The role of student journals in facilitating reflection at doctoral level

Journal entries submitted by thirteen Doctor of Education students as a course requirement were analysed in order to explore the nature and content of their reflection and the effectiveness of journal writing in facilitating student learning. The findings confirm that journal writing encourages students to engage cognitively and reflectively with course concepts and content and to make connections between their academic learning and their personal/professional experience. Marked individual differences in response styles were apparent and these impacted on the learning outcomes reported by students. An ‘analytic’ approach to journal writing helps students to clarify, organise, evaluate and personalise ideas, an ‘extracting’ approach provides a useful record of ideas and issues, and an ‘affective’ approach encourages freedom of expression and self‐evaluation. Students who adopt a ‘course‐feedback’ style, however, receive little benefit from the activity. Suggestions are made for improving the effectiveness of student journals as a learning technique.     

Writing Across the Curriculum: A Hermeneutic Study of Students' Experiences in Writing in Food Science Education

ABSTRACT: Writing can enhance learning by helping students put words to their thinking about course material. The purposes of this study were to assess the influence of a structured academic journal writing exercise on student learning in a food science class and to examine student responses to the experience. Hermeneutics, a philosophy of science and qualitative research method, was used to analyze journal data from 48 participating students during a 2-y period and involved 3 steps: (1) describing themes taken from a global reading of student commentaries, (2) reducing or relating themes to specific, verbatim statements found in student writings, and (3) interpreting or imposing meaning on the themes and the statements (Lanigan 1988). Hermeneutic analysis showed that journal writing was difficult at first but became easier and enjoyable over time, allowed students to relate course content to other knowledge, exposed students to course material multiple times allowing for better information retention, enhanced student understanding, helped students think critically, required students to prepare for class, gave students the opportunity to express opinions, and allowed students to experience writing as enjoyable and positive. Several minor themes suggested that most students found the experience useful to their learning. Findings from this study are consistent with neuroscience and cognitive psychology theories regarding learning and the development of reasoning skills.     

成果导向的区域经济学研究生课程教学改革研究

基于成果导向理念,将单一的授课过程整合为“教师知识传授”和“学生论文创作”两线并行的过程,从课程设计思路、课程内容体系、课程授课方法和课程成绩考评四个方面探讨并总结如何对研究生区域经济学课程教学进行改革,最终目的是通过过程控制来保证学生完成一篇较高质量的论文,并能够发表在一定水准的专业期刊上。同时在这一过程中通过“干中学”的方式培养研究生的学术研究能力。     

Two portfolio systems: EFL students’ perceptions of writing ability,text improvement,and feedback

Research into portfolio assessment (‘PA’) typically describes teachers’ development and implementation of different portfolio models in their respective teaching contexts, however, not much attention is paid to student perceptions of the portfolio approach or its impact on the learning of writing. To this end, this study aims to investigate how two groups of Hong Kong EFL pre-university students (Groups A and B) perceived and responded to two portfolio systems (with each group experiencing one portfolio system either working portfolio or showcase portfolio) in one academic writing course. The case study approach was adopted and data sources included semi-structured interviews, student reflective journals, classroom observations, and analysis of text revisions. Findings indicated that students from the showcase portfolio group (Group B) were less enthusiastic about the effectiveness of PA, and queried whether it could promote autonomy in writing, while the working portfolio group (Group A) was more receptive to the experience, and considered that a feedback-rich environment in the working portfolio system could facilitate writing improvement. The paper concludes with a discussion of how PA can be used to promote self-regulation in the learning of writing.     

Journal Writing and Learning: Reading between the structural,holistic, and post-structural lines

This paper explores the use of journal writing for providing adults with the opportunity of reflecting on their learning. The article examines the author's own experiences teaching students on an undergraduate part-time degree evening course where journal writing was an important component. Three understandings of journal writing are compared using examples from students' journal entries. They are characterised as structural, holistic, and post-structural positions, respectively. Structural approaches to journal writing claim benefits in enabling the learner to manage her/his own subjectivity with a view to finding an “objective truth”. An holistic approach, while “useful”, attempts to synthesise multiple ways of knowing and presents a false sense of completion and inclusion. The post-structural view positions the learner intertextually in a processual learning context where the text the student writes is driven by other discourses. Here, the student/journal writer is constituted by discourse but not necessarily determined by it because the strategies of reflexivity and deconstruction are available. This last position draws on the sociology of interpretative biography and narrative theory. The implications for assessment and the ethical dimensions of privacy and disclosure of student journals are examined also.     

