Content area
Full text
Although pervasive throughout counseling psychology and other training programs that incorporate experiential activities, reflective journals have sparse, fragmented and disparate theoretical bases to support their use. Coming from the fields of counseling and professional education, the authors use counselor education as a template to explore the use of reflective journaling in higher education. This article reviews literature supporting the use of reflective journaling, presents descriptions of various types of reflective journals, and proposes a method that allows instructors and students to critique journal entries collaboratively.
Keywords: Reflective Journals, Reflection, Personal and Professional Development, Experiential Learning, Counselor Training
Counselor education students learn to interact with clients while monitoring their own cognitive and emotional processes; relate to clients in a nonjudgmental, open, and caring manner; and maintain appropriate boundaries. In addition, these graduate students are expected to learn and grow while producing results appropriate to specific academic, professional, and ethical standards. Counseling programs endeavor to develop in students concrete and measurable knowledge of psychopathology, and mastery of skills, necessary to apply diagnostic criteria to clients. However, development of a knowledge base, as well as professional skills, includes tacit processes internal to the student that are often difficult for an instructor to discern and measure. To address this dilemma, instructors may require students to write reflective journals that chronicle the students' internal processes about a course, an experience, a personal value, or a belief. The reflective journal holds potential for serving as a mirror to reflect the student's heart and mind. The journal assignment can be a structured and purposeful tool allowing access to the students' internal "making of meaning." This article explores several psychological and educational theories that explain why and how reflective journals work, common types of reflective journals, and a method for critiquing students' journal entries.
Theories Behind the Paper Mirror
The rationale for using reflective journaling in higher education is grounded in general learning theory, adult learning theory, experiential learning theory, and in the importance of the counseling student's personal growth and professional development. Education theorist John Dewey (1938) espoused an educative experience that fosters meaningful (i.e., purposive) learning. He viewed an effective learning condition as one that actively engages the student with the content in an intensely personal way, and advocated...