49 For Instructors: Learning Journey Journal

Have your students read the chapter, “Why Create a Learning Journey Journal” and then set some time for students to discuss what goals they have for learning in this class. Try to expand the conversation to more than getting credit and moving on by asking what getting credit in the class means to students’ learning journey—what they can gain and work towards in this learning space.

Then assign the Learning Journey Journal. This assignment is designed with the intention of covering the entire semester because individual learning goals change and learning requires many moments of reflection, ownership, agency, and redirection. In fact, modeling this reflection and ownership can help students in other areas of their life as well.

The learning journey journal has activities for each week (16) within the semester. However, you can assign the journal biweekly or depending on needs by making a copy of the Guide and changing the weeks and removing slides to meet your students’ needs. Because the journal is for students, it shouldn’t come with an assessment that makes this assignment seem high stakes and cause any struggle for students. This is a reflective experience for students to assess themselves and make goals on their own.

This journal should be completed by students in ways that hold meaning to them. Therefore, let them choose what modes/medium they will use to respond but also cover how different modes and mediums require time and have limitations as well–we will want to avoid students getting caught up in design or feeling overwhelmed and limited by design aspects. Offer the Google Slide template as a backup that way 1) students don’t feel the need to buy anything; 2) so that students don’t get caught up in design which may interfere with responding to the prompts.

Grading 

This should be graded as complete/incomplete under minor writing assignments. Since assessment is occurring in many forms in this course, this assignment should really be for the students. You can have them upload their responses via Canvas, allowing all formats, and grade as complete/incomplete. You can also have students show the entry briefly in class and grade as complete/incomplete which can also help check attendance as well.

Key Outcomes:

By the end of this activity, students will learn

• How to set their learning goals
• How to make those goals SMART
• How to track their learning journey/progress