Chinese business students’ changes in beliefs and strategy use in a constructively aligned PBL course

This study adopted a longitudinal retrospective case study approach to investigate Chinese business students’ transitional learning experience in a problem-based learning (PBL) course with innovative assessment practices. The study focused on students’ beliefs and strategy use in a constructively aligned PBL course for business communication. Eight students who had made notable progress were chosen for retrospective analysis. The data included 48 journal entries, interviews, and writing samples collected at different stages of the course. This study identified taxonomies of participants’ beliefs about learning and writing, their perceptions of assessment, and their strategy use for learning. It also examined changes in beliefs, perceptions, and strategy use to determine the nature of the students’ learning experience in this PBL course. Findings suggest a recognised need to design PBL courses that align social constructivist learning principles with students’ beliefs and strategies. The results also highlight the importance of developing appropriate assessment rubrics to enhance student engagement with PBL learning for improved outcomes.     

Developing Reflection on Practice Through Journal Writing: Impacts of variations in the focus and level of feedback

Journal writing is a popular technique for encouraging student-teachers to reflect on their professional practice during field experience placements. This paper explores the role and importance of journal feedback in developing students' reflective skills. Weekly journal entries were submitted by 35 student-teachers during a 6-week field placement. Students received individual feedback on each journal entry that focused on either the level of reflection attained in their writing or the particular issues that their entries addressed. Within these groups, the type of feedback provided was further varied according to the level of questioning and challenge with which students were confronted (high versus low). The relative effectiveness of the four different types of feedback in improving student journal writing and facilitating reflection on practice is examined. Although students in all conditions reported positive aspects of the feedback they received, feedback that focused on the level of reflection attained was more effective in bringing about improvement in journal writing than feedback that focused on teaching issues. Such feedback, combined with issue-related questions and comments designed to challenge the student and encourage consideration of alternative perspectives, would appear to offer the most effective strategy for enhancing the effectiveness of journal writing as a learning tool.     

Learning science through writing: associations with prior conceptions of writing and perceptions of a writing program

Students in a large undergraduate biology course were expected to write a scientific report as a key part of their course design. This study investigates the quality of learning arising from the writing experience and how it relates to the quality of students’ preconceptions of learning through writing and their perceptions of their writing program that led to their report. Closed‐ended questionnaires investigating student conceptions and perceptions of writing, and approaches to writing, were completed by 121 students. Significant associations were found amongst qualitatively different prior and post conceptions of writing, approaches to writing and achievement. The results of the analyses suggest that the effective support of student experiences of writing reports requires teachers to be aware of the type of conceptions that students bring to their course and the perceptions they hold about the purpose of the writing program in which they are engaged.     

Using Online Studio Groups to Improve Writing Competency: A Pilot Study in a Quality Improvement Methods Course

Communication skills are a significant contributor to an individual's success in the workplace. Unfortunately, students often have trouble expressing their ideas in written form and the poor quality of students’ written work often impedes the learning process. This pilot study investigates the use of online writing studios within a quality improvement methods course and the impact of this intervention on students’ writing competency and perceptions about the writing process. The impact of this approach on student performance is evaluated within and across semesters using comparative statistical analyses. Results show that students who participated in online writing studios performed better (i.e., at least one rubric level higher) on their final written assignments for the course compared to students who did not, and that this approach is associated with improved students’ perceptions about the writing process. This research suggests that the use of online writing studios within a content‐specific course can incrementally improve students’ writing competency over the course of one semester, and can positively affect the learning of written communication skills and change students’ perceptions about various aspects of the writing process.     

Creating Spaces for Reflection on Learning to Teach a Foreign Language through Open Journals: A Canadian-Dutch self-study

This article describes a collaborative self-study undertaken by two teacher educators who sought to examine the impact of writing reflective journals and sharing them with students in their foreign language methodology classes. The study documents the process of undertaking the typical student assignment of keeping a reflective journal and making it available to students as a form of modeling. Findings include much greater understanding of the complexities of reflective writing, the discovery of a new space for discussions about learning to teach, and a much greater awareness of the importance of deliberate, explicit exchanges in teacher education classes.     

