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A model of cyclical learning, which is a part of the nursing process, the Gibbs Reflective Cycle has something distinct to teach. Being a crucial member of the academic curriculum, students’ personal and professional growth stories can be understood through this method’s lens. However, it is not as easy as it seems. Therefore, a way of practical learning and growth will be taught when you go through this blog.
Gibbs Cycle of Reflection: What Is It?
A method that is used in learning and professional development by examining various experiences in life is what the Gibbs Reflective Cycle is all about. Developed in the late 1980s, Graham Gibbs developed this method so that people don’t have to study from outside experiences but look into their past. Learning from experiences that either went in your favour or against, the framework examines personal experiences that lend themselves cyclically. To follow this model, there are 6 stages that you need to abide by.
6 Stages of The Gibbs Reflective Cycle
Each stage of the reflective cycle of Gibbs is built on experiences and questions that are designed to ignite thinking. Helping learners to guide them through the process, the stages include:
Description
In the description stage, being objective with the experience and recalling it under the question “what happened?” is important. This stage is created to clearly describe the scene or experience. Here, you can ask some further questions, which may include:
- When and where did it occur?
- Who were the parties involved?
- What did you and others do?
- What was the result?
For better learning, here are some tips,
- Stick to the facts and avoid any analysis, or stop being judgmental.
- The better the description, the more effective the learning.
- Write each event down as much as possible.
Feeling
After stating the facts, the next stage is to understand and recognise your feelings. Think about how you felt before the incident, during it, and after it was over. Think about how you responded emotionally, your body language and whether you had any mixed feelings. Understanding feelings is important because it often plays a role in your decisions and actions, and you may not even be aware of it.
- What were your feelings before the event occurred?
- What were the feelings of others?
- Did your feelings impact your actions?
- Your feelings, did they change?
Some of the tips say:
- State your true feelings about the incident. Be it anger, anxiety, embarrassment, pride, or anything else.
- Recognise that feelings often shape actions.
- It will give you the time to pause and reflect silently.
Evaluation
Now, proceed to assess the experience by identifying both its positive and negative aspects. Consider what went well and what did not go well, and why. But hold your horses! This is not about blaming, but about assessing what occurred in a balanced manner. Try to consider the situation from several angles: your own, that of the other contexts, and that of a neutral observer. To do this, you can ask questions and use them as a Gibbs reflective cycle sample:
- Was there anything good or bad about the experience?
- Was there anything problematic?
- Did anything go unexpectedly?
- What made the difference?
To enhance your analysis, you can evaluate by doing this:
- Keep in mind, a balanced view is the way to proceed in this section.
- Learning is essential for avoiding self-blame.
- Consider both internal (your actions and decisions) and external factors (context, sources).
- You can also use evaluation in the Gibbs reflective cycle nursing. Evaluation is important in the field of healthcare.
Analysis
This is the start of deep learning. Here, you begin to make sense of the experience by reviewing what happened and examining its causes. Reflect on the factors that impacted the experience: communication, assumptions, emotions, training, or systemic challenges. If relevant, consider an appropriate theory, framework, or past knowledge to better understand the experience. Some of the questions you can ask here include:
- Why did things happen the way they did?
- Which factors had the maximum impact?
- What theories, past experiences, or frameworks help explain this?
- Could things have been different if anything else had happened?
A series of tips to better understand the Gibbs cycle of reflection:
- Form a connection between learning, theory, or frameworks.
- Go with an approach of curiosity and critical thinking. Ask questions.
- Observe any patterns that are repeatedly occurring.
- Or you can reach out to the Assignment Writers for a better analysis.
Conclusion
At this point, you draw inferences and summarise your reflections. Think about what you could change next time or what attitudes, knowledge, or behaviours resulted in a better outcome. Conclusion can be taken as a way to learn lessons in the harshest of times. Focus on what went well that you’ll repeat and what didn’t go well that you’ll change. Hence, you can further this by asking yourself:
- What have I learned from this?
- Was there anything I could have done or changed?
- What will I do next time?
You can better understand the conclusion stage by following these tips:
- Try to construct both: “If this happens again, I will do this” and “If this happens again, I won’t do this”.
- Make a list of what you have learned from this.
