Reflective journals in service learning: a window into assessing learning and change in students’ attitudes
Abstract
As part of the curriculum for Community Based Rehabilitation,
final year students from the School of Audiology, Occupational Therapy
and Speech-Language Pathology are involved in service learning projects
in a semi rural area in KwaZulu-Natal. The project runs one day a week
from February to October and at the end of each day students submit
a journal in which they reflect on each days activities and their learning
experiences. The researchers used these journals as a source of data for
determining learning and attitude change in students over the entire
period of the practical. Method: 12 journals were randomly selected from
over a period of 5 years and including students from all three disciplines.
Content analysis was done to determine changing learning and attitudinal
patterns over the 7 month period of the practical. The results revealed a
rich pattern of emotional experiences coupled with positive attitudinal
change and suggest a valuable source of evaluating learning progress in
students.