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SELF-DIRECTED LEARNING
Learning Logs for Students
08 March 2023/ By Zineb DJOUB
Students who reflect on their learning are more able to develop strategies to enhance its effectiveness. This is because reflection increases self-awareness of learning preferences, abilities, and styles. So, as educators, we should create different opportunities where we challenge students to reflect on their learning throughout the academic term. Using learning logs can help our students develop the skills to get more self-directed learners. In this post, you will learn about these great reflective tools, how to use them effectively in class, and some templates for more illustration.
What are learning logs?
Learning logs (also called journals) are not just a regular record of what the students have been learning, but they also include their thoughts, reactions, and views regarding the lesson content, the teaching-learning process, their strengths and weaknesses, and how they handle learning-related problems.
In learning logs, the students also track and monitor their learning progress and set their learning goals accordingly to streamline.
How to use learning logs?
To help your students use effectively their learning logs, there is a need to plan for the kinds of entries students need to make (what to reflect on), the medium (where they keep their reflections), the frequency of completing their learning logs and submitting them to you, the instruction to guide their practice, besides the criteria by which you will evaluate those learning logs.
Here are step-by-step directions on how to use them:
#Determine learning log entries
To decide on the entries, write content-based learning objectives or goals, then create prompts that address them in the form of questions.
Try to craft good prompts that relate to course content. So, these should be clear, concise, and focused on your instructional goals.
For instance, a Math teacher would focus on entries such as students’ use of Math strategies, their language of Math, and problem-solving ability. Then, he plans questions that address these elements.
Another alternative to assigning specific prompts is providing students with a list of sentence starters and asking them to choose the starter they feel best fits their individual situation. Here are some examples:
-Today I found difficulties with…………………………………. To solve this problem, I need to…………………………..
-Today’s lesson was………………………because …………………
-Today I did the tasks successfully (unsuccessfully) because…………………
-Today I understood well……………………………………………
#Clarify the process
It is necessary to clarify the purpose of using learning logs for your students and how they would benefit them.
In addition, students need to understand that reflection is an integral part of their learning process rather than a loaded assignment they have to accomplish.
Besides clarifying their purpose, you need to explain the necessary directions and your expectations. To do so, you can create a handout that explains that while providing examples and modeling how students’ learning logs should be used.
Regarding the medium, students can share their thoughts via a blog, online video discussions, LMS using a quiz/survey tool, portfolios, etc. The selected medium depends on its access, students’ technical skills, needs, and interests.
To evaluate their learning logs, set clearly the criteria and explain them to students. These, for instance, can include the organisation of the learning log, frequency use, and prompts’ development (quality reflection).
#Provide monitoring opportunities
To support students to turn their learning logs in regularly, allow them time to complete them in class (by the end of the lesson).
During such a process, observe how they are getting on with their reflection, and provide guidance and advice (monitor).
In addition, peer monitoring can encourage students to write regularly their entries. This is by asking them to exchange their learning logs with a peer who reads and responds to the entry with comments and questions.
Learning log examples
Here are three examples of learning log templates you can choose from and use with your students.
Template A
Template B
Template C
Learning logs can be great tools to support students’ self-directed learning. They help students reflect on their learning, monitor their progress, and take action to improve. So, decide your learning log objectives and template and start using them with your students.
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