Researchers have long recognized class size as affecting students' performance in face-to-face contexts. However, few studies have examined the effects of class size on exact reading and writing loads in online graduate-level courses. This mixed-methods study examined relationships among class size, note reading, note writing, and collaborative…

Although reflective journals are widely used across many disciplines in higher education, the research that examines their use presents an unclear picture of the quality of reflection found in them. Some research reveals that student journals contain primarily deeply reflective entries. Yet other research presents a less optimistic perspective,…

This article builds on the author's previous research on student learning journals to explore how their use can give students a "space" to engage meaningfully and in their own way with their university work. Drawing on the psychoanalytical concept of transitional space and on notions of narrative, it is argued that the student learning journal can…

Advocates the use of commonplace books (a time-honored way for students to collect, analyze, and reflect on the writings, thoughts, and rhetorical strategies of others) as a means of teaching style integrated with other components of rhetoric. Argues that students become closer readers and critical thinkers about the nature of ideas and language…

Presents a writing exercise which involves students in their own and their peers' writing. Claims validity in that it personifies one of the most persistent blocks to expression--the inner critic which causes the writer to reject too soon and discriminate too severely. (RAE)

Suggests that theories of self in composition studies waver between forces of culture and psyche, and that composition theory lacks concrete representations of the materiality of self, the ways in which individuals negotiate culture to create a sense of identity. Examines diary passages from four volunteers to study the "heterophonic"…

Demonstrates how grading students journal can be made easier by making the journals goal-oriented, such as using them as the basis for exams. Suggests that journal assignments can involve more complex learning tasks such as analyzing, interpreting, and applying course materials in specific ways. (PA)

Offers ideas on journal keeping that will help with the analysis of media messages. Points out that journals can help teachers gauge both their own teaching and their students' grasp of the material. (MS)

Describes both principles and use of the critical incident journal, in which the student in a college-level academic service learning program details experiences that change his perspective. The format requires students to describe their roles in the incidents, analyze their own and others' responses to it, and reflect on its impact on self and…

Suggests that students keep writing logs (a record of problems and solutions, techniques, and strategies) as a way to develop conscious control of their writing processes. (RAE)

Examines the discrepancies between what undergraduate language arts methods students think about writing and their actual responses to children's text. (SR)

The most powerful and profound thoughts known to humankind are the result of freedom to write whatever it is that the soul must purge; whatever a person is thinking that troubles him or her; anything that hinders his or her ability to be in that particular moment of living. On the first day of class, one writing instructor tells her students that…

Relates how one teacher used the writing and sharing of journals in a graduate education class as dialogue to promote an understanding of learning and teaching, and to "lead from behind" by sharing her journal with the class. (SR)

An instructor who teaches composition, poetry, and creative nonfiction at Delta Community College in central Michigan language makes connections and helps people imagine their way fully into subjects. People have a deep, if unconscious and unfocused, need to discover and tell the truth. For one semester his students act like writers. They keep…

Discusses the experiences of one student as she used her journal writing and the resources of a writing laboratory to adapt her expressive writing to the requirements of academic discourse. (RS)