Integrating alternative learning and assessment in a course of English for law students

Alternative approaches to learning and assessment have become common practice in higher education today. While these approaches have several learning, instructional and assessment advantages for students and teachers, a need exists for a better understanding of their consequential evidence. The purpose of this study was to examine students’ perceptions of, and satisfaction with, the experience of learning English for Law in the environment of a comprehensive learning and assessment system integrating the project component and academic writing portfolio component into the framework of traditional learning. A sample of 58 law majors from Mykolas Romeris University in Vilnius, Lithuania participated in the study. The main findings of the study indicate that the integrated approach to learning English for Law was very well accepted by the students due to the following benefits it presented: (i) this approach is effective and useful in promoting students’ productive and receptive language skills; (ii) it enhances students’ satisfaction with their results; (iii) it fosters one’s motivation to learn a foreign language; (iv) it promotes students’ development as independent learners. It is recommended that this study be extended to the investigation of the impact of such an approach on the students’ final results in ESP in comparable groups.     

Use of Facebook,students’ intrinsic motivation to study writing,writing self-efficacy and writing performance

The study aimed to scrutinise how incorporating Facebook into a conventional writing class might impact on students’ intrinsic motivation, self-efficacy and writing performance, and to uncover how best to provide corrective feedback on students’ writing posted on Facebook. Sixty-four subjects from an intact group were recruited by means of purposive sampling. All participants sat the pre-test measuring intrinsic motivation to study writing, writing self-efficacy and writing performance. Following the pre-test, participants attended a regular conventional writing class incorporating Facebook for four months. At the conclusion of the study, participants sat the post-test and were interviewed regarding their learning experience. Participants were also requested to indicate which type of feedback provided on FB is preferred and to justify their responses. It was found that students’ intrinsic motivation and self-efficacy, as well as writing performance, improved markedly in the post-test and that direct corrective feedback is more favoured by students. Overall, the study suggests that not only does incorporating Facebook into a conventional writing class benefit students academically, but it also helps boost their intrinsic motivation to study writing and writing self-efficacy – two critical variables that dictate success in foreign language learning.     

Using Academic Journals to Help Students Learn Subject Matter Content, Develop and Practice Critical Reasoning Skills, and Reflect on Personal Values in Food Science and Human Nutrition Classes

ABSTRACT:  It has been reported that students learn best when they use a wide variety of techniques to understand the information of the discipline, be it visual, auditory, discussion with others, metacognition, hands-on activities, or writing about the subject. We report in this article the use of academic journals not only as an aid for students to learn about content knowledge needed in an Experimental Foods course, but also as a way to have students think about and reflect on their own personal values. The topics of these journal entries cover several of the core competencies in the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) Undergraduate Education Standards for Degrees in Food Science. These are basic principles of food science, as well as address several "Success Skills" (written communication, critical thinking, professionalism, life-long learning, interaction skills, and organizational skills). While there are no quantitative "measurements" of gains in learning, comments from the students indicate that learning took place, critical reasoning occurred, and personal values were analyzed. A guideline for writing and grading academic journals and a simple rubric for scoring the quality of the writing are included.     

Writing to Learn: Benefits and Limitations

Writing to learn is a pedagogical approach grounded in the belief that the reasoning required to write about a topic or concept will help students gain understanding. However, research indicates that the impact writing has on student learning depends on context. Using a mixed-method, quasi-experimental, repeated measures design, we examined how embedding writing-to-learn pedagogy in a required college course impacted students’ learning as well as their perceptions of writing to learn. Our quantitative analysis revealed that writing to learn did not have a differential effect on student achievement of course goals. However, qualitative analysis revealed evidence indicating students valued writing to learn as a way to make sense of course content by reasoning through their ideas and responses to class experiences. From the instructor's perspective, writing to learn also helped build rapport with students. Our results indicated that in our context, writing to learn pedagogy had benefits and limitations. We offer practical implications and pedagogical suggestions based on our experiences and findings.     

An alternative way of responding to powerful ideas: notes to accompany the poem entitled ‘Five Principles of Quality in Narratives of Action Research’

The author examines the development of her thinking in regard to the value, the purposes, the process and the outcomes of teaching an undergraduate course in action research for the past 4 years. The emergent understandings were informed by recurrent hermeneutic cycles of interpretative readings of the formal written and oral feedback conducted with the students at the end of each year, the students’ final action research projects submitted at the end of each course and personal field notes kept in journal writing. These sources have yielded rich longitudinal data that sheds light on the impact of a course for the learning of both its participants and the course professor. The article focuses on the actions that the author has undertaken in the design and implementation of the course as a result of her learning or on how action research ‘of a second order’ has informed the structure of ‘first order’ action research. The exploration has led the author to important insights regarding her role as course professor, issues of pedagogy, reflection, process and products of learning as they play out in an action research course at undergraduate level.     

