Writing to learn: can reflection journals be used to promote self-reflection and learning?

The purpose of the present study was to evaluate whether there is evidence of reflection in student-written journals and to investigate whether students show improvements in their reflective skills through journal keeping. To that end, the reflection journals of 3460 first-year students enrolled in a polytechnic were studied by means of an automated coding procedure. Data used in the analyses were students' journals for an entire week, collected once at the beginning and again at the end of an academic year. Outcomes of the content analyses suggest that there is evidence of reflection in students' journals and that students reflected on three general categories related to their learning: critical review of past learning experiences, cognitive learning strategies and summaries of what was learnt. Furthermore, the findings also indicate that students show improvements in their reflective skills as they progressed through the academic year. The findings when taken together suggest that reflection journals can be used to promote self-reflection and learning amongst students.     

The Use of Reflective Journals to Stimulate Critical Thinking in the Academic Internship

Reflective journals have been widely accepted throughout various educational disciplines for many years as a means of enhancing experiential learning practices. Reflective journals allow for students to gain a better understanding of a given experience and explore the levels of critical thinking as they work through the understanding and learning processes. Critical thinking involves the logical progression from mere knowledge and understanding to the highest levels of synthesis and evaluation. The immediate study presents findings of the analyses of a series of sequential reflective journals presented over the course of a semester-long internship experience. Findings indicate that reflective journals are shown to facilitate progression through the levels of critical thinking as identified in Bloom’s taxonomy and promote a higher level of understanding and application of theoretical concepts to practical experiential learning.     

Reconstructing the internship program as a critical reflexive practice: the role of tutorship

Critical reflexivity has been acknowledged as fundamental in higher education. For facing complex situations in turbulent environments, students nowadays need not only to be taught technical knowledge, but also to be helped develop “relevant” learning for their future professional practice. In recent years, scholars have concentrated on what makes the internship experience a successful opportunity for the parties involved, and have also discussed the crucial role of a mentor/tutor in sustaining relevant and effective learning. However, the specific conditions that make tutorship successful in promoting critical reflexivity in such a boundary crossing experience need to be further explored. Aim of this paper is therefore to analyze what tutorship conditions sustain the development of critical reflexivity in internship. For this purpose, we will present the case study of an internship program run by one of the largest universities in northern Italy.     

Students’ experiences of clinic‐based learning during a final year veterinary internship programme

This study investigated veterinary students’ experiences of clinic‐based learning (CBL) during a comprehensive final year internship programme. Open‐ended surveys (n = 93) were used to gather qualitative data about students’ conceptions of what is learned during CBL and their approaches to learning in clinics. Phenomenography was used for detailed analysis of the variation evident in students’ responses. Relationships between qualitative differences in students’ conceptions and approaches were then evaluated using quantitative statistical analysis. Links to achievement during final year were examined. Close associations were found between the quality of students’ experiences of CBL and achievement during the internship programme.     

Preparing for the real world: A prelude to a fieldwork experience

This article discusses the challenges of self-directed learning and the benefits of thorough preparation of undergraduate students for an internship experience. It describes a course offered at a unit of the State University of New York that prepares students in criminal justice and human services for their required fieldwork experience, focusing on the component activities of the course and their educational rationale.     

Using Student Journals for Course Evaluation

The evaluation of courses has become more important than ever in the higher education sector. Information is commonly collected from students on their perceptions of a course using questionnaires, discussions or interviews. This paper discusses the use of a student learning journal as a means of collecting data on the effectiveness of a course. Students in a graduate diploma course at the University of Technology, Sydney use learning journals to record and reflect on their development as a teacher/trainer over one semester. The evaluator of the course obtains qualitative data from the journals regarding students’ perceptions of the course content, structure, activities and assessment. The main advantages of this technique include the longitudinal perspective it gives on students perceptions of a course and also that it provides information on the whole course, particularly on whether whole course outcomes are being met. Collecting information from student journals also has the advantage that the data were not written specifically for course evaluation. Issues regarding validity, confidentiality and data analysis using student journals are addressed in this paper as is the place of this technique in a quality assurance scheme for a course.     

