All about Gibbs Reflective Cycle and Its Applications!

Gibbs Reflective Cycle is a famous cyclical model of Reflection. It can be used to reflect on, review, process, and analyze an experience. Designed in 1988 by Professor Graham Gibbs, this model was introduced in his book titled “Learning by Doing”.

Gibbs model is based on the principle that we learn best from our experiences – only when we reflect on them. Consciously thinking about what we did well and what we can do better in the future is the only way we can gain useful lessons from the experiences we have had. The Gibbs Reflective Cycle has six steps:

1. Description
2. Feelings
3. Evaluation
4. Analysis
5. Conclusion
6. Action Plan

Let’s take a closer look at each step.

Step 1: Description

This is the first step of the Gibbs Reflective Cycle. An experience, as long as it’s important to you, starts with a description – something that brings back feelings and thoughts about an event or situation. For example:

“I failed my friend when I broke my promise.”

You need to describe the situation in detail and draw conclusions later.

Some of the questions that can guide a person describing a situation well are:

1. When did it happen?
2. Where did it take place?
3. Why were you there?
4. Who else was there?
5. What happened exactly?
6. Did you do something?
7. Did others do something?
8. How did it all end?

Step 2: Feelings

This is the second step of the Gibbs Reflective Cycle. Once you have described a situation, it’s time to focus on how you felt at the time. This includes both emotions and sensations. For example:

“I felt really sad when I saw my friend cry.”

or

“I felt a tightness in my chest when my boss yelled at me.”

Again, you need to be specific. The questions that can help you identify your feelings are:

1. How were you feeling before the situation?
2. What did the situation make you feel?
3. How intense were your feelings?
4. What emotions were you experiencing?
5. What physical sensations did you feel?
6. How were you feeling after the situation?
7. What do you think other people present there felt?
8. How do you feel about it now?
9. What do you think other people present there feel now?

Talking about feelings is not everyone’s cup of tea. If you are helping someone else go through the Gibbs Reflective Cycle, empathetic listening can help you to connect with the person emotionally and perceptual positions can help you see things from other people’s perspectives.

At GoAssignmentHelp, we have experts who can tell you more about empathetic listening and perceptual positions. Contact them now to know more!

Step 3: Evaluation

 

This is the third step of the Gibbs Reflective Cycle. A simple question can help you evaluate any situation – “What did I learn from this experience?” For example:

“I learned that sometimes people make mistakes and no one is perfect.”

You need to reflect on what was good or bad about the events or actions at hand.

The questions that can help you do a proper evaluation are:

1. What worked well?
2. What didn’t go well?
3. What was good about this situation?
4. What was bad about this situation?
5. How did you contribute to the situation and was that good or bad?
6. How did others contribute to the situation and was that good or bad?

GoAssignmentHelp experts say that evaluation helps us to learn from our experiences and make better decisions in the future.

Step 4: Analysis

This is the fourth step of the Gibbs Reflective Cycle. This is where you take a closer look at what happened and try to understand it better. For example:

“I think my friend was really mad at me because I didn’t call her back.”

or

“I think my boss was mad at me because I didn’t do my job well.”

You need to be precise and analytical in your thinking. The questions that can help you analyze a situation are:

1. What were the causes and effects of the event?
2. What was the main problem?
3. What were the smaller problems?
4. How did the event unfold?
5. What were the important factors?
6. Who was responsible for the event?
7. What were the consequences?
8. What sense can I make from the situation?
9. What knowledge do we gain from it?

The things you learn during analysis can help you in preventing similar incidents in the future. Our experts suggest that the ‘5 Whys’ technique is quite effective in uncovering the root cause of an occurrence.

Contact our experts to know more about it on Live Chat!

Step 5: Conclusion

This is the fifth step of the Gibbs Reflective Cycle. In this stage, you need to summarize everything that you have discussed in the previous steps. This will help you understand the situation better and draw a useful conclusion. For example:

“In conclusion, I need to call my friend once a week for him to not be mad at me.”

or

“In conclusion, I need to learn skills and do better time management to do my job better and be on the good side of my boss.”

The questions that can help you come to a conclusion are:

1. What did you learn from the experience?
2. What can you do to prevent this from happening again?
3. What were your options at the time?
4. What should you do next?
5. How can you avoid a similar situation again?
6. What skills or qualifications do you need to handle these kinds of situations better in the future?

A conclusion is an important step in the reflective process as it allows you to take action and move forward.

 

Step 6: Action Plan

This is the sixth and final step of the Gibbs Reflective Cycle. This is where you put all your learning into practice and come up with an action plan. For example:

“So, from now on I will call my friend once a week.”

or

“So, from now on I will learn X, Y, and Z skills and use A, B, and C time management techniques to do my job better and on time.”

Your action plan may include:

1. List of areas you need to work on and skills you need to learn
2. Define the timeline for each area
3. Break each big goal into smaller goals and assign a timeline for them
4. Set a schedule for reviewing your progress
5. Make a list of resources you will need to achieve your goals
6. Create a support network
7. Put everything in writing and review it regularly

Our experts advise that an effective action plan should be achievable and measurable. It should also be tailored to meet your specific needs. And lastly, you must respect the time and effort that it will take for you to achieve your goals.

