European Journal of Open, Distance and E-Learning

A key role of higher education and one of the measures of its effectiveness is how well graduates can engage in critical and reflective thinking and apply these lifelong learning skills to problem solving in complex real world situations (Johnson, Levine, Smith, & Stone, 2010; Schön, 1983; The World Bank, 2003). The use of learning journals to encourage students to become more reflective and action oriented in their learning is not a new concept. The documented benefits are numerous (Moon, 2006; Andrusyszyn & Davie, 1997; Henderson, Napan, & Monteiro, 2004; Rose & Devonshire, 2004). The learning journal is most commonly seen as a way to help individuals to reflect on when and how they best learn, to engage in critical thinking, to make connections among ideas and between previous learning and new learning, to create new knowledge and theory, and through these processes, to become self-directed autonomous learners.