| Learning Objective #1: Explore the role of electronic journal writing in promoting reflective learning in clinical nursing courses | |||
| Learning Objective #2: Identify applications of electronic journaling in distance education course development, monitoring, and evaluation |
Reflective journal writing can be a useful teaching tool to foster critical thinking skills and develop reflective practice in clinical nursing courses. This presentation addresses development, implementation, evaluation, and recommendations for incorporating an online reflective journal into a master’s level distance education clinical course. Students submitted online journal entries to the faculty throughout the semester through a web-based course management system. Structure for the journaling was provided through a matrix of reflective prompts plotted against required clinical components. The reflective emphasis helped students develop awareness of how they employed clinical reasoning skills to promote reflective practice. They were encouraged to evaluate and write down their thought processes and actions in clinical experiences with the goal of improving problem-solving and decision-making skills. Only enough clinical description was provided in the journal text to explain the decisions and actions chosen by students in a given scenario. Electronic journaling was shown to be an effective online tool that promoted the integration of technology with reflective learning in a distance education environment. As an online journal, the method allows the advantages of self-paced learning, remote site monitoring of student progress, and a safe forum for the affective elements of learning. When combined with a distance education delivery format, the electronic journal can provide a seamless record of learning outcomes across the curriculum. Students are able to maintain an electronic archive of their clinical portfolios and faculty can track learning outcomes for program evaluation and feedback.
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