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VOLUME XII, NUMBER 24

t INNOVATION ABSTRACTS

PUBLISHED BY THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR STAFF AND ORGANIZATIONAL DEVELOPMENT, THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN

WITH SUPPORT FROM THE W..K. KELLOGG FOUNDATION AND THE SID W. RICHARDSON FOUNDATION

 

A Versatile and Fun Learning Experience:

The Student Journal

Description and Objective

The most rewarding instructional technique I have
found in a decade of community college teaching has
been the student journal assignment. Each student
maintains an ongoing account of his/her learning
experiences relative to a topic or theme chosen to satisfy
his/her own interests or curiosity. The broad objective
of the journal assignment is to involve students in a
variety of learning experiences which they can relate to
those in the real world. The journals are evaluated sub-
jectively for accuracy, thoroughness, originality,
thoughtfulness, neatness, and compliance with the
general ground rules. The journal experience is espe-
cially appropriate for the subjects I teach: World
Politics, American National Government, and State and
Local Government.

The Journal Project

In World Politics, each student is instructed to choose
a nation froma list I provide, follow that nation’s
foreign policy experiences during the semester, and
maintain an Ongoing account of those experiences. In
American National Government and State and Local
Government, students similarly choose topics that are
of interest to them, that are compatible with the themes
I have selected, and that are timely enough to give them
ample material with which to work.

Students are instructed to begin following the news
and recording information relative to their topics in
their journals immediately. They are instructed to make
frequent journal entries and to avoid long periods of
inactivity. The idea is for them continually to monitor
the news and to record in their journals what they read,
see, and hear. They should read the newspapers daily,
look through the news magazines weekly, and pay con-
tinuous attention to radio and television newscasts.
Their journal entries should come from a variety of
sources, so they are encouraged to be on the alert for
opportunities to gather information from books, schol-
arly publications, government documents, films,
lectures, public events, personal contacts, etc.

The students alone decide what goes into their
journals. This freedom can quickly cause consternation
within students who have been unaccustomed to
thinking for themselves. They are told that an ongoing
effort is a condition for earning a good grade and that
they should not have large time gaps between journal
entries. As well, they are told that the quality of their
entries is essential to earning a good grade.

Students quickly realize that they must do more than
simply gather information. They realize that a journal
with a few entries of high quality will earn them more
points than a journal with more entries of superficial
one-liners. They realize that they must think about
what they read, see, and hear, and learn to recognize
what information is significant. They must make value
judgments. They must try to make sense out of the real
world.

The students are instructed to summarize the infor-
mation they decide to enter into their journals by
putting it into their own words. Simply copying material
from a printed source and using it as a journal entry is
not permitted. However, they may use direct quotes,
charts, graphs, and photographs when there is legiti-
mate need for them. All journal entries must include
the date of entry and complete source documentation.
Students are given instructions for appropriately
documenting information.

The students are encouraged to enter their own
comments, criticisms, analyses, and conclusions. They
are not to worry about being right or wrong. They are
encouraged to record their thoughts as they develop
and to continue to build upon them as the semester
progresses. They are to narrow their effort along the
way and focus on a particular problem or situation
within their overall topic as their personal interests
and/or real-world events lead them. This specialization
will make thcir journals easier to handle and will
enhance their interest in the topics.

The students are encouraged to search for back-
ground information that is relevant to their topics and
include this information as journal entries. This im-

 

 

EDB 348, Austin, Texas 78712

THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR STAFF AND ORGANIZATIONAL DEVELOPMENT (NISOD)
Community College Leadership Program, The University of Texas at Austin

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