REFLECTIVE JOURNAL AS AN INSRTUMENT FOR PROFESSIONAL

LEARNING

Professional learning is a complex process consisting

of cognitive, behavioral, relational and emotional

aspects, in which experience is given a prominent

role . Basic characteristic of professionals is their

ability to reflect on their experience and learn from it

Reflective journal provides a platform for

reflecting on experiences pursuing personal as

well as professional development of learners. Its is

a space where they can record and reflect upon

their experiences which can be used to track the

progress they’ve made, and to notice the gaps in

their knowledge and skills. It act as an invaluable

means of expression, communication and

enlightenment.

Reflection

Reflection may be take the form of self

observation to gain insight about the reasons

for one’s own thinking and one’s own actions

and their consequences- Bergsgaard and Ellis

Reflection is defined as the action of

critically exploring what you are doing,

why you decided to do it, and what its

effects have been. Mertler

Reflection helps students to develop higher order thinking skills and decision making

capabilities by prompting them to :

1. Relate new knowledge to their prior understanding

2. Think in both abstract and concrete terms

3. Apply specific strategy to novel tasks

4. Understand their on thinking and learning strategies

5. Activate efficient decision managing capacity in their learning episodes

6. Exhibit professionalism in their practices

Organizational climate of reflective practices

Open mindedness of communication

Whole heartedness when engaging in

critical dialogue

Honesty in analyzing our own behavior

and exploring thoughts

Reflective journals

Reflective Journal writing has been recognized by educators as an effective strategy and a formal tool to promote reflective thinking and learning. Writing about what we do and what we think and what we have learnt disciplines us to became more thoughtful, reflective and analytic.

While writing in a journal we not only record what happened or what was observed, but also develop new understanding, and insights and thereby new hypothesis and new perspectives of the phenomena.

Reflective journals enable us to create a

record of reflective thought and meaning we are

making while engaging in learning process. If the

journaling is done conscientiously, the reflection

in each learning journal will be unique as each

learner has his own response to any one

experience. Regularly writing up our learning in a

journal has the potential to provide us with a

systematic approach to our development as a

critical, reflective and constructive learner.

The analysis of the existing literature on reflective journals summarizes common themes about their use as learning tools like:

a. Act as a facilitator of learners moral,

personal, psychological, emotional and

cognitive development.

b. Journals are the transition from theory to

practice or praxis in learning

c. Used to facilitate critical reflections

d. Reflective writing helps to remember something later, its is a record to look back on. (Holly, 1989)

e. The act of putting pen to paper engages our brain

f. Writing a journal allows us to look at ourselves, our feelings and our actions in a different way

g. Journal writing allows us to clear minds.

h. Making journaling part of our routine means that we do actually take time out to reflect on what might be happening in our practice and in our lives generally ( Rainer, 2004)

The pedagogical potential of this technique includes

• It reflects the personal reflective background of the

learner in the context of the experience

•It develops student responsibility for learning

•It provides active engagement in reflective process

• It is student centered approach

• It helps to shape the learning organizations as learners

see fit

•It act as learners personal curriculum in a written form

Types of journal to suit you

There are three type of format that have been used

for journal writing

Contd..

Structured Journals

Structured Journals follows a specific or structured format. It

imposes certain form of constraints in the manner in which it

is written. This aids to obtain reflections in a uniform format

or range of format which makes the comparison objective and

scientific. Students, for their part are able to follow a

template, which serves to provide guidance to students on

approaching and developing journals.( John, 1994)

Unstructured Journals

Unstructured Journals allows the learners to

produce their own format and design the writing

accordingly. This unstructured nature of journals make it

difficult to compare with other formats used by learners

resulting in subjective ascertaining of reflection and

learning

Dialogue Journal

Dialogue Journal is used methodologically to train

student expression and reflection, and was explored by

Garmon(1998) and Peyton (1993). Peyton’s model resembled

a mentor/ mentee relationship requiring a consistent one-to-

one interface and a dialogue as vehicle for communication.

Station et al. (1998) defined dialogue journals as a method to

encourage the exchange and development of ideas between

two or more writers.

In formal reflective wiring where the learners reflection work is being exposed and assessed, its is important to use a framework for the development of it. There are many models for reflection.

Gibb’s model of reflective cycle( Gibb, 1988) is one among t hem. An outline of this model gives an idea of the depth that effective reflection requires.

Gibb’s reflective cycle

• Description

“ What happened? Don’t make judgments yet

or try to draw conclusions; simply describe.”

• Feelings

“ What were your reactions and feelings? Again

don’t move on to analyzing these yet.”

• Evaluation

“ What was good or bad about the

experience? Make value judgments.”

• Analysis

“ What sense can you make of the situation? Bring

in ideas from outside the experience to help you.”

“What was really going on?”

“Were different people’s experiences similar or

different in important ways?”

• Conclusions

“ What can be concluded, in a general sense, from

these experiences and the analysis you have

undertaken?”

“What can be concluded about your own specific,

unique, personal situation or way of working?”

• Action Plans

“ What are you going to do differently in this type of

situation next time?”

“ What steps are you going to take o n the basis of

what you have learnt?”

SCOPE OF REFLECTIVE JOURNALS

It respects the right of individuals to exercise self

direction and thereby, enhances their ability to exercise

control over their own learning and their own actions.

Reflective writing is a way of learning and helps to

evaluate their own learning performance as a learner by

engaging in reflective journaling learners are taking an

active role in learning and recognizing our personal

responsibility for life long learning.

Journal writing is a helpful device in providing educators

with a window to make critical judgment of their students

learning.Contd…

Reflective learning journals facilitate critical reflection;

it assists learners in conceptualizing and re-

conceptualizing abstractions through re configurating, re-

framing and relating it to practice

Thinking about our learning and writing things down

help to clarify our thoughts and emotions

Use of learning journal facilitate metacogninitive

abilities which leads to self inquiry, self managing

learning process and self esteem (Holly (1989), Norton,

Ownes, and Clark (2004)).