Learning Journals: A Handbook for Academics, Students and Professional Development

209 Pages·2006·0.89 MB·English

by  Jennifer Moon

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Learning Journals
A handbook for reflective practice
and professional development
Second edition
Journal-writing is an increasingly common technique in education, personal and
professional development.
Fully updated with important new theory and practical material, this second
edition of Learning Journalsoffers guidance on keeping and using journals and
gives step-by-step advice on integrating journal-writing on taught courses, in
training and professional development, and in supporting personal development
planning (PDP) activities. Essentials covered include:
• the nature of learning journals and how we learn from them
• the broad range of uses of learning journals, including portfolios and personal
and professional development
• the depth and quality of reflection in learning journals
• the assessment of learning journals and reflective writing
• the use of narrative and story-telling techniques in journals.
With useful exercises and activities that enhance learning journal work in a
structured manner, Learning Journals is invaluable reading for teachers and
students in higher education, for all professionals, particularly those working in
the health services and business and training, and for all those who want to learn
more about keeping a fulfilling personal journal.
Jennifer A. Moon researches learning at the Centre for Excellence in Media
Practice, Bournemouth University, and is an Independent Consultant.

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Learning Journals
A handbook for reflective practice
and professional development
Second edition
Jennifer A. Moon
This edition published 2006
by Routledge
First edition published 1999
by RoutledgeFalmer
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
270 Madison Ave, New York, NY 10016
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2006.
“To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s
collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.”
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 1999, 2006 Jennifer A. Moon
Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study,
or criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and
Patents Act 1988, this publication may only be reproduced, stored or
transmitted, in any form or by any means, with the prior permission
in writing of the publishers, or in the case of reprographic reproduction
in accordance with the terms and licences issued by the CIA.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
A catalog record for this book has been requested
ISBN10: 0–415–40376–6 (hbk)
ISBN10: 0–415–40375–8 (pbk)
ISBN10: 0–203–96921–9 (ebk)
ISBN13: 978–0–415–40376–4 (hbk)
ISBN13: 978–0–415–40375–7 (pbk)
ISBN13: 978–0–203–96921–2 (ebk)
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Contents
Preface vii
1 Backgrounds: an introduction to learning journals 1
2 Learning from learning journals: journals and the process
of learning 17
3 How students learn from learning journals: journal-writing
as a process that accentuates favourable conditions for learning 26
4 Quality and depth in reflection and learning journals 36
5 The uses of learning journals 44
6 Journals in teaching and learning in higher education 57
7 Journals in professional education and development 71
8 Learning journals and personal development 81
9 Starting to write a learning journal 90
10 Assessing journals and other reflective writing 107
11 The enrichment and broadening of journal processes
through the link with story 122
12 Examples of journals 132
13 Activities to enhance learning from journals 141
Resources 158
References 182
Index 197

