Reflective Journaling: Innovative Dialogue in LIS Education

Abstract

Innovative pedagogy, embedded in LIS courses structures, is desired and strengthens LIS preparation. Including reflection as one such strategy can assist in building the reflective practice LIS educators hope students maintain in the field. While widely used in teacher preparation courses (Hodgins, 2014) reflective journaling equally aligns with the text-based nature of LIS coursework, especially as more LIS schools move to online formats (Kymes & Ray, 2012).

This phenomenological case study explores structured, dialogic journaling as a pedagogical tool to inform the reflective practice of preservice librarians. Journals were introduced as a teaching tool in an early LIS course and structured using Schon’s (1987) Reflective Practitioner model. Additional points of data collection included journals from a faculty-guided teaching experience and a final journal entry collected after one year of practice. Findings explore participant perception on reflection through incorporated use of reflective journals to explore reflection in action, reflection on action, and reflection on reflection in action as a structured exercise. Implications suggest journaling as a teaching tool in LIS programs might promote more reflective practitioners and practitioners who are better able to critically reflect on practice when provided the experience in coursework.