First Steps at University Week 1

Learning Logs & Refective Reviews

What is a learning log?
A learning log is a written commentary on your course of study. By writing
things down you make clear and so understand etter ! the learning
processes you go through and develop during your time as a student. "ormally
you would write things down fre#uently perhaps every day noting the date
each time. $mportantly% the learning log is not just a record of what you do. $t
also contains discoveries you make aout your work or aout yourself and
your own practices and so is also a refection on the week&s activity.
How does a learning log help with learning?
'eeping a learning log and re!reading it% comparing your performance over
time% helps you to self!re(ect and understand the things you do well and
therey make changes to how you operate when you come up against
prolems. Sometimes )ust writing down your thoughts helps you to make more
sense of them. *earning logs can help you to +integrate, your learning% for
e-ample you may suddenly realise that understanding in one module leads you
to understanding in another% or that one way of learning in one topic is useful
to adopt in another. $n the workplace% many employers encourage the use of
+#uality management techni#ues, to continually improve the #uality of their
work. $n e-actly the same way as learning logs% these methods re#uire that
records are kept% and that employees use these records .logs/ to re(ect on
what went right or wrong% in order to work out how to improve #uality in the
future.
What does a learning log look like?
A learning log may e a noteook% folder of collected pages% or electronic
document0portfolio. $n the log you1
List
o what work you have done% and
o how long you spent on it.
Explain
o how you did it
o why you did it%
o what you think about what you,ve done or found out0learned%
Highlight
First Steps at University Week 1
questions, difculties, initial conclusions you might have at that
point to follow up later.
Write in whatever style suits you% as these notes are for your own use when
you re(ect on them later on. So% you may say 2$ did this ecause34 and 2$
think that this means34 although when you write assignments for tutors at
university they will usually ask you to write more formally1 2$t was decided
that3.4.
5ou may even choose to write in a language other than 6nglish if the log is not
going to e assessed y your tutor. 7his may help you if you 8nd it easier to
write down your thoughts in your native language. Anything that you must
show your tutor should however e in 6nglish.
An e-ample learning log template is given at the end of this document .
How can you use a learning log to help group work?
*earning logs are kept y individuals ut you can make use of them even in
group work. By keeping a log the team can keep track of what the di9erent
team memers are doing and how their work is progressing. 5ou should e
passing on summaries to other team memers every week of1
what you have een doing
how much time it took you
what you have found out
the routine ! what you e-pected to discover
the une-pected ! so that the team can follow up the new 8ndings
what di:culties you have encountered and how you overcame them.
5ou could e!mail this to other memers of the team .or to the team leader/ or
ring it to each group meeting so that the group can review these summaries.
7his helps the group to check on1
progress1 what is late% what is going well.
quality1 how good is the evidence you are 8nding% the writing you are
doing;
distribution of work1 do some people have too much to do; Are some
people eing la<y; =oes this mean a change in task assignments% and0or
the recommended distriution of marks among the team memers;
ow to use your learning log
Write in your log regularly1 every day that you do some coursework% if possile.
7hen% at the end of each week or every >!? weeks at most ! look over your
notes on your own% and think aout the learning processes you have gone
through. Be critical of yourself .and your peers if you did group work/. @onsider1
!id so"ething go well# $f so
What did you learn from it;
Aow can you uild upon it;
!id so"ething go badly# $f so
What went wrong;
Aow can you 8- it% overcome di:culties% and improve upon it;
First Steps at University Week 1
ave you discovered$understood so"ething new$i"portant to your
subject# $f so
What is it;
What implications does it have on the rest of the su)ect ! what new
#uestions does it raise;
ave your ideas changed# $f so
Why;
@an you now synthesise di9erent ideas and topics;
What might this mean;
%re Learning Logs %ssessed#
*earning logs may or may not form part of an assessment. Beally% they are they
to help you understand yourself and improve your own learning% or to help your
su)ect tutor to give you some informal feedack% or for your personal tutor to
help you with C=C. Some course tutors may choose to make the learning log
or the re(ective part of it a small assessed part of a course.
References
Jenny Moon (Multiple sources)
http://itsoc.mgt.qub.ac.uk/notes/proj/learnlog.html
First Steps at University Week 1
Learning &ournal
First Steps at University Week 1
"ame1 Crogramme D *evel1 =ate1
Description
1. This week I worked on:
>. Time Spent on above work:
Refection
?. Explain how you did the work listed in section :
E. Explain why you worked in the manner described above:
F. Think about and write down what you have found out!learned from your
actions this week:
Carry Forward