Can Journaling Be Taught? An Exploratory Study

Abstract

Requiring students to write journals as a means of reflection is a popular technique in outdoor education courses, especially those that include a field component or extended outdoor trip experience. However, from our experiences working in the field, through discussions with colleagues, and in reviewing the literature related to journaling, we have noted many problems with the use of journals. It seems that too often students are simply handed a journal and asked to write about their field experience with little or no structure provided. Staff who provide outdoor education experiences often do not provide instruction in effective, creative journaling techniques. Not surprisingly, given these circumstances, we have heard our own students echo sentiments of students from other disciplines who had been forced to write in journals. These students report that they feel "journaled to death" (Anderson, 1992, p. 306), that they are "journaling for a grade" (Chandler, 1997, p. 46), and that journals are "a pointless ritual wrapped in meaningless words" (Shor, 1992, p. 83). As such, it appears that student journals often fail to live up to their potential in helping to facilitate reflection, which has been noted as a crucial link between theory and practice (Bennion & Olsen, 2002; Priest & Gass, 1997). Although studies have investigated the scope and potential of journal writing in many disciplines, including literature (Cole, 1994), psychology (Hettich, 1990), and business (Johnson & Baker, 1995), little research on journal writing in outdoor education programs has been completed (Bennion & Olsen, 2002). Furthermore, very little is understood about whether students can be taught to journal. Could some of the aforementioned problems be alleviated if students were given more direction and training in journaling? To investigate these issues, we are performing a four phase study to examine the effects of a journaling workshop on participants in university outdoor education field courses (i.e., practical skills and theory courses occurring predominantly out of the traditional classroom). While the context of this research is a university setting, we anticipate many useful findings will emerge that will be of interest to outdoor educators working in a wide range of settings with diverse populations. The initial phase of the research investigated conceptualizations of journal writing of undergraduate recreation, parks and tourism students at two universities in North America (see Dyment & O'Connell, in press-b). The second phase examined if and how participating in a journaling workshop influenced both the process and content of reflective writing (see O'Connell and Dyment, in press-a). In the third phase, we conducted a focus group that examined themes that emerged from the previous two phases (see Dyment & O'Connell, in press-a). A final phase - content analyses of students' journals - is currently underway. We are using both quantitative and qualitative techniques for this study. A total of 62 post-secondary students from two universities programs in North America volunteered to participate in phases 1, 2 and 4 of the study and were randomly assigned to either a control group or an experimental group. Participants in both groups completed a quantitative questionnaire immediately before and after their field courses. The questionnaires contained 38 questions that explored student perceptions of journaling related to the following themes: journaling behaviour, attitudes of journaling on field courses, content of journal entries, evaluation of journals, and willingness to learn more about journaling. All questions were answered using a 7 point Likert Scale that ranged from 'strongly disagree' to 'strongly agree' and included an option for 'not-applicable.' (Sample question: While on field courses, I keep a regular journal to record my daily thoughts and activities). Participants in the experimental group participated in a 45 minute workshop before their field course that taught them how to journal effectively (for a summary of the workshop, see O'Connell & Dyment, in press-b). …