ATD Blog
Why Journaling Is A Useful Learning Tool
Tue Dec 14 2021
In my last blog post, we discussed project-based learning (PBL), a subset of action-based learning. This time we’ll cover another subset of action-based learning that can support PBL: journaling.
What Is a Journal?
The simplest description of journaling might be Emine Pilar and Ali Yildez’s article, “Writing to Learn.” A learning journal is a bit more complicated than a diary because it is not a recording of the day’s events. Rather, it requires the learner to dig deeper, capturing what they do and don’t understand about the course content as well as what it means to them.
The Benefits of Journaling
Keeping a journal is a reflective learning activity that requires the writer to consider what they’ve learned, explore how they feel about the content, connect it to previous learning, and capture any questions they may have. Several studies have discovered these benefits, when a journal is used in combination to any other learning modality:
An added side benefit of this practice is the improvement that learners show in communication skills, particularly in writing and composition. The most important benefit for adult learners in today’s fast-paced world may be the acceleration that happens when learners reflect on the learning experience. The practice can help learners acquire new skills in a much shorter amount of time than deploying any single learning approach that does not include journaling as a regular practice.
Guided Journaling
While the structure and content of a journal can be left completely to the learner to construct, it is often helpful to provide “guided journaling,” where the learner responds to prompts or questions throughout the course. This approach helps provide a bit of structure to people who may be unfamiliar with journaling and make it easier for learners to share their entries with each other.
This approach is taken in Ekpedeme “Pamay” M. Bassey’s Let’s Learn Our Way Through It, Shall We? The book is designed to prompt the reader to learn something new every day and reflect on it by responding to questions and suggestions throughout a 365-day journey. A similar approach can help new employees or people who are moving into a new role explore and grow during a learning journey of any length.
Social Media Posts as a New Journal Format
Recent experiments have involved posting journals via social media rather than in pen and paper. This approach creates the potential for collaboration with fellow travelers who are embarking on the same learning journey.
Where to Begin
If you want to incorporate journaling in any form into your learning programs, there are several ways to begin. Here are two examples from my consulting practice:
One leading technology company provides a modern collaborative journal approach by setting up weekly prompts in a discussion board. The prompts follow the cadence of the onboarding topics in their training for newly hired sales employees.
A leading financial services company provides learning journals in the form of personalized One Note files. These entries are meant to spark conversations between managers and employees and reinforce more formal learning experiences.
If you’re interested in learning more about journaling as an education tool, the most obvious place to begin is with yourself. Once you’ve committed to documenting your own learning journey, you’ll probably think of many ways to support the learning of others. If you’ve never kept a journal before, know that you’ll be in great company.
Resolute journal writers include Flannery O’Connor, Susan Sontag, and Benjamin Franklin. I have kept a journal on and off for years but often with major gaps between entries. In researching this article, I’ve come to realize that the greatest benefits of a learning journal come from the consistency of the practice. I encourage you to join me by answering the questions below in the comments section below.
What did you learn today? What questions do you have? What do you hope to learn tomorrow?