Description: In this activity, students keep a journal to capture their thinking about course readings, assignments, lectures, and class activities. They then exchange their journal with a peer to create an ongoing dialogue of questions, answers, insights and ideas. The students can develop their journal in a digital or analog format. The instructor can prompt students to make connections to other course topics and concepts, the students’ lives outside class, or any other area of focus. If students are paired together for the duration of the semester, they can develop a level of trust that can lead to increasingly robust discussion (Barkley, et al, 2014).
- Class size: 1-15, 15-30, 30-50, 50 or more
- Time frame: 1-10 or 10-20 minutes
- Setting: Flexible or inflexible classrooms
- Modality: Face-to-face, hybrid or online
Comments: It is important for the instructor to set the stage for this activity for at least the first few implementations. It is important to discuss the reader’s task and role in commenting on their partner’s journal. Are they encouraged to critique the work? Support and extend the partner’s thinking? Raise questions or insights based on what is written? Any of these approaches can be productive, depending on the nature of the course content and learning goals, but it is important to set expectations and ground rules from the outset.
Collaborative Learning Techniques: A Handbook for Faculty (2nd Edition). Jossey-Bass.
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