LEARNING LOGS Or a REFLECTIVE LEARNING JOURNAL

LEARNING LOGS or A REFLECTIVE LEARNING JOURNAL

One way of developing evidence of your skills and knowledge development is to engage in the process of producing a learning log or learning journal. A learning log is basically a record or journal of your own learning. It is not necessarily a formal ‘academic’ piece of work. It is a personal record of your own learning. As such it is a document which is unique to you and cannot be ‘right’ or ‘wrong’, although there are ‘better’ and ‘worse’ ways of producing one. A learning log helps you to record, structure, think about and reflect upon, plan, develop and evidence your own learning. In the context of this module your learning needs to meet certain requirements if you are to achieve the assessment evidence criteria for your chosen skill area.

What is a learning log?

A learning log or journal is something that you use write down things which you may use as evidence of your own learning and skills development. It is not just a record of ‘What you have done’ but a record of what you have learnt, tried and critically reflected upon.

For example in your learning log you could include details of what you did or how you did something and your reflections on this. Becoming a good self-critical reflector is not easy to do. You will probably not become a critical self reflector overnight, and it is a skill that some people seem to be able to do easily, whereas others, particularly people used to a more didactic or directive teaching style, find quite difficult. It often requires time to become comfortable with self reflection. Sometimes it feels uncomfortable reflecting upon your experience(s) and abilities and you may feel that you don’t know whether you are doing it properly. Don’t worry, just practice, or as Nike say ‘just do it’. With practice it becomes easier and you will be more comfortable with the process. Your tutor can help you by providing you with feedback.

What do I write in a learning log?

Your learning log contains your record of your experiences, thoughts, feelings and reflections about your voluntary work and the skills which you are developing through it. One of the most important things it contains is your conclusions about how what you have learnt is relevant to you and how and when you will use the new information/knowledge/skill/technique in the future.

It may contain details of difficulties or issues you have encountered and problems you have solved (or not solved). Examples such as where you have started to try out and practice a new skill, and examples of your own formal and informal learning. Formal learning is ‘taught’ in a formal academic setting - for example via a lecture, or workshop. Informal learning is learning which takes place outside a formal academic setting, for example, through talking with friends or colleagues in a social setting and through your voluntary work.

A learning log is a personal document. Engaging in the process will help you to think about and structure your own learning. Once you have commenced a learning log you should find it a valuable and useful 'tool' to help your learning.

How do I ‘do’ a learning log?

Try to write something down after every new learning experience. Use the sample learning log forms included in this study pack, but don’t feel constrained to use these – change or modify them or develop your own versions if you want to, or work with others in the module to develop your own versions.

You could identify:

·  What you did

·  Your thoughts

·  Your feelings

·  How well (or badly) it went

·  What you learnt

·  What you will do differently next time.

·  How the above relates to the learning outcomes for the skills area you are working on.

On a regular basis (usually 1, 3-5 weekly) review what you have written and reflect upon this. There is no specific timescale. It is up to you. As stated above, what works for one person may not work for another.

Be honest with yourself. Ask yourself questions such as:

·  What did I do?

·  Have I achieved anything? If so, what?

·  What progress have I made? (remember sometimes you may make little progress, or even perform less well than last time)

·  Have I put any theory into practice?

·  How does what I have been doing lead to me becoming better at a skill?

·  How can I use this to plan for the future?

·  How can I use this to plan new learning experiences?

·  What did I do? What did I want to do, but did not do?

·  What did I want to say, but did not say?

·  Did it go well? Why? What did/can I learn from this?

·  Did it go badly? Why? What did/can I learn from this?

·  How can I improve for next time?

These questions are indicative – you don’t have to specifically answer them; the idea of using them is to get you thinking. One ‘technique’ that the author of this study pack finds useful in helping him to reflect is to sit down in a chair with a large glass or whiskey or whisky or wine and ‘mull things over’ in his mind, asking himself questions similar to the ones above. Try it, the great thing about this is that if a friend sees you and asks you if you are having a drink you can say “No, I’m doing my coursework”! or “No I’m considering the skills I need for my future business success”! Of course, I don’t encourage you to overindulge.

You will find that if you begin to ask yourself these questions within 24 hours of having done something (e.g. participated in an event, activity or ‘done’ some planning for your business venture) compared to within, say, 7 days afterwards, then you will find that how you view something, (your perception of it) may be different. Your perception of something changes over time. For example you may have been trying to develop your communication skills and have had a bad or negative learning experience when something went wrong and you feel you have made little or no or even backwards progress. You may reflect upon this the next day and your thoughts and feelings may be mainly negative ones. If you reflect about the experience 3-5 weeks later on you may find that you have now overcome the negative experience and have used it to develop further and improve yourself. Skills rarely suddenly develop or improve ‘overnight’ (but they sometimes do). Learning new knowledge and applying it within a skills context usually takes time, effort and perseverance.

At first it may seem difficult to start to critically reflect upon your own learning, over time though, you will find that it becomes easier. The more often that you practice the skill of self reflection then the easier it will become.

You can use your learning log to record courses you have attended, books you have read, discussions you have had, Internet sites you have looked at, television programmes you have watched. At the end of the day your log should become something that is directly relevant to you and your learning.

If you genuinely engage in the process of critical self reflection via a learning log you really will be able to help your own learning and personal development and go a long way to developing you skills.

Is there a ‘best’ or ‘correct’ way of producing a learning log?

Not really, the log should be relevant to you and your voluntary activities. There is no ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ way of producing a learning log. Perhaps the three key questions when engaging in the process of producing a learning log are:

·  Am I being honest with myself?

·  Is this a useful process for me?

·  Is this helping my own process of learning?

If you require any help, advice or guidance about your learning log or about how to get started on one then please discuss it with your tutor and with others on the module.

How can producing a learning log and developing the skill of critical self reflection help me?

Again, that depends very much upon you. Some people will get more out of engaging in the process of producing a learning log than other people will. Research has identified that reflection can help people to change. Some of the changes which have been identified are listed on page 24.

How do I know what ‘good’ reflective writing looks like?

You may find it useful to read the article at http://escalate.ac.uk/resources/reflection/index.html

Also read the articles on the differences between surface and deep learning at

http://www.hull.ac.uk/php/cesagh/SURFACEANDDEEPLEARNING.rtf and see the diagram http://www.hull.ac.uk/php/cesagh/LEARNINGASKILL.rtf

The learning log template on the next pages is a sample one. You should either photocopy it and use it or produce your won version in MS word.

LEARNING LOG

·  What did I do? E.g. what event did you attend? What did you do there? Who did you speak with? etc

·  How do I think/feel about this? Did I learn anything? Was it a positive experience?
How well (or badly) did it go?

·  What did I learn? How or in what way will this help me?

·  What will I do differently next time or in a similar situation? How will I do it differently next time?

·  What have I achieved?

·  What have I learnt: about myself? about my business? About enterprise?

·  (How) have I put any theory into practice?

·  What did I think/feel but not say? What should I have said or asked but didn’t?

How can I use this plan for the future?

·  (How) can I use this to plan new learning experiences?

·  What are the key action points I will take away? i.e. what am I going to do next?