Student Journaling: Adding motivation and reflection activities to your course

Centre for Teaching & Academic Growth

January 20, 2006

Shafik Dharamsi, BEd, BSDH, MSc, PhDAssistant Professor, Global Oral Health/Community

Dentistry

&

Associate Director, Centre for International Health

What is Education?

Social Reform Perspective

Competence & Conscience

The crisis of our time relates to the disastrous divorce of competence from conscience.

Once professionals begin to practice, they stop thinking beyond the technical aspects of their work.

Professionals must be able to make judgments that are not only technically correct but also ethically and socially

considerate.

Ernest Boyer,

Former US Commissioner of Education

Weekly Reading – completed before class

Plenary Session - 60 min

Reflective journaling exercise (topic of reading and plenary) – 15 min

Small Group Tutorial – 60 to 90 min

Reflective journaling exercise – 15 min

Becoming Critically Aware

“Perspective transformation is the process of becoming critically aware of how and why our

assumptions have come to constrain the way we perceive, understand, and feel about our world;

changing these structures of habitual expectation to make possible a more inclusive, discriminating, and integrating perspective; and finally, making

choices or otherwise acting upon these new understandings”

Mezirow, 1991, p. 167

Can Journaling Help Students:

• Be more reflective and critical?

• Be more open to the perspectives of others?

• Be less defensive and more accepting of new ideas?

Impact

“I’ll engage the group in whatever we are talking about, even if it is not the most pressing issue to me, but in my journal, I write the issues that I deem the most relevant.”

“my journal is less of a summary I would say, and it is more of an opportunity to draw on my own personal life experiences and integrate them into what we talk about in discussion”

Focus Group Interviews with 1st Year Dental Students

Impact

“My tutor is very supportive, he …encourages, at least me…to write freely and put in more effort. Not all my thoughts are not necessarily shared in the group, cause obviously, it depends on what direction the discussion takes place and because I’m quiet I’m never going to be the one to lead a discussion, so a lot of my thoughts don’t come out in the group and its nice that my tutor will hear my voice, it’s just a nice thought to know.”

Impact

“whatever I put in the journal, I felt comfortable sharing with anybody, when I don’t feel comfortable, I probably don’t put it in the journal”

In the beginning, the Pencil Maker spoke to the pencil saying,

“There are things you need to know before I send you out into the world.

Always remember them and you will become the best pencil you can be."

You will be able to do many great things, but only

if you allow yourself to be

held in Someone's hand.

You will experience a painful sharpening from time to time, but

this is required if you are to become a better pencil.

You have the ability to

correct any mistakes you might make.

The most important

part of you will always be what's inside.

No matter what the condition, you must continue to write. You must

always leave a clear, legible mark no matter how difficult the situation.

The pencil understood, promising to

remember, and went into the

box fully understanding its Maker's purpose.

The Educator’s Role in Transformative Learning

Examine the assumptions that underlie their beliefs, feelings, and actions

Assess the consequences of these assumptions

Identify and explore alternative sets of assumptions

Test the validity of assumptions through effective participation in reflective dialogue

Impact

• “Allows students who are quiet to express their opinion”

• “Allows students to gather their thoughts before the discussion, providing a richer and more educational debate”

• “Allows students to do a bit of creative writing, almost jump-starting their brain to active mode as oppose to the daily passive absorption of knowledge in lectures”

• “Discussions run more smoothly since the journaling step allows the student to organize their thoughts so less silent moments of thinking occurs”

Focus Group Interviews with 1st Year Dental Students