Higher Education Students’ Reflective Journal Writing and Lifelong Learning Skills: Insights From an Exploratory Sequential Study

Reflective journal (RJ) writing has been recognized as an effective pedagogical tool for nurturing students’ lifelong learning skills. With the paucity of empirical work on the dimensionality of reflective writing, this research sought to qualitatively analyze students’ RJ writing and design a generic reflection scheme for identifying dimensions of reflective thinking. Drawing on the theoretical scheme, another aim was to design and validate a questionnaire to measure students’ perceptions of their reflective writing experiences. The last aim was to quantitatively measure the link between perceived reflective writing and students’ tendency to use RJs in their future careers and personal lives. This exploratory sequential research included the following steps: First, experts’ review and analysis of 1312 RJ entries were attained. This step led to the design of a theoretical scheme of reflective writing and a 31-item questionnaire, used to gather data from 171 students (second-year pre-service teachers and third-year health managers). Partial Least Squares analysis corroborated the structure suggested by the theoretical scheme: two timelines–reflections regarding the current course assignments and those related to the student’s future development. Students’ tendency to use reflective skills in their future professional lives was highly connected to their long-term reflections, including learning experiences linked to academic, professional, personal, and multicultural development. The current study’s suggested validated generic scheme can be adapted and integrated into different curricula, thereby possibly increasing the potential of infusing RJ instructional strategies into higher education curricula, improving the quality of reflection in student journals, and promoting lifelong learning skills.

EXPERIMENTAL VERIFICATION OF THE EFFICIENCY OF FORMATION OF COMMUNICATIVE SKILLS IN FUTURE SPECIALISTS-LEADERS IN THE NATIONAL TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY “KHARKIV POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE”

the effectiveness of involving future specialists in physical culture and sports in independent practical activities, which involves the use of interactive forms and methods of education for the use of communicative and reflective skills and determines the formation of communicative skills.

Role of Legal Theory in Legal Education

The article addresses the role of legal theory in legal education. Today, a multitude of perspectives is present within legal theory and, as a subject, it is not as distinct as it is sometimes claimed to be. It is evident when considering syllabuses in the Nordic countries that nearly all LLM programmes have ambitions to teach legal theory as embracing a multitude of theoretical and methodological perspectives. This multitude of perspectives promises adaptable content for the subject of legal theory in various legal contexts, and could facilitate a reflection on how knowledge is acquired and why. The challenge addressed in the article is the presence of explicit or implicit ideas from the subject of legal theory as comprising a coherent “legal method” and a specific list of accepted theories. The persistence of such ideas is scrutinised in this article with help of the concepts of “professional knowledge” and “scholarly knowledge”. In order to navigate the complex field of legal theories, students need meta-reflective skills, which means the ability to reflect upon the underlying complexity and multitude of the subject. This is shown by a case study from the Department of Law at the University of Gothenburg, together with examples from curricula and textbooks from legal theory courses across the Nordic countries.

Reflective abilities of nursing students: A thematic analysis of reflection journals

Objective: Reflective writing is consistently linked to improved clinical decision-making. However, analyzing the journals to evaluate the reflective abilities of nursing students is scanty locally. This study aimed to assess the reflective skills of undergraduate nursing students.Methods: A qualitative thematic content analysis using the Lasater Clinical Judgment Evaluation Rubric was used to assess the reflective abilities of 33 undergraduate nursing students in 138 journal entries. Guided by Gibb's reflective model, the students documented their experiences during a clinical attachment at a National Referral Hospital in Kenya between February and August 2018. Data coding and thematic linking were done using NVIVO version 11. Results: Reflective abilities differed across gender and to some extent across years of study. Most participants were more likely to notice the deviation from the norm, whether patient-related or health care environment-related. Moreover, they demonstrated the ability to respond to the situation, self-evaluate, and develop action plans for future encounters. However, the majority struggled with interpreting findings.Conclusions: Gender differences exist in the way nursing students reflect. Most nursing students focus on describing the situation rather than developing solutions. There is, however, an indication of developing reflective abilities across the year of study.

Equity in the Classroom and the Clinic: Understanding the Role of Sociology in Health Professional Education

Sociology teachers often encounter students studying to be future health professionals; sociology content can assist students to increase their understanding of patients, the social context of health and illness, and the social determinants of health. Engaging these students in sociological thinking can be challenging because of their diverse social locations and their identification with their future profession, which may emphasize clinical competence over broader reflective skills. In this conversation piece, we encourage critical reflection on the assumptions that underpin the teaching of sociology to aspiring health professionals. Through case studies of nursing, medicine, and speech-language pathology, we consider differences in the social locations of students and how sociological ideas are received by these professions. We argue that sociology teachers can assist health professions students to gain more from sociology by understanding these student cohorts and by reflexively considering power relations between teachers and students and between disciplines and professions.

