This emerging session showcases examples of using online guided reflective journals to engage students in their own authentic, meaningful and relevant learning, in any discipline and any level of instruction. Attendees will leave the session with practical ideas to encourage students to begin and develop an ongoing process of reflection.
Reflective Practice is defined as a “conscious exploration of one’s own experiences” (ed. Kaplan, Silver, Lavaque-Manty &Meizlish, 2013). This emerging ideas session showcases examples of using reflective journals in an online general education art appreciation course to assess student understanding of learning module concepts. By prompting the student with guided questions, he/she becomes more aware of his/her “social and cultural subject positions” (Hyland-Russell, 2014). While there is a modest body of literature on the benefits of journal writing in higher education (Boud, 2001; Hiemstra, 2001; O’Connel & Dyment, 2006), there is little research using guided reflective journal writing for content comprehension. Undergraduate and general education courses in particular, employ minimal use of guided reflective journals. Hyland-Russell has proposed that they are a possible solution to the undergraduate/general education course dilemma of how to facilitate critical thinking and analysis (2014). Journals allow a student to integrate his/her own experiences and assist in developing a critical academic and personal voice.
The specifics of this session will cover prompts to encourage student reflections, a discussion of the benefits and challenges to both students and Instructor, feedback from current students and assignment improvements for future classes. Guided questions are designed in relation to the student learning objectives. Open-ended questions such as “I changed my attitude about…”; “I became more aware of….”; “I was surprised about….”; and “This reminds me of…” inspire students to reflect on their own experiences and the course content. Benefits for the students include a place to share their thoughts privately with the Instructor. Students can confidentially comment on skills or concepts they need help with and share challenges facing them. They can share their own personal experiences and thoughts without being exposed to the rest of the class. Additional valuable benefits of using reflective journals include, relevance, ownership of knowledge, control of own learning process, and innovation in perception (O’Connell, Dyment, & Smith, 2015). While there are challenges for the Instructor, the process also inspires Instructor reflections on levels of engagement and feedback, assessment strategies, and balance of activities in the course curriculum. Student evaluations will also be shared. Feedback such as “I really enjoyed writing these entries and I liked that you responded to what I was saying”; “This process makes me READ the material and understand it, as opposed to just looking for answers to multiple choice questions”; and “I’m glad you made such a big deal about these journals, because it helped me see things differently”, have provided valuable insight into the power of these reflective journals. Learning from these experiences is an essential component and future ideas will be shared with attendees. One of the highlights from last year’s OLC Emerging sessions was the valuable feedback and discussion I had with colleagues. I anticipate this topic to garner rich and vibrant discussion.
Integrating guided reflective journals are not just for undergraduate art appreciation classes! The methods in this session can be adopted for any discipline at any level. Participants will leave this session with ideas for question prompts and the benefits and challenges for both Instructors and students. By sharing my own experiences and examples of what worked and what did not, attendees will leave the session with practical ideas to encourage their students to begin and develop an ongoing process of reflection.