survey study reveals that “repeated rereading” has been operationalised in terms of “restudying” which represents a term that may subsume a variety of study strategies. We reexamined the study behaviour of students in a more fine-grained way by surveying both their hypothetical (Study 1) and real (Study 2) study behaviour when restudying texts. Results showed that rereading is preferred only by few students early in the learning process, with almost all shifting to testing late in the learning process, and that rereading is mainly performed in terms of “rereading not understood parts”, and rarely in terms of “repeated rereading”. These results indicate that the implications of the testing effect for educational practice may have to be reconsidered.     

A Psychotherapist Retires

Abstract

This article reflects on a year of my personal experience as I prepared to retire from my psychotherapy practice of 40 years. While aware that this might be a poignant experience for bothmyself and my clients, my own surprising emotions and dreams demanded that I pay attention to myself. By acknowledging my feelings I was able to direct sensitive attention to the clients' feelings of loss and sadness. Finding the balance between the sadness that filled the therapy room and my own enthusiasm for what awaited me outside that room, was not a simple task     

Occupational Therapy Shared Decision Making in Adolescent Mental Health

Shared decision making (SDM) shares values of client-centered practice; however, a few studies exist that explore experiences of occupational therapists (OTs) working in adolescent mental health. This study aims to better understand SDM in adolescent mental health using the Canadian Model of Client-Centered Enablement. A qualitative study included interviews (n = 6) and analysis using an inductive approach. The role of the OT, client factors, therapeutic relationship, and nature of the decision were identified as influencing the process and outcome of SDM. The study helps better understand SDM in practice, the need for specialized education for OTs and has identified future research areas.