As an online course developer and teacher, following are terms and teaching devices I use regularly with my students. They are defined here to aid in understanding.
Reflective journal
Journaling, or reflective writing, in the academic environment is a writing assignment that requires a student to think and write about their learning experience. It requires:
- organization
- a student to inquire into their own process, i.e. how they understand an assignment
- coherent writing
- analyzing data and assumptions
- comparing new data to existing knowledge
- inference, and deduction
- conclusions
A simple assignment that requires reflecting on the weekly activities and comparing what they have learned with existing knowledge requires a lot of thought. That process of integrating new knowledge with existing knowledge expedites knowledge transfer.
For more information see the heading “metacognition” at the URI, http://graduateproject.dalerogers.me/report_learning_theory.htm.