Journals

Journals are a powerful tool that allow students to engage in reflection and critical thinking. When creating a journal entry, students must synthesize their thoughts and present them in a concise format. Typically journal entries will ask students to reflect on a unit of study or learning module. Prompts for the journal might include:

• What was most beneficial to your learning in this module?
• What was most challenging in this module?
• How can you apply content from this unit to your current or future career?

Journals allow instructors to gain additional insight into student learning. Your feedback to each student becomes another way to interact with them on a more personalized level.

Journals can be set up in a google document so students only ever submit the shared URL one time and add to the document throughout the semester. You can set up “turn in” dates that work with your own schedule (bi-weekly, monthly, once at midterm, etc.).

Additional Resources

• Metacognitive Prompting and Reflective Journaling (University of Central Florida: Teaching Online Pedagogical Repository). Contains an explanation of journaling and instructions for online setup.
• Using Mind Watch Journals (University of Central Florida: Teaching Online Pedagogical Repository). Contains examples and instructions for setting up journals in online courses.