Preface
The content of this book is largely introduced in Chapter 1 along with a general
introduction to the topic of learning journals. This preface represents a few notes
on how this book might be read.
A book on learning journals might be looked at by those interested simply in the
nature of a pedagogical tool that promotes learning. It might be read by those
interested in the theory of how one learns from journal-writing or those who want
to write a journal for themselves for personal or professional development reasons.
It might also be read by tutors, who may have decided that tomorrow they will
confront their class with the task of starting journals, and want to know what
to do. From experience, there is a need for information about assessment of
journals too.
There are many ways in which this book might be read, only one of which is the
cover-to-cover mode. While the chapters are arranged in a logical sequence for the
reader of the whole book, it is possible to glean more specific information by
reading a selection of chapters of immediate relevance. The chapters are relatively
self-contained, and, in particular, that applies to the more practical approaches of
the last few chapters. The cost of self-containment is a little bit more repetition
than there would otherwise be.
With reference to terminology, we have adopted the term ‘learning journals’ but
there are many alternatives that involve the same activity (see Chapter 1). The
book contains much information and many ideas that would support those working
as tutors or learners with ‘portfolios’ – often the terms ‘portfolio’ and ‘learning
journal’ overlap in use.
The book is well referenced: there are not many other substantial bibliographies
on this topic and in this respect it represents a sourcebook. The broad range
of references supports those using learning journals for personal use or for use
with others. Many of the references provide examples of how journals have been
employed in different contexts and therefore they complement the material
contained herein.
In this second edition of the book, we have recognized that the use of journals
has become much more widespread since 1998, when the first edition was written.
At that time, the idea of a learning journal was relatively alien to most teachers in
viii Preface
higher education and many of the examples were from the 1980s in the United
States. Now there are relatively few subject areas in which there is not local
documented use of learning journals of some sort. In addition, the advent of
personal development planning/profiling (PDP) in the UK has meant an almost
general acknowledgement of the value of reflective activities, if not journals as
such. Many of the tools for personal development planning are, in effect, highly
structured journals.
There are three new chapters or sections in this second edition. The first
develops the consideration of the relationship between journals and the process of
learning. The second pursues the idea of reflective learning by seeing it not just
as something that happens or that does not happen, but as a capacity that has
superficiality (when it is descriptive) or depth. This new thinking provides a more
rigorous manner in which we can view learning journals. The same thinking has
led to a form of exercise to help learners to start their reflective writing and to
‘deepen’ it, thereby improving its quality and – we assume – the quality of learning
that can result. Some of the work on reflective learning is based on a book by the
author that is devoted to the exploration of reflective and experiential learning
(Moon, 2004a).
The other new chapter is on journals and their relationship to story and narrative.
This has been written in order to recognize the significance and relevance of the
currently growing literature on narrative in professional development, in business
settings, in sport and education for journal-writing – as Rainer puts it, to recapture
some of the psychological nurturing that can result and which has been gained
from myth and ritual in the past (Rainer, 1978). Much journal-writing is, in effect,
the writing of personal story.
The third new section consists of resources that can be used to aid the develop-
ment of reflective writing. It consists of photocopiable exercises and related
support material. In addition, this new edition also addresses an important topic on
the ethics of the use of learning journals in education (within Chapter 9).
The book has largely been rewritten. It also contains more practical activities
and materials that can be used directly with learners or by learners who use a
journal (Chapter 13).
Chapter 1
Backgrounds
An introduction to learning journals
Introduction
We start by looking at the term ‘learning journal’ and the boundaries of the
definition that are adopted for this book. We ask ‘why write a journal?’ and use
some comments from those who write journals or who manage journal-writing in
educational situations to illustrate a range of enlightening and creative aspects of
the process. The next section roots the discussion in its past and present contexts.
We sketch in the manner in which present ideas of learning journals have been
developed and how journals become a topic in their own right in academic and
educational literature. There is, too, a personal context for the writer’s chosen
subject matter and for this book. It describes how the book came to be written and
how it relates to a more than an academic interest in the human process of
reflection. With some roots to the topic of learning journals in place, we can begin
to widen the discussion in the last section, towards an anticipation of the rest of
the book.
What is a learning journal?
A learning journal is essentially a vehicle for reflection. Probably all adults
reflect, some more than others, and for those who do reflect, being reflective can
represent a deeply seated orientation to their lives. For others, the process would
seem to come about only when the conditions in their environment are conducive
to reflecting, perhaps when there is an incentive to reflect, or some guidance
or a particular accentuation of the conditions. A learning journal represents an
accentuation of those right conditions – some guidance, some encouragement,
helpful questions or exercises and the expectation that journal-writing can have a
worthwhile consequence, whether during or at the end of the process, or as a result
of both.
There are many different words that are used to describe what we are calling
‘learning journals’. They may be called ‘diaries’, but not the sort of diary or
calendar that notes dates for events (that is, the kind that is carried in a handbag),
though they might do this as well. They may be called ‘logs’ or ‘learning logs’,