Keeping a reflective learning journal
- Write in your journal regularly, even if individual entries are sometimes short
- Focus on a specific event or issue for an individual entry – think about how you could address or resolve the issue, or what you’d like to improve
- Use questions or prompts to help you focus on the task
- Avoid descriptive writing, take an analytical approach
- Use techniques such as mind mapping, diagrams, sketches or cartoons. Use colour to make these more engaging and memorable
- Review the entries that you’ve written to see if you can find key themes and recognise what longer-term action you might need to take (e.g. to improve a particular study skill)
- Remember that writing itself can be used as a learning tool: you can use writing to explore ideas as a way of understanding them.
This diagram is of artwork representing a page torn from a note book or pad. Written on the page is a table of two columns and eight rows.
Column 1 is headed Date and column 2 is headed 25th April.
Reading across the rows from left to right
Row 2 column 1 Description of event
Row 2 column 2 Tutorial
Row 3 column 1 What did I learn?
Row 3 column 2 Clarified block 3 themes and linked them to what I need to know for the exam
Row 4 column 1 Short term implications
Row 4 column 2 Useful for the TMA in 3 weeks
Row 5 column 1 Long term implications
Row 5 column 2 Remember to come back to the themes when I'm revising
Row 6 column 1 Feedback from others
Row 6 column 2 I found that other students were also confused about the meaning of section 2 some of us are going to discuss it a bit more on the forum
Row 7 column 1 what will I do differently?
Row 7 column 2 Get in contact more with other students - it helps to know that others get confused by things on the course too, and talking about it seems to help. I'll make more use of the forums
Row 8 column 1 Notes
Row 8 column 2 I've still got a query about the TMA question - must ask my tutor.