师生共同参与的生产实习实践课程对教师工程化教学能力提升的研究

高校青年教师往往理论基础较为扎实而实践能力相对较弱,尤其对于工科专业来说,将影响其教学效果和学生工程实践能力的培养。对此,本研究实施了如下方案。高校联系校外实习基地,同时制订教师的工程实践培训计划。在学生进行生产实习课程时,负责实习课程的教师同时接受实习基地培训。此方案提升了教师对实际工程生产的认知,同时促使学生学习态度更加端正,强化了学习效果用。实习后对学生进行调查问卷并统计分析,获得了学生对实践过程的感受、意见和建议,显示这一方案明显提升了课程教学效果。     

Online discussions in a doctoral research methods course: ‘Like a text by many authors’

In this mixed-methods study, we investigated how doctoral students used asynchronous online discussions that were added to a face-to-face research methods course. We focused specifically on what sociocognitive tools the students used and what they thought about the value of the online discussions for their learning. Our data included three online whole-class discussions from the course and students’ self-evaluations, which they completed three times during the semester. Our findings support the usefulness of online discussions in providing a site where students could draw on a rich repertoire of tools and strategies as well as on the knowledge of others to enhance their thinking and understanding of theory and research.     

应用技术培养反思性学习者

本文首先介绍了什么是反思性学习——它的优点以及如何改变教师和学生的角色,接着阐述了这种方法应用于网上学习所需的三种技术,即学习内容、博客、即时信息。论文以英国开放大学的硕士课程为例,分析了这些技术的应用。评价表明,学生们认为这种学习尽管费力,但很刺激。让学生自己决定学习内容也受到一些学习能力强的学习者的欢迎。所有学习者在体会到反思性学习方法的优点之前,都需要获到一些支持,也需要经过一段时间的适应。博客是一种常用的反思载体,即时信息也常被用于社会的交往联系。尽管这些课程的教学完全是通过网络进行的,但随时可以获得在线教师的辅导也是学生们取得良好学习成效的必要条件。     

Assessment for learning: a catalyst for student self-regulation

The development of students as lifelong, self-regulating learners is a valued outcome of higher education. To this end, the current project investigated how students in an undergraduate course experienced and responded to a teaching–learning environment where they were expected to take responsibility for their learning. The pedagogic environment of this course was grounded in strategies and activities associated with assessment for learning (AfL). As such, students were expected to participate in activities that provided them with opportunities to exercise control over their learning. Data gathering comprised individual semi-structured interviews and the collection of artefacts. Findings indicated goals helped students know where they were going; exemplars provided insights into what was expected and what constituted quality work; course activities elicited evidence of learning; dialogic interactions around these generated feedback about understandings and progress; the evaluation of exemplars developed evaluative knowledge, skill and expertise; peer review and feedback provided an authentic context for evaluation and monitoring of works-in-progress. It was concluded that, while each of the AfL strategies contributed to student self-regulation, the full impact of AfL as a catalyst for self-regulated learning was realised in the cumulative and recursive effect these strategies had on students’ thinking, actions and feelings.     

Training Technical and Professional Communication Educators for Online Internship Courses

ABSTRACT

This article explores how to train educators to teach online internship courses. The article introduces an online internship course focused on workplace communication available to students across the university. Approaches to training educators to teach this course include requiring educators to immerse themselves in experiential learning situations, leveraging innovative uses of contemporary technologies for communication, and reflecting on online teaching processes.     

Action Learning: Design Features and Outcomes at Georgia State University

This account of action learning as a curriculum offering at Georgia State University provides background and details of program start-up and operation during a first, experimental year. It explains what features were important in the design, what some of the first-year outcomes were, and what designers of the laboratory course will continuously seek to improve. Research findings from the first year of offering the program supported the expectation that students would gain confidence in their set mentoring and organizational problem-solving skills through a blend of hands-on experience and through independent and in-class reflection. Using critical incidents and journals as a way of staying in touch with events and with their own learning process, participants came to view critique as a leading part of action learning. Graduate students who were the first action learners at GSU included both human resource development and instructional technology majors. They have now fanned out in many directions to learn more about action learning and to carry the process into other organizations.     

Reflective Active Learning in a Graduate Course on Assessment

This article describes a graduate course on alternative assessment in which the instructional intervention was designed in accordance with constructivist principles. The research examines the effect of this intervention on the learning and knowledge building processes and the subsequent quality of knowledge, as evidenced in students’ learning journals. The aims of the intervention were: (a) to introduce the students to a culture which facilitates the application of alternative assessment; (b) to familiarise the students with alternative assessment instruments through their own personal experience; and (c) to enhance reflection on assessment topics so as to contribute to mindful assessment practice. The intervention included a variety of teaching methods centred on activities that involve a multidirectional dialogue amongst the course participants. The 25 participants formed a heterogeneous group as far as teaching experience, class teaching level, types of school, and reasons for joining the course. To examine the effect of the intervention, the learning journals were analysed qualitatively. As a result of the analysis two dimensions were identified: reflection and learning outcomes. The first included two categories: metacognition and reflectivity, whereas the second included three categories: personalisation of knowledge, its development and its quality. The learning journals were scored with respect to these categories and the score distributions were examined. The findings pointed to conceptual development and change occurring to a large extent in about half of the students. The article concludes with discussion of the factors which seem to facilitate the construction of personal knowledge.     

