Though scholars have discussed how reflective writing can benefit students in college-level writing classes, little research has focused on students’ perceptions of this kind of writing. This study examines the curriculum of a particular first-year writing course, as well as student reflective writing that was created for the class. Research questions focus on how students used reflective writing to articulate their understandings of audience and academic discourse, two curricular concerns that tend to be prevalent in first-year writing courses. To answer these questions, I studied examples of student reflective essays, conducted interviews with eight students, and maintained researcher field notes. I analyzed this data using discourse analysis to understand how the institution constructed itself, students, and me. I also explored how students used language to engage in particular building tasks associated with writing for particular audiences and engaging in particular academic discourses. My findings suggest that students perceive that reflective writing can lead to opportunities for expanded dialogues between students and teachers, and can facilitate student learning of academic discourse.

The purpose of this study is to examine the connection between self-efficacy, reflective writing, and graphic quality inside a first-year Landscape Architecture design studio. Reflective writing and self-efficacy can be studied to better understand how to motivate students within a design studio. Bandura (1977) defines self-efficacy as the belief in one’s own capabilities relating to motivation, behavior, and environment. Reflective writing is overlooked as a mode of advancing knowledge in the design process (Lousberg, 2019). The data were collected with pre- and post-semester Likert scale questionnaires, graphic skill-building tests, and reflective writing. To determine growth, the pre-and post-Likert-type questionnaires and graphic skill boxes were analyzed using STATAMP, which is a statistical analysis software. Prominent Writing Feature Analysis was used to identify writing features for each individual response. The findings are a quantitative and qualitative assessment suggesting an increase in self-efficacy relating to graphic skills and landscape architecture lexicon.

Procrastination is a pervasive problem in education. In computer science, procrastination and lack of necessary time management skills to complete programming projects are viewed as primary causes of student attrition. The most effective techniques known to reduce procrastination are resource-intensive and do not scale well to large classrooms. In this thesis, we examine three course interventions designed to both reduce procrastination and be scalable for large classrooms. Reflective writing assignments require students to reflect on their time management choices and how these choices impact their classroom performance. Schedule sheets force students to plan out their work on an assignment. E-mail alerts inform students of their current progress as they work on their projects, and provide ideas on improving their work behavior if their progress is found to be unsatisfactory. We implemented these interventions in a junior-level course on data structures. The study was conducted over two semesters and 330 students agreed to participate in the study. Data collected from these students formed the basis of our analysis of the interventions. We found a statistically significant relationship between the time a project was completed and the quality of that work, with late work being of lower quality. We also found that the e-mail alert intervention had a statistically significant effect on reducing the number of late submissions. This result occurred despite students responded negatively to the treatment. / Master of Science

The purpose of this study was to determine whether or not my practice of implementing Interactive Science Notebooks (ISN) impacts 4th grade students writing in science. Through this action research, students' writing was analyzed to determine whether the use of ISN affected students' use of details, support claims and justifications in their written responses. Also through the use of the Interactive Science Notebook, students' use of science vocabulary in their writing was also analyzed. Finally, students' reflective writing practices were examined in order to determine how students understood and explored physical science. A triangulation of data gathered consisted of the use of rubrics, focus groups and one-on-one conferencing. The data collected from this action research implied that the Interactive Science Notebooks did indeed have an impact on students' scientific writing. Students writing reflections demonstrated an increase in the use of claims and evidence, and meaningful questions related to the science topic investigated.

Natural disasters such as hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, tsunamis, and earthquakes frequently happen across the world. Many of these natural disasters bring destruction to homes, loss of loved ones, and emotional or physical trauma. For children who are still developing coping skills, these natural disasters can bring them emotional distress because they are unable to processes their experiences in a healthy way. In a review of literature on the topic of bibliotherapy and reflective writing to help children learn coping skills, I discovered a need for these processes to be introduced in normal settings, such as school and home, to help children who have experienced natural disasters develop coping skills. My goal in conducting this research was to create a resource that includes a variety of children's literature on the topic of a natural disaster and that demonstrates a coping skill for that trauma. Guiding questions and reflective writing prompts were also added to this resource for the users to guide children in identifying and learning the demonstrated, healthy coping skills. I selected twenty-one quality and award-winning books that address natural disaster for review. Nineteen of them demonstrated a healthy coping skill within the book. Using the information from the book, I created guiding questions and reflective writing prompts to help guide the children in connecting with and learning how to use the coping skill demonstrated. Future developments from my research may include a website with the resource information or a hard copy that can be sent to areas of high-need or high-risk for natural disaster. My goal is that my resource will foster healthy coping skills for children in the school setting, home, or alongside professional help.

Accelerating technological and social innovation drives the need for graduates ready for self-directed lifelong learning. Self-directed learning (SDL) projects are now an integral part of many formal undergraduate programs across the disciplines. A Personal Development Portfolio (PDP) based on Grow’s Iterative Staged Self-directed Learning Model was introduced into a second year Information Systems course to raise awareness of the need for SDL and enable students to drive their own learning. The study evaluates the success of the PDP in preparing graduates as self-directed lifelong learners. Students’ reflective writing and learning journals, together with submitted portfolio work was taken as evidence of success and difficulties. Resistance often accompanies the changes introduced by SDL. This research therefore also explores the potential for business change management principles in mediating change to the educational environment. Student engagement with SDL was found to be accomplished with mixed success; most students demonstrated initial resistance, while many developed into focused reflective learners over time. While students were able to define appropriate learning goals and reflect on progress and achievement, mixed ability in specifying resources, strategies and validation to support their learning was found. Creating change readiness through messaging, cooperative SDL and using adapted change management models were of use in refining the SDL process.

