Assignment Spotlight: Reflective Writing

For this month's assignment spotlight, I would like to highlight a reflective writing assignment that I have recently started using in my online course. I know this might not seem like a particularly innovative assignment, but I got some amazing responses from my students! I'll tell you all about it in today's post! 

Reflective writing is used in many educational disciplines. In my area of nursing education, this is no different. However, I had only really used reflective journals in my experience as a clinical nurse educator. I had students reflect on their clinical experience. This was important because students often don't get a chance to reflect on their "feelings", only their actions. When I started teaching online, I did not see the importance of reflective writing and did not include it in my courses. However, when I had the opportunity to teach an online clinically based course, it popped back up again in my course syllabus. I struggled with how I might incorporate them effectively in my course and I decided I would leave it open to students to determine what they wanted to reflect on. I also provided some prompts related to the course and course assignments, that students might want to reflect on.

I wasn't particularly excited about the journals, but I was pleasantly surprised by the results! Students opened up, almost immediately, about difficulties in their lives and in their families. They mentioned work-related concerns and even issues related to school and classwork. I found that I was able to make connections with my online students that I was not able to make before because I was getting to know them on a more personal level. Since then I have looked for ways to incorporate more reflective writing in my online course.

Some of the things that helped to make this assignment effective was:

• Providing instructions on the purpose of the reflections and how to write them
• Providing a broad list of areas students might want to reflect on
• Also allowing an option for students to "free-write" about any topic of their choice

If you're also interested in including reflective writing in your online course, here is a resource to give you some ideas about how to incorporate them seamlessly- https://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/educational-assessment/using-reflective-writing-to-get-students-connected-with-the-material/

Here are some handy guidelines you might use to help develop your own: https://onlineteaching.kent.edu/library/online_assignments/Journal_Handout.pdf

If you're not yet convinced that journals can be powerful in the online class, perhaps this reading might convince you: https://er.educause.edu/articles/2005/1/ejournaling-achieving-interactive-education-online

I'd LOVE to hear your ideas of how you can effectively use reflective writing in your online courses. Share your thoughts, experiences and ideas in The Online Educator Facebook Group by clicking the link HERE. Also, as a treat don’t forget to GRAB YOUR FREE GUIDE to the 3 Secrets to Teaching Online Successfully.

Would you like me to spotlight one of your assignments? Share your assignment HERE for an opportunity to be spotlighted in The Online Educator Blog.