To Me It’s Like Having a Kid,Kind Of: Analysis of Student Reflections in a Developmental Mentoring Program

This qualitative longitudinal study focuses on analyses of journals written by 31 sixth grade students who participated in the Chapel Buddy program. The Chapel Buddy program is a developmental mentoring program that pairs sixth graders with kindergarten students. Mentors responded to guided writing prompts three times during the course of the year. Prompts were designed to encourage mentors to explore their role as mentors and their understanding of the mentor–mentee relationship. Results indicated that the program presented a rich, experiential learning opportunity for the sixth graders to develop a relationship with a younger child, to reflect on what it means to be in a helping relationship, and to examine their experiences as “big kids.” Sixth graders varied in their ability to successfully engage and manage their kindergarten mentees, which in turn meaningfully affected the mentors’ satisfaction. Strategies to maximize the educational value of developmental mentoring programs with younger mentors are discussed.     

基于典型工作任务的高职商务英语翻译课程开发

BAG课程开发法可以实现商务英语翻译课程的工学结合一体化,能够将学习过程和工作过程直接联系起来,有利于学生翻译经验的积累和口笔译能力的提高。依据对典型工作任务的分析,商务英语翻译课程可以分为5个主要的学习领域,每个领域又包含多个分解任务;课堂学习、企业实训和自主学习应围绕着这些任务有机展开,高效地实现人才培养目标。     

以学生为中心推进地方高校一流课程教学的若干思考

以学生为中心推进地方高校一流课程教学,在教育教学思想上,要着力解决相互关联的三个问题:首先是“为谁教”与“为谁学”的问题,协同育人,是课程教学的定位原则;育人渗透,是课程教学的难点之处;师范示范,是课程教学的主体特征。其次在“教什么”与“学什么”的问题上,注重内外兼修,解决学习的广度问题;注重学以致用,解决学习精度问题;注重因材施教,解决学习难度问题。最后需处理“怎么教”与“怎么学”的问题,以培育学生学习主动性、学习个性化、学习的创造性为目的,构建师生学习共同体,有效运用现代教育技术,切实改进教学评价方式。     

浅析顶岗实习对高职学生就业的积极影响

“校企合作、工学结合、顶岗实习”是高职院校生存和发展的重要途径和必由之路。通过校企合作和学生顶岗实习,不仅能够提升他们的专业技能,也能够实现他们高质量就业。因此,顶岗实习对高职学生的学习和成长都具有重要的现实意义;顶岗实习还有利于培养学生的创业意识和创业能力。高职院校可以采取一些策略促进学生顶岗实习的顺利开展,如让学生了解企业,精心选择实习岗位,加强教育和管理等等。     

英语教育专业开展校外实习的探索与实践

英语教师职业技能是指教师运用所学的专业知识,从事教育教学活动,完成教书育人的任务所必须具备的能力。教师的各项技能都会影响英语课堂的教学效果。高校英语教育专业要从培养合格的英语教师的高度出发,使该专业学生受到严格的技能训练,开展英语教育校外见习是为英语教育专业本科学生开设的实践类必修课程,是该专业实践教学的一个极为重要的组成部分。     

高校旅游管理专业学生实习心态的现状与对策

实习工作需要学校、实习单位、学生三方相互配合,才能获得实效。而学生保持良好的实习心态对顺利完成专业实习至关重要。学校和实习单位应为学生营造一个良好的实习环境,学生自我调节好实习心态,真正把旅游管理专业大学生培养成适应旅游业发展需要的人才,实现学校、旅游企业和学生共赢的和谐局面。     

Video Journaling as a Method of Reflective Practice

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to examine seven school counseling students’ experiences of creating reflective video journals during their first internship course. Specifically, this study focused on capturing the essence of the experiences related to personal reactions, feelings, and thoughts about creating two video journal entries. Qualitative analysis revealed that reflection as a developmental process, authenticity, parallel process, and apprehension with the process were significant themes related to the video journaling experience. Implications for counselor education and training and directions for future research are presented.