Pour favoriser la réflexion sur la pratique professionnelle, nous avons proposé à des futurs enseignants en stage d'utiliser un journal de bord au départ de consignes semi-structurées. Notre intention est d'identifier les traces de réflexion dans les journaux de bord et de différencier son utilisation par trois caractéristiques individuelles: l'anxiété, la perception d'efficacité personnelle et le rapport à l'écrit du futur enseignant. Notre thèse développe dans la partie théorique le premier chapitre sur le journal de bord parmi les dispositifs de formation favorisant la réflexion sur la pratique, le deuxième chapitre sur la notion de réflexion sur la pratique et plus particulièrement sur le modèle métacognitif de réflexion de McAlpine et ses collègues (1999, 2001) et le troisième chapitre sur les trois variables individuelles mesurées. La partie empirique développe la méthodologie utilisée, à savoir que cette recherche exploiratoire, visant l'induction d'hypothèses, décrit les trois étapes de la démarche d'analyse de contenus des journaux de bord(recueil, exploitation et transformation des données qualitatives avec traitement quantitatif)en lien avec les questions de recherche et explique la construction et la validation des trois quesitonnaires mesurant les caractéristiques individuelles. Cette partie s'achève par le chapitre des résultats et des discussions. Parmi les 96 futurs enseignants, 45 d'entre eux ont réalisé leur journal de bord. Différents contenus ont été identifiés dont de la réflexion sur la pratique. A partir du modèle de McAlpine et al., nous avons essentiellement trouvé des passages de description de l'action et des passages d'évaluation de l'action. Une typologie des journaux de bord et de la réflexion a été obtenue par une analyse en clusters. Au moyen de corrélations de Kendall, nous avons pu observé une relation positive entre le rapport à l'écrit de l'enseignant et l'appropriation du journal de bord et une relation négative entre la perception d'efficacité personnelle et le composant d'évaluation de l'action. Aucune relation n'a été obtenue avec la variable d'anxiété. POur conclure, de nouvelles hypothèses de recherche ont été formulées ainsi que les apports et les limites de cette recherche.

Pour favoriser la réflexion sur la pratique professionnelle, nous avons proposé à des futurs enseignants en stage d'utiliser un journal de bord au départ de consignes semi-structurées. Notre intention est d'identifier les traces de réflexion dans les journaux de bord et de différencier son utilisation par trois caractéristiques individuelles: l'anxiété, la perception d'efficacité personnelle et le rapport à l'écrit du futur enseignant. Notre thèse développe dans la partie théorique le premier chapitre sur le journal de bord parmi les dispositifs de formation favorisant la réflexion sur la pratique, le deuxième chapitre sur la notion de réflexion sur la pratique et plus particulièrement sur le modèle métacognitif de réflexion de McAlpine et ses collègues (1999, 2001) et le troisième chapitre sur les trois variables individuelles mesurées. La partie empirique développe la méthodologie utilisée, à savoir que cette recherche exploiratoire, visant l'induction d'hypothèses, décrit les trois étapes de la démarche d'analyse de contenus des journaux de bord(recueil, exploitation et transformation des données qualitatives avec traitement quantitatif)en lien avec les questions de recherche et explique la construction et la validation des trois quesitonnaires mesurant les caractéristiques individuelles. Cette partie s'achève par le chapitre des résultats et des discussions. Parmi les 96 futurs enseignants, 45 d'entre eux ont réalisé leur journal de bord. Différents contenus ont été identifiés dont de la réflexion sur la pratique. A partir du modèle de McAlpine et al., nous avons essentiellement trouvé des passages de description de l'action et des passages d'évaluation de l'action. Une typologie des journaux de bord et de la réflexion a été obtenue par une analyse en clusters. Au moyen de corrélations de Kendall, nous avons pu observé une relation positive entre le rapport à l'écrit de l'enseignant et l'appropriation du journal de bord et une relation négative entre la perception d'efficacité personnelle et le composant d'évaluation de l'action. Aucune relation n'a été obtenue avec la variable d'anxiété. POur conclure, de nouvelles hypothèses de recherche ont été formulées ainsi que les apports et les limites de cette recherche.

<p>Internationalization of higher education is a collaborative responsibility academic and non-academic programs share to facilitate the integration of various student populations within the broader culture of the university. My dissertation project links First Year Writing (FYW) classes of domestic and international students to promote and evaluate their intercultural competence development. My research questions explore the use of reflective writing as a genre for formative assessment in the writing classroom and investigate the data it provides about students’ continuous learning. My research methodology combines qualitative analysis of reflective writing and quantitative analysis of intercultural competence development. Participants come from four sections of FYW courses spanning two semesters – Spring 2016 and Fall 2017. I collected reflective writing data from four embedded reflective journals and a final reflective essay assigned to students in each section. Using a grounded scheme, I applied thematic coding analysis of reflective writing and traced frequencies of codes. I also mapped students’ reflections onto the Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity (DMIS; Bennett, 1993). Results from both coding methods contextualize and interpret students’ development in both intercultural competence and writing skills. I also share pedagogical, assessment, and administrative implications for more effective teaching of reflective writing and better continuous assessment of intercultural competence skills within the context of the linked course model curriculum. </p> <p> </p>