Reflective journals in service learning

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

Curriculum · Mathematics education · Medical education · Pedagogy · Service-learning · Educational and Psychological Assessments · Family and Disability Support Research · Medicine · Psychology · Service-Learning and Community Engagement