Gallery Presentation International Positive Psychology Association 7th IPPA World Congress 2021

Cultivating Character Strengths to Foster Faculty Reflective Practice (#200)

Scott Greenberger 1 , Justina Or 1
  1. Grand Canyon University, Phoenix, AZ, United States

This how-to-training seeks to help faculty cultivate character strengths to foster reflective practice. Reflective practice is a systematic inquiry into a contextualized problem that involves personal growth and understanding that may lead to practical and scientific insights (Greenberger, 2020). Reflective practice has several benefits relevant to the work of faculty, including increased self-awareness (Meierdirk, 2016), improved decision-making (Pope et al., 2018), efficient practical problem solving (Hong & Choi, 2015), and enhanced wellbeing (Stevenson, 2020). Greenberger (2020) applied John Dewey’s (1933/1989) reflective thinking model to create the Guide for Reflective Practice, but the guide was not designed to foster faculty readiness to engage in reflective practice.

To address readiness for reflection, Dewey (1933/1989) identified open-mindedness, whole-heartedness, and responsibility as essential attitudes. Dewey conceived of these attitudes as traits of character. Peterson and Seligman’s (2004) model defined positive traits of character as character strengths. We argue that the character strengths of open-mindedness, curiosity, love of learning, zest, integrity, and perseverance encompass and elaborate Dewey’s essential attitudes for reflection. As such, the character strengths model may be used to cultivate faculty’s readiness to engage in reflective practice.

In this training, we will guide the attendees through cultivating character strengths as readiness for reflection, improving their lower strengths, and conceptualizing next steps for using the Guide for Reflective Practice (Greenberger, 2020). First, we will discuss how to use the VIA Inventory of Strengths to assess the character strengths essential for reflection (Peterson & Seligman, 2004). Next, to improve the lower strengths, we will show faculty ways to engage in problem management and consciously use their lower strengths in small doses (Niemiec, 2017). Finally, we will illustrate how faculty may use these character strengths to employ the Guide for Reflective Practice to meaningfully reflect, document their reflections, and publish their reflective practice in academic journals.

  1. Dewey, J. (1989). How we think. In J. A. Boydston (Ed.), The later works of John Dewey, 1925-1953, Volume 8: 1933, Essays and how we think, revised edition. Carbondale and Edwardsville, IL: Southern Illinois University Press (Original work published in 1933).
  2. Greenberger, S. W. (2020). Creating a guide for reflective practice: Applying Dewey’s reflective thinking to document faculty scholarly engagement. Reflective Practice, 21(4), 458–472.
  3. Hong, Y. C., & Choi, I. (2015). Assessing reflective thinking in solving design problems: The development of a questionnaire. British Journal of Educational Technology, 46(4), 848–863. https://doi. org/10.1111/bjet.12181
  4. Meierdirk, C. (2016). Is reflective practice an essential component of becoming a professional teacher? Reflective Practice, 17(3), 369–378. https://doi.org/10.1080/14623943.2016.1169169
  5. Niemiec, R. M. (2017). Character strengths interventions: A field guide for practitioners. Ashland, OH: Hogrefe Publishing.
  6. Peterson, C., & Seligman, M. E. P. (2004). Character strengths and virtues: A handbook and classification. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
  7. Pope, C. C., Penney, D., & Smith, T. B. (2018). Overtraining and the complexities of coaches’ decisionmaking: Managing elite athletes on the training cusp. Reflective Practice, 19(2), 145–166. https:// doi.org/10.1080/14623943.2017.1361923
  8. Stevenson, N. (2020). Developing academic wellbeing through writing retreats. Journal of Further and Higher Education, 1-13. https://doi.org/10.1080/0309877X.2020.1812549
  • Keywords: Career and Work, Coaching, Education, Mindfulness, Strengths
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