Reflective practice, a short summary...

“Reflective practice is a way of studying your own experiences to improve the way you work. It is very useful for health professionals who want to carry on learning throughout their lives.”

Christopher Johns designed a structured mode of reflection that provides a practitioner with a guide to gain greater understanding of his or her practice, it is designed to be carried out through the act of sharing with a colleague or mentor, which enables the experience to become learnt knowledge at a faster rate than reflection alone

Johns highlights the importance of experienced knowledge and the ability of a practitioner to access, understand and put into practice information that has been acquired through empirical means. Reflection occurs though "looking in" on one's thoughts and emotions and "looking out" at the situation experienced.



How will reflective practice help me throughout my time on my degree?



By reflecting on my own work, it will help me to evaluate my work and increase my confidence therefore making me more inclined to be proactive and more professional in the way I work. Reflection is a great way to help improve your quality of work and close the gap between theory and practice.









1. Johns, Christopher; Burnie, Sally (2013) [2000]. Becoming a reflective practitioner (4th ed.). Chichester, UK; Ames, Iowa: Wiley-Blackwell.ISBN 9780470674260. OCLC 823139850.

Nike London, Shop Report

@NikeLab  #1948LDN

                                   

“This isn’t the place for purchasing your

  gym kit, but to buy fashion disguised

as sportswear”

Main target audience: Young to middle age men & women

What they sell: Sportswear & a variety of trainers

“Freshly kitted out with locally-sourced and recycled materials, the re-opened NikeLab is (literally) the only place to see the company's new products.”

The NikeLab in Shoreditch is now the 6^th to open around the world and has recently opened its doors to the public in June this year. Discreetly tucked away under the railway arches on Bateman Street, Shoreditch, it was formerly a 1948 Nike store. The stylish "stealth black" re-design of the classic modern football boot fuses sports science with style, but that's not the only reason to get on your running shoes and head down there at the earliest opportunity. After all, it's the coolest sports shop in Shoreditch.

SWOT analysis:

Strengths: High end Brand Well known Layout of the store was clean & modern Quality of products All staff were friendly and helpful Innovative	Weaknesses: Expensive brand/products in store Empty – no one was in there Security was intimidating Isolated location
Opportunities: Clearance store	Threats: Brands such as Adidas High street competition

Why Social Media can help your career...

Your Online presence:

Your online presence consists of all the information about you on the internet - this usually comes from your social network profiles (like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google+), photographs that you, your friends or family have posted online (and tagged), anything you have written or that has been written about you.

It’s quite likely that you are already using social media for socialising, keeping in touch, making new friends, finding and sharing information. However, the function of social media is not just 'social'. Having social networking profiles and regularly engaging with others through social media is generally seen by employers as a good thing. It shows you can use new web technologies and also gives employers an idea of what you are like beyond your CV, and it can be an invaluable tool for making contacts.

So how can this help you professionally?

Here are some examples, also click here to read more:

Twitter

While Facebook stills reigns supreme as marketing professionals’ social media channel of choice, Twitter is not far behind, especially amongst experienced marketing professionals who are convinced the site’s dynamic ability to interact with individual customers is key to helping establish traffic and customers. Twitter is also one of the more difficult social media channels to market with successfully because there is such a fine line between acceptable promotion and spammy nuisances.

• You need to maintain constant activity on the site. You can’t tweet once per week and expect those tweets to drive traffic, because they won’t. The more opportunities you can take to connect with potential fans, buyers, or other artists the more effective your Twitter marketing and networking will become.

• Twitter is not just a place for you to send your thoughts out into the nether regions of the Internet. Be a good Twitter citizen and make your feed about more than just your thoughts and work. This may not improve your traffic, but it will let other artists know that you are a good person to connect with and collaborate with.

• Don’t treat your Twitter account as a chance to spam your followers with promotions of your own work. If you have a piece of artwork you are particularly proud of, it is okay to tweet it out more than once per day for a few days, but make sure to talk about other things as well. You really don’t want people thinking that you are treating them like mindless visitors, you want them to connect with you and your work on a higher level.

LinkedIn

The medium that is on the verge of rendering your paper resume obsolete doesn’t seem like it lends itself to people looking to market their business, yet it is still the third-most popular social media channel amongst marketers and you don’t have to look too hard to see why. LinkedIn has made a concerted effort to court daily returning by adding groups, potential jobs, and a news feed where you can read updates about people as well as interesting news and stories from around the web. Anytime you are able to get that much daily activity on a social media platform, there are marketing opportunities to capitalize on.

• Make sure your profile is complete as possible. LinkedIn is your digital resume and the information you are presenting needs to be up to date and also complete and accurate. People may not know you on LinkedIn, but if your profile is comprehensive, they will still be able to get a sense of how talented and dedicated you are.

• You should use your LinkedIn news feed freely to promote your work, your public appearances, and shows or events. LinkedIn’s newsfeed has similar functionality but half the ambient noise, which means your posts will receive more attention and won’t get lost in the shuffle.

• When it comes to making connections, LinkedIn is in a class by itself, so recognize that and take advantage of it. Join groups of like-minded artists and don’t be afraid to connect with people who you think could help make you a better artist. While some connections may be superficial and the e-mails do get annoying, making a few connections and getting your name out there is more than worth it in the end.

Personality Assessment...