Grounded theory and reflection

Reflecting about online teaching

Abstract

This paper tells the story of how I came to use constructivist grounded theory (CGT) as a method to facilitate my own reflection. As an online teacher, the speed at which things happen, the constant turnover and sheer number of decisions made across courses meant that most of my decisions were the result of reflection-in-action rather than reflection-on-action. Whilst existing reflective models provided some insight, for me what they were lacking was a robust, established, research-oriented framework, and an overall outcome I could conceptualise, share and communicate. After telling the story of how I came to use CGT, I provide a brief overview of the various process in CGT, a brief rationale for how these link to, or enable reflection, how they were used, and my thoughts on the overall process. The paper concludes with some final thoughts and actions for moving forward.