Student perceptions of a form-based approach to reflective journaling created by Patricia Ann Mabrouk

The author describes the principal findings of a survey study looking at student perceptions of a new form-based approach to reflective journaling. A form-based journal assignment was developed for use in introductory lecture courses and tested over a two-year period in an Honors General Chemistry course for engineers with a total of 157 first-year students. The form contains a series of written prompts for which students supplied short answers to help them own their learning, identify and articulate their needs in the course, and identify possible solutions to improve their performance in the course. Perceived benefits from student self-reports include improved course performance, identification of problems that by their own admission the students likely would not have identified otherwise, increased course attentiveness, and increased motivation to seek assistance from their instructor and/or other local resources. Benefits to the instructor include the ability to provide timely feedback and assistance to large groups of students at several key intervention points over the course of the semester.