Protocol for ‘Resilient Caregivers’: a randomised trial of a resilience-based intervention for psychologically distressed partner caregivers of patients with cancer

IntroductionIntimate partners of patients with cancer often experience significant distress, but there is a lack of psychological interventions that specifically target this population. ‘Resilient Caregivers’ is a novel resilience-based intervention for distressed partner cancer caregivers. The intervention was developed according to a resilience framework focusing on meta-reflective skills, coping strategies and value clarification. The aim of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of this intervention in a randomised trial.Methods and analysisEighty participants will be invited through the Oncology Department at Herlev Hospital, Denmark and randomised to either the intervention or usual care. Participants are eligible if they are partners (married or unmarried) of patients diagnosed with cancer and experience distress (>4 on the distress thermometer). ‘Resilient Caregivers’ consists of seven manualised group sessions (2.5 hours each), focusing on resilience in relation to being a partner caregiver of a patient with cancer. The primary outcome is symptoms of anxiety, while secondary outcomes include distress, depression, quality of life, sleep quality and resilience. Data will be collected at baseline, 3, 6 and 12 months follow-up using validated scales, and analysed using mixed models for repeated measures.Ethics and disseminationThis study will follow the ethical principles in the Declaration of Helsinki and has been reviewed by the Ethics Committee of the Capital Region of Denmark (Journal no. 18055373). Written informed consent will be obtained from all participants. Results will be reported through scientific peer-reviewed journals and relevant conferences.Trial registration numberNCT04610034.

Assessing Reflection as a Tool of Female Teacher’s Professional Development in Saudi EFL Post-Observation Conferences

This qualitative study investigated the effect of Saudi EFL post-observation conferences on female teachers’ professional development through assessing teachers’ reflection. It also examined to what extent these conferences are considered reflection-enhancing. Moreover, it contributed towards filling the gap in the literature regarding this area because of two reasons. The first is that there is a paucity of research on functional and thematic analyses of post-observation conferences either internationally or in the Arab world. The second is that most studies conducted in this area have only been surveyed. The sample consisted of 30 Saudi EFL female participants divided into 10 supervisors and 20 teachers. They voluntarily recorded the post-observation conferences conducted by them in Saudi schools in Riyadh region. Two analytic systems are used to analyze the recordings: a functional analytic system and a thematic one. The findings showed that post-observation conferences do not contribute towards enhancing teachers’ reflective skills as a key element of teachers’ professional development.

Using Padlets as E-Portfolios to Enhance Undergraduate Students’ Writing Skills and Motivation

Despite the increasing support for the use of e-portfolios, research on its utility is just beginning to emerge. In terms of the current study, 200 students were asked to create digital portfolios with Padlet, share their e-portfolios via their Virtual Learning Platform (VLE), and ask for peer and lecturer feedback every time they completed a written task. Using a diagnostic test and their final assignment, students had to write a reflective report at the beginning and the end of an academic term. They also interacted every week using a forum created by their lecturer to enhance collaboration and peer support. At the end of each interactive feedback session, they had to reflect on their work and the feedback they received and post their self-reflections on the forum. Findings indicated that students managed to improve their writing performance significantly and enhance their motivation towards writing and learning in general due to this innovative alternative assessment method. This was evident from their final reflective reports, their focus group discussions, and the anonymous feedback they provided through Mentimeter. Students reported that they enjoyed this interactive experience which was both engaging and rewarding. However, students expressed their wish for more support when using IT tools and e-portfolios and asked to be guided to develop their writing and reflective skills and engage even more with their e-portfolios.

Development and Assessment of Reflective Skills among Teacher Trainees in Tanzania

Reflective skills are a required ability that needs to be developed and assessed in any teacher training institution for quality practice and overall professional effectiveness. This study employed a case study design in exploring how teacher educators viewed the development and assessment of the reflective skills to the pre-service student teachers and the challenges educators faced among two selected teacher training colleges in Kilimanjaro and Ruvuma Regions. Data was collected through structured interviews to a sample of 10 teacher educators from two teacher colleges. The study concludes that there are different approaches used by educators in as far as developing reflective skills is concerned. These include participatory methods, inquiry learning, research strategy, group discussion, question-answer strategy and portfolios. Participatory strategy was more often used as compared to the other strategies because it is very easy and simple to administer. Each strategy had some peculiar advantages. Teacher educators used various approaches in assessing reflective skills among pre-service student teachers. The strategies used include portfolios, single lesson practice, block teaching practices, problem-solving ability and projects. Each strategy used had some specific advantages as compared to the others. The challenges teacher educators faced in developing and assessing the reflective skills of the pre-service student teachers included personal, professional, psychological and institutional. The study recommends that teacher educators should make effective use of cognitive strategies while teaching. They should also furnish their knowledge and understanding of the subject matter for them to be acquainted with current innovations in order to minimize the notable challenges.

Assessing Reflection as a Tool of Female Teacher’s Professional Development in Saudi EFL Post-Observation Conferences

This qualitative study investigated the effect of Saudi EFL post-observation conferences on female teachers’ professional development through assessing teachers’ reflection. It also examined to what extent these conferences are considered reflection-enhancing. Moreover, it contributed towards filling the gap in the literature regarding this area because of two reasons. The first is that there is a paucity of research on functional and thematic analyses of post-observation conferences either internationally or in the Arab world. The second is that most studies conducted in this area have only been surveyed. The sample consisted of 30 Saudi EFL female participants divided into 10 supervisors and 20 teachers. They voluntarily recorded the post-observation conferences conducted by them in Saudi schools in Riyadh region. Two analytic systems are used to analyze the recordings: a functional analytic system and a thematic one. The findings showed that post-observation conferences do not contribute towards enhancing teachers’ reflective skills as a key element of teachers’ professional development.