- Develop a concrete list so that it leads to action.
Action Plan
In the end, you will develop a detailed plan to execute your learning. It should be very specific and time-bound, outlining the specific actions you will take, how you will execute them, and when they will happen. You should integrate practice goals to implement your learning, practice sessions, and opportunities to reflect on what happened. Your action plan takes the learning and turns it into action, and makes sure that your reflections lead to genuine growth and development. You can do this by asking yourself:
- If such a situation were to arise again, what actions would I take?
- To make this happen, what skills and resources do I need?
- How will I know I have improved or handled it better?
- How and when will I start?
You can use these tips to create a better action plan:
- Identify your next step. They could be training, looking for feedback, or developing by practising a new skill.
- Always go by building checkpoints or reminders.
- Consider sharing your action plan with a mentor.
What Are The Negatives of This Theory?
As it is a critically acclaimed theory, there are certain negatives or common pitfalls that go against Gibbs cycle of reflection. Some of them highlight:
No Actual But Superficial Reflection
A common mistake people make is doing a reflection that is too shallow, which doesn’t have enough depth.
For example, many might write down their reflection as “I could have done a better job” or "I’ll try to work harder next time" without considering the underlying mechanisms of what took place.
In general, shallow reflection misses the opportunity for true insight. Going by such a method reduces it to a step waiting to be followed as part of compliance.
Ignoring Emotions
Another common mistake is to ignore the feelings stage altogether. Many people are focused only on actions and results, thinking that they don’t really need to talk about feelings, since feelings are not important or are unprofessional. Yet feelings are very powerful influences on how we think, engage in conversation, and make decisions. Here, if you don’t describe how you felt, you will lose the whole plot whatsoever.
Blame & Self-Criticism
Certain individuals become captivated by the mentality of transforming reflection into self-critique, which is not the requirement. Instead of approaching a situation's details and processing it as a way of learning, they fixate on mistakes and excessively punish themselves. The only thing that will develop from this is guilt, which leads to another form of negativity.
Too Much Focus On Negative Aspects
In the process of reflecting, it's easy to be overpowered by the negative side of things. This can cause you to have bias, and your overall perception of your performance will significantly change. The best Gibbs reflective cycle example is something that balances the positives and negatives from any situation.
Unrealistic Action Plans
Another common pitfall is developing action plans that are either too vague or totally unrealistic. When action steps are vague or unrealistic, it’s impossible that you will use the reflection as a roadmap to improve. Reflection should always create a pathway to action; otherwise, it remains a Gibbs reflective cycle example with no action. Moreover, our experts will use them in Assignment Help.
Gibbs Reflective Cycle Examples of Each Stage
From the get-go, understanding each stage might feel like a job you didn’t apply for. Therefore, for a better grasp of the framework, here are some Gibbs reflective cycle examples for each step:
Description
According to the strength of the people, we divided the work into a group assignment. When the opportunity to piece the assignment together came, it was seen that different team members had different writing styles. And thus we spent the time rewriting it.
Feeling
In the beginning, I thought our plan would work. But during the rewriting process, I felt frustrated.
Evaluation
The idea to divide the work among sections was good. However, we had not foreseen such a scenario happening with different writing styles.
Analysis
Dividing work among team members is a great idea. Giving all the work to a single person puts an unsustainable burden. The only thing that didn’t seem to happen in our favour was the multiple writing styles. Maybe we could have done a group discussion. Our focus was to finish the job as quickly as possible.
Conclusion
I have concluded that using people’s strengths is efficient. However, planning before doing the actual assignment is a better way and gives a glimpse of what the work will look like. In the end, I will remember the dangers of groupthink and what the theory suggests to look out for.
Action Plan
Doing one section of the assignment as a team is a good idea to find any existing issues. Mirroring the way we write as a group gives us a better idea of our own writing.
Conclusion
The Gibbs Reflective Cycle is not just a tool for reflection; it is also a method for learning from your past experiences. Divided into 6 stages, each of them has a particular method to come to a conclusive learning. Description, feeling, evaluation, analysis, conclusion, and action plan have to be researched with an in-depth understanding of the situation that you are trying to analyse. From such a situation, you will find unique outcomes, and you will have a better understanding of yourself.