From Corrector to Collaborator: The Range of Instructor Roles in Writing‐Based Natural and Applied Science Classes

This study of writing‐intensive (WI) undergraduate natural and applied science courses examined the relationships among instructors' course goals, instructional activities, and students' assessment of their learning of content and writing. Using multiple sources of data, investigators found that instructors held common goals but varied greatly in their instructional activities. Findings suggest that science instructors can be described along a continuum anchored by instructor as corrector on one end and instructor as collaborator on the other. Instructors who were the sole audience for a single writing assignment were correctors. Collaborators varied writing tasks, encouraged collaboration, and emphasized professional contexts for writing; they generally received highest student satisfaction ratings. Peer editing assignments that simulated critical, anonymous journal reviews affected female and male students differently. The findings support the National Academy of Science's teaching standards and assumptions concerning the crucial roles of instructors in socializing students into science communities. We discuss instructional strategies that may be more inclusive to traditionally underrepresented groups such as females and minorities. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 37: 3–25, 2000     

Reflective practicum in higher education: the influence of the learning environment on the quality of learning

Sustaining students in becoming reflective practitioners is considered as a valued outcome of higher education. The paper aims to evaluate the impact of the learning environment conditions inspired by Schön’s theory of reflective practicum, by discussing a case study of a master’s degree class. The learning environment was designed to sustain reflective practice and meaningful engagement through professional practice simulation, problem-based learning and reflective writing. Unlike much of the research into reflective learning, the quality of learning was evaluated by assessing the use of reflective practice in students’ weekly journaling, rather than measuring students’ satisfaction or perceptions of effectiveness. Two hundred and six journal entries of 23 students were assessed and used in a quantitative analysis based on a linear mixed-effects model. Findings indicated that the reflective practicum has an incremental effect on students’ reflective practices and that reflective practice is dynamic and sensitive to specific learning environment conditions. In conclusion, students’ co-responsibility of the learning environment allowed by the professional practice simulation appears to foster meaningful and reflective learning. Conversely, conditions that stimulate only cognitive engagement have little impact or even inhibit reflective practices. Practical implications of the use of reflective journal are discussed.     

Expanding Dispositions for Literacy: General Educators as Literacy Gatekeepers

Students with disabilities continue to be denied literacy rich experiences with their non-disabled peers. Throughout this article the authors explore how narrow, ability-focused teacher dispositions can perpetuate low expectations and can preemptively deny students with disabilities access to meaningful literacy experiences. Hence, the development of an inclusive literacy disposition is crucial to providing access to robust learning experiences for students with disabilities. The authors describe a research study that utilizes journal writing and a role-play intervention with pre-service general educators in a graduate literacy methods course. Analysis of post-intervention data suggests it is possible to shift narrow, ability-orientated dispositions to broader and more inclusive conceptualizations that support students with disabilities. Implications for both research and practice are discussed.     

Does Reflective Journal Writing Improve Course Performance?

Abstract. This study investigated whether a reflective journal writing assignment would improve students' course performance. A total of 166 students from undergraduate sections of a course taught by the same instructor over three semesters completed the assignment as part of their requirements. Students (N = 317) from five previous semesters of the same course taught by the same instructor, who were not required to complete the assignment, served as a comparison group. Intervention and comparison groups were comparable on a variety of variables including all assignments, excepting the journal assignment. The findings are interpreted within the context of factors such as students' study habits and motivation.     

Role-play and student engagement: reflections from the classroom

Role-play is viewed by scholars as an effective active learning strategy: it encourages participation among passive learners, adds dynamism to the classroom and promotes the retention of material. But what do students think of role-play? This study surveyed 144 students after a role-play activity in a history course and asked them to identify what they gained from the activity and if it encouraged them to learn more about the topic. The results found conflicting student views: though a large majority found the activity beneficial, a small minority gained little from the exercise. It is argued that role-play can be counterproductive for weak and/or unprepared students. Role-play may be a popular teaching method but teachers should consider how format and preparation can impact learning outcomes.