How to use Gibbs Reflective Cycle?

As an individual, the Reflective Cycle suggested by Gibbs is an extremely useful tool to keep improving yourself. Personal Coaches use it all the time to make their clients aware of unwanted behaviour and come up with ways and strategies to make their lives better.

In higher education, Gibbs Reflective Cycle is used in many academic disciplines, such as:

• Business Studies: To help students reflect on their experiences in the workplace and learn from them. Our assignment writers help business students use Gibbs Reflective Cycle model all the time to write better reflective essays and case studies.
• Education: To help educators reflect on their teaching practice and learn how to improve the learning experience of their students. GoAssignmentHelp’s online assignment help experts have years of experience in helping students write reflective essays and papers on different aspects of education. We help educators reflect on teaching quality, course structure, curriculum design, etc.
• Nursing: To help nurses reflect on their practice and learn how to provide better patient care. Nursing students often find it difficult to reflect on their clinical experiences. Our Nursing assignment experts can assist you with reflective writing and help you get better grades.
• Management: Many management studies’ courses include reflective essay writing as an important part of the coursework. GoAssignmentsHelp provides assignment help for students who want to learn how to write better self-reflection papers on their career aspirations and leadership qualities using the Gibbs model.
• Social Work: To help social workers reflect on their work with clients and learn how to provide better support. Social work students can use Gibbs Reflective Cycle to assess different awareness programs and make them more impactful.
• Psychology: To help psychologists reflect on their case studies and research, and learn from their mistakes. It can help professionals in the field understand their own thoughts and feelings better. A reflective journal or a diary is a great way to monitor your progress and evaluate yourself through this process.
• Law: To help law students reflect on ethical dilemmas they face in their profession. Using the Gibbs model, law students can analyse different types of cases, arguments that were presented by different parties, and their verdicts. These students can write law essays that reflect on their personal thoughts and feelings about the case, and how they would have approached it if they were given the opportunity.
• Medicine: To help medical students reflect on cases they have studied. It also helps students to reflect on their clinical placements and learn from their mistakes. Medical students can use the Gibbs model to write journal entries that summarize their progress and reflect on their experiences in the field.
• Journalism: To help students reflect on the roles of journalists in society. By using the Gibbs model, journalism students can write reflective essays on the changing role of journalism in the digital age, and how it has affected their understanding of the profession.

and more.

This model is also used to assess students doing their internship assignments. It can help students focus on learning professional behaviour from their internship experience.

Gibbs Reflective Cycle is not just limited to the academic sphere. It can be used in any environment where people need to improve themselves through reflection. It can be applied to many different contexts, including the following ones:

• Schools use it to make children aware of their strengths and weaknesses and improve their ways of studying.
• Sports teams use it to improve their coaching methods by basing them on past player feedback.
• Recruiters in organizations can use it to better assess a potential employee’s suitability for the job.
• Church groups use it to reflect on their activities and how they can improve them.
• Counsellors use it to help clients reflect on their life experiences and find ways to improve themselves.

Pros and Cons of Using Gibbs Reflective Cycle

Gibbs’ Reflective Cycle has several advantages:

• It’s easy to understand and use.
• It can be applied in any context.
• It helps people to learn from their experiences.
• It helps students learn from their mistakes and improve themselves over time.
• It is an effective form of self-study.
• It can be used in any context where people need to reflect on their work or behaviour.
• It helps you develop better and more accurate judgement or action plans over time.
• It helps you develop a better understanding of yourself and the world around you.
• It can be used on a large scale for developmental purposes.

Like everything else, the Gibbs mode has its disadvantages too, such as:

• It takes time and effort to use it effectively.
• It’s reactive and not proactive.
• It’s superficial and does not take into account your assumptions, critical thinking, and different perspectives.
• It doesn’t offer deep probing questions.
• It’s not meant for people who find it difficult to discuss their feelings honestly.
• Self-analysis can lead to biased results.
• It works best when you work with an expert to guide you through the process.
• You need to be honest with yourself while using it, which can be difficult at times.
• It’s not always applicable to every situation.
• There’s no single “correct” interpretation of the model because all interpretations are subjective. However, there can be a “wrong” interpretation if it does not match reality.
• It’s not suited to people in highly competitive contexts where they might be judged negatively if they make mistakes.

How GoAssignmentHelp assists you in writing essays using Gibbs Reflective Cycle?

At GoAssignmentHelp, we understand the importance of reflective writing for students. That is why we offer expert essay writing services that can help you write your essays using Gibbs Reflective Cycle. Our team of experts has in-depth knowledge of the model and knows how to help you use it effectively to improve your academic performance. We can help you with all aspects of reflective writing, including:

• Understanding the model and its applications.
• Developing a strong thesis statement.
• Drafting an effective essay structure.
• Writing engaging and well-researched essays.
• Proofreading and editing your essays.

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