Monitoring & Evaluation

Journal Activity 

Journal Instructions

The journaling activity is designed as a tool to evaluate the quality and experience of the attachment part of the Afya Bora fellowship. Every other week Fellows will be prompted to describe your learning experience at your attachment site, using the questions in this document as a guide. It is important that you are specific in your responses and provide examples from your experience. You may want to keep a copy of the journal for yourself, as it will not be returned to you once we collect it. Only the evaluation team will see your journal entries. 

Journal Form

To fill out your weekly journal click here

Benefits of Journaling

An essential aspect of journaling is reflective writing - the process of exploring events or issues and accompanying thoughts and emotions[1]. Writing a journal has many surprising benefits:

  • “Writing allows students to contextualize the new information they are acquiring, allowing them to make sense of what they are learning…ask questions, admit confusion, make connections and grown ideologically”.[2]
  • Journaling has been used as a tool for healthcare professionals in Continuing Competence, defined as the promotion of good practice through Continuous Quality Improvement including an opportunity to reflect on one’s practice and how it can be improved.[3]
  • Students have used journals to move beyond the knowledge and skills available through normal classroom activities including engaging critical thinking skills, problem solving, recognizing personal values, and ethical decision making practices.[4]
  • Other outcomes in journaling practice include: enhanced progress, growth, and accountability as a professional, uncovering previous knowledge, monitoring development over time, developing self-confidence.[5]

 

While you are completing the journaling assignment, please remember all the benefits to your learning process! Thank you for your continued help; your input is valuable to the Afya Bora Consortium fellowship pilot program.

 

[1] Moon, J.A. (1999). Learning journals: A handbook for academics, students, and professional development. London: Kogan Page.
[2] Cisero, C.A. (2006). Does reflective journal writing improve course performance? College Teaching (54):2, 231-236.
[3] Gillis, A.J. (2001). Journal writing in health education. In English, L.M., & Gillen, M.A. (Eds.), Promoting journal writing in adult education (49-58). San Francisco: JOSSEY-BASS.
[4] Hiemstra, R. (2001). Uses and benefits of journal writing. In English, L.M., & Gillen, M.A. (Eds.), Promoting journal writing in adult education (19-26). San Francisco: JOSSEY-BASS.
[5] Gillis, A.J. (2001). Journal writing in health education. In English, L.M., & Gillen, M.A. (Eds.), Promoting journal writing in adult education (49-58). San Francisco: JOSSEY-BASS.