deeper understanding of what journalism is If an understanding is a pedagogical goal, it becomes apparent that lectures are limited in their ential to encourage learning beyond the accumulation of facts(Abercrombie 1979: 551) Equally, Ryan(1993: 60)showed that experiential learning alone is inadequate when it comes to the development of understanding. Kolb(1984: 38)argued that critical reflection is a prerequisite for understanding because it "is the process whereby knowledge is created through the transformation of experience The rhetoric used by journalists to describe what they do may be built around notions of intrinsic behaviour, but it also values critical reflection, albeit not in so many words. In the vernacular of journalism, being able to"think on your feet"and"keep your wits about you"are highly valued as intellectual abilities, as these are the qualities that lead to "scoops and other forms of commercial success. Both these phrases also describe critical reflection in practice, suggesting that journalists do think about what they are doing while they are doing it. Recent research(Smith 2002)indicates that Bandura's position on the development of efficacy is still valid, almost 20 years after it was first Among the types of thoughts that affect action, none is more central or pervasive than peoples judgements of their capabilities to deal effectively with different realities. People not only gain understanding through reflection, they evaluate and alter their own thinking. What people think believe, and feel affects how they behave. The nature of extraneous effects of their actions, in turn partly determines their thought patterns and effective reactions. (Bandura 1986: 21, 25) Bandura(1986: 27)argued that an individual's perceptions about themselves and the nature of things are developed and verified through four processes These are direct experience of effects produced by their actions, vicarious experiences of effects produced by anothers actions, judgment voiced by others and future knowledge inferred from what they alread The model described here seeks to integrate theory and practice by embedding theoretical considerations in the completion of journalistic tasks and to provide opportunities for Banduras four stages to occur. It has been used in teaching journalism programs at two Australian universities and its success has been measured, over 10 years, through formal student evaluations and statistical evaluation of changes in knowledge, attitudes and efficacy(Sheridan Burns and Hazell 1998)and graduate employment success Background to the model When the author started university teaching in 1989, the emphasis in journal ism units was on technical mastery, delivered via workshops used to practise writing skills. This model suited a practitioner who teaches", because it was something like a practitioners experience of mentoring, but problems arose with the emphasis on face-to-face contact as the students' primary means of gaining knowledge. The original concerns weredeeper understanding of what journalism is." If an understanding is a pedagogical goal, it becomes apparent that lectures are limited in their potential to encourage learning beyond the accumulation of facts (Abercrombie 1979:551). Equally, Ryan (1993:60) showed that experiential learning alone is inadequate when it comes to the development of understanding. Kolb (1984:38) argued that critical reflection is a prerequisite for understanding because it "is the process whereby knowledge is created through the transformation of experience". The rhetoric used by journalists to describe what they do may be built around notions of intrinsic behaviour, but it also values critical reflection, albeit not in so many words. In the vernacular of journalism, being able to "think on your feet" and "keep your wits about you" are highly valued as intellectual abilities, as these are the qualities that lead to “scoops” and other forms of commercial success. Both these phrases also describe critical reflection in practice, suggesting that journalists do think about what they are doing while they are doing it. Recent research (Smith 2002) indicates that Bandura’s position on the development of efficacy is still valid, almost 20 years after it was first posited. Among the types of thoughts that affect action, none is more central or pervasive than people’s judgements of their capabilities to deal effectively with different realities... People not only gain understanding through reflection, they evaluate and alter their own thinking. What people think, believe, and feel affects how they behave. The nature of extraneous effects of their actions, in turn, partly determines their thought patterns and effective reactions. (Bandura 1986:21,25) Bandura (1986: 27) argued that an individual’s perceptions about themselves and the nature of things are developed and verified through four processes. These are direct experience of effects produced by their actions, vicarious experiences of effects produced by another’s actions, judgment voiced by others and future knowledge inferred from what they already know. The model described here seeks to integrate theory and practice by embedding theoretical considerations in the completion of journalistic tasks and to provide opportunities for Bandura’s four stages to occur. It has been used in teaching journalism programs at two Australian universities and its success has been measured, over 10 years, through formal student evaluations and statistical evaluation of changes in knowledge, attitudes and efficacy (Sheridan Burns and Hazell 1998) and graduate employment success. Background to the model When the author started university teaching in 1989, the emphasis in journalism units was on technical mastery, delivered via workshops used to practise writing skills. This model suited a “practitioner who teaches”, because it was something like a practitioner’s experience of mentoring, but problems arose with the emphasis on face-to-face contact as the students’ primary means of gaining knowledge. The original concerns were: