Reviewed Article 155 BLOGGING, JOURNALING AND REFLECTIVE WRITING: A SNAPSHOT OF STUDENTS’ PREFERENCES & PERCEPTIONS FROM TWO AUSTRALIAN UNIVERSITIES Matthew Atkinson & Margaret Castle1 Abstract This paper investigates the pedagogical benefits and challenges of using blogs as well as journals in assessing reflective writing in Clinical Legal Education learning. Recognising that millennial students have diverse learning preferences, the authors administered a survey to explore student preferences for different styles of reflective activity, contrasting peer to peer blogging with student to teacher journaling. Our findings suggest that some of the traditional ideas about privacy and self-disclosure in reflective writing are not of significant concern to students, who see benefit in sharing experiences with each other as part of a learning community. However, our 1 Matthew works at the UniSA Australia (“UniSA”). He is the managing solicitor of his law school’s in- house legal clinic and also coordinator and teacher in two CLE courses: Legal Advice Clinic and Law Professional Placement. Margaret works at Adelaide (“Adelaide”). Director of the Clinical Legal Education program, she manages four law clinics operated by the Law School, a small externship program, and teaches the elective subjects Clinical Legal Education, Alternative Dispute Resolution, and Dispute Resolution and Ethics. Matthew and Margaret acknowledge the kind support of the Australian Collaborative Education Network Limited (ACEN) grant which has supported our research. We also thank our colleagues for their support in this project. Of course, all mistakes are our own. Reviewed Article 156 findings also indicate that the opportunity of private reflection with a teacher is valued by students as part of the reflective learning experience. This paper outlines the approach to blogging adopted in our teaching practices and concludes that there are many benefits to thoughtfully designed blogging in Clinical Legal Education reflective exercises. Designers of reflective writing assessment will find this paper a useful source of related literature and ideas for developing journaling and blogging for reflective learning. I Introduction Reflective journaling has been a consistent component of learning in Clinical Legal Education (CLE) for decades. Technological change does not just offer different media for reflection but enables different learning dynamics that reflect the technology driven lives of our CLE students. In 2018, Matthew Atkinson at the University of South Australia (“UniSA”) and Margaret Castles at the University of Adelaide (“Adelaide”) started using blogging in addition to journaling as a medium for students to engage in reflective writing as part of their CLE course assessment. In both Matthew and Margaret’s CLE courses, student learning occurs on placement at their respective university’s law clinic or at an external organisation such as a law firm or government agency, with students doing legal work for clients under the supervision of a solicitor. Matthew and Margaret’s Reviewed Article 157 course assessments are underpinned by the understanding that reflection and reflective writing are key components which enable students to find meaning and context in the law and the legal work that they are doing,2 and that reflective practice is a core function of CLE.3 Margaret’s approach to reflective writing has evolved over 20 years teaching CLE. Originally, students submitted a collection of journal entries to be marked at the end of the teaching semester. Over the years this process has been adapted - first, to require sequential submission and grading of journals so that students receive feedback on their work before submitting the next entry; now based on two sequential dialogic journal discussions4 between student and teacher, with both original journal entry and students’ responses to questions graded. These adaptations were prompted by concerns around the authenticity and equity of journaling, particularly that many 2 Hyams, R. (2010) ‘Assessing Insight: Grading Reflective Journals in Clinical Legal Education’ 17 James Cook University Law Review 25, p.27; Stuckey, R. (2006) ‘Can We Assess What We Purport to Teach in Clinical Law Courses’ 9 International Journal Clinical Legal Education 9, pp.14-15; Grimes, R. (1995) ‘Reflections on Clinical Legal Education’ 29 The Law Teacher 169, p.171; Medina Fuentes, J. N. (1991) ‘Reflections on Lawyering and Clinical Methodology’ Revista Juridica Universidad de Puerto Rico 41, pp.57-58. 3 Evans, A. et al, (2017) Australian Clinical Legal Education: Designing and Operating a Best Practice Clinical Program in an Australian Law School, ANU Press, p.300; Stuckey, R. et al, (2007) Best Practices for Legal Education: A Vision and A Road Map, CLEA, pp.48-49; Evans, A. et al, (2013) Best Practices: Australian Clinical Legal Education (Government of Australia, Office of Learning and Teaching, 2013) p.13 4 Dialogic journaling takes the form of students writing a journal entry, with the marker providing feedback, asking for further explanation or discussion, and directing the student to either resources or other issues that students could discuss to deepen the reflective process. Both Schon and Moon amongst others support dialogue (whether written or in person) as a foundational aspect of reflective learning. See Schon, D. (1987) Educating the Reflective Practitioner, Jossey Bass, p.304; Moon, J. (2006) Learning Journals, Routledge, 2nd ed, pp.53-55. Reviewed Article 158 students had not encountered deliberate reflection or journaling in prior study.5 Several years ago, Margaret introduced an ungraded online blogging exercise on interviewing challenges to complement the face to face seminar program. She noted differences in tone and approach in the reflective writing - students’ language was more casual with easier reference to personal feelings and reactions in this informal medium. Further, students reflected on the blog discussions in seminars and in their journals and seemed to value common experiences and reactions. Blogging seemed to help build a sense of community within the CLE class and develop valuable group communication opportunities. Matthew’s experience with teaching reflective writing spans several years teaching CLE, and his use of blogging in CLE is somewhat fortuitous. For over 9 years, Matthew’s experience in CLE has primarily been as a clinical supervisor of students at UniSA’s Legal Advice Clinic. In 2018, this role changed when Matthew was given the responsibility for creating two newly established final year capstone CLE courses, Legal Advice Clinic and Law Professional Placement. The former caters for students placed in the in-house clinic and the latter caters for student externships. These two newly established courses were based on an existing CLE program at his university, which used reflective writing in the form of a critical incident report and a reflective 5 Some students assume that they are naturally not very good at reflection thus have difficulty or resist engaging in the process. See Moon, J.A. (2013) A Handbook of Reflective and Experiential Learning Theory and Practice, Taylor and Francis, p.89. Added to this is reflective learning is the exception rather than the rule in legal education and few students will have hand any engagement in the process or have even heard of it. Many students need prompting to move from narrative to reflection. See Woodward, H. (1998) ‘Reflective Journals and Portfolios: Learning Through Assessment’ 23(4) Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education, p.417. Reviewed Article 159 portfolio as a means to assess students’ learning from a clinical placement.6 However, the new capstone CLE courses included an online assessment component that provided for early feedback and opportunity for students to share their placement experience with peers. Matthew knew that Margaret was using blogging in her CLE course, and thus thought he should speak with her. Matthew and Margaret’s discussion and collaboration about the use of blogs and journaling gave rise to the idea of conducting research into student preferences and perceptions of blogging and journaling in reflective writing. They were particularly interested in probing the perceptions and preferences of IT sophisticated post millennials,7 who have grown up using online communication modalities that could not have been imagined in the days when journaling as a model for reflective writing in CLE was first adopted.8 It is worth noting that as the paper goes to press we are emerging from an unprecedented period of isolation, as a result of the Coronavirus pandemic, with enhanced dependence upon technological communication, making this discussion very timely. 6 See Spencer, R. (2012) ‘Holding up the Mirror: A Theoretical and Practical Analysis of the Role of Reflection in Clinical Legal Education" 17(2) International Journal of Clinical Legal Education 181, pp.198- 200. 7 While there is debate about the time range of millennial students’ birth years, it is generally accepted that millennial students as those who are born between the early 1980s and the late 1990s. See Palmer, J.S. (2015) ‘The Millennials Are Coming: Improving Self-Efficacy in Law Students through Universal Design in Learning’ 63 Cleveland State Law Review 675, p.676; Benfer, E.A. and Shanahan, C.F. (2013) ‘Educating the Invincibles: Strategies for Teaching the Millennial Generation in Law School’ 20 Clinical Law Review 1, 7. Our student cohort could as well be described as post millennials or Generation Z. 8 See Ogilvy, J.P. (1996) ‘The Use of Journals in Legal Education: A Tool for Reflection’ 3(1) Clinical Law Review 55. Reviewed Article 160 This article reports on the results of our research and is divided into five parts. Part II provides background into our CLE courses and contextualises the use of blogging and journaling as pedagogical tools to promote reflective practice both in and out of the classroom. Part III outlines the research design and methodology employed in examining student preferences and perceptions of reflective writing in blogging and journaling. Part IV sets out discussion and analysis of student response to the research questionnaire and also data from follow-up focus group sessions. Part V offers some preliminary conclusions and recommendations to contribute to best teaching practice when integrating blogs and journals in teaching and assessment. II Our CLE Courses and Contextualising Blogging, Journaling and Reflective Practice (a) How Matthew and Margaret Teach Blogging, Journaling and Reflective Practice Our CLE courses follow a typical pattern for CLE in Australian law schools. CLE is generally a final year subject, coming towards the end of the substantive law curriculum (after the students have completed foundational subjects including contract, tort, criminal, administrative law, etc.) at which time students have a reasonable grounding in these basic legal principles. At the University of South Australia, the CLE courses are categorised as 9-point (which is a double-weight credit course for the law program) final year capstone Reviewed Article 161 subject.9 All students enrolled in the law program are required to obtain 18 points of capstone courses and most law students enrol in at least one of the CLE courses, Legal Advice Clinic or Law Professional Placement.10 Together the CLE capstone courses have approximately 120 students enrolled over a year across 3 teaching terms of 10- week duration.11 Assessment of both courses comprise of placement evaluation (attendance together with a work portfolio worth 40%), online forums (3 x 300/400 word blogs, each worth 5%), and a reflective report (3,000 word journal for Legal Advice Clinic/4,000 word journal for Law Professional Placement respectively worth 45%). The online forums, which are due in weeks 2, 5, and 8 during the teaching term for both CLE courses, require students to write a blog entry about a topic relating to their placement experience and learning. These include reflection on placement goals, and depending on the CLE course, also involve students reflecting on client interviewing, supervisor feedback, access to justice and challenges faced on placement. For both courses, the blogs help students prepare for their reflective report: teacher feedback is designed to help students engage in deeper reflection of their topic and also understand how to write in the reflective genre; likewise, students have an opportunity to learn about their peers’ experience and approach to reflective writing. 9 UniSA CLE course information webpages: and . 10 UniSA Law Program webpage: . 11 In 2019, one of the teaching terms converted into a 5-week intensive. The assessment and placement requirements remain the same; students are simply complete placement in assessment in half the time. https://study.unisa.edu.au/courses/165302/2018 Reviewed Article 162 Teacher feedback and participation in student blogs therefore has both formative and summative aspects. The reflective report, which is due a fortnight after the conclusion of the teaching term, is a journal of placement learning - students are required to reflect on their placement performance, and topics relevant to their placement including client-centred practice, access to justice, and wellbeing in the law. In this reflective report, students are expected to highlight their learning by synthesising their placement experience with relevant academic literature from a teacher curated reading list. Further, students can expand on their published blog topics and are also required to use their peers’ blogs as a perspective to analyse their placement experience and learning. Appendix A sets out full details of UniSA’s instructions for students with respect to the online forums and reflective report together with the assessment rubrics. At the University of Adelaide, the CLE course is a three-point elective (which is the common credit weight for most subjects across the law program) titled Clinical Legal Education. It takes about 110 students (who are typically in their final year of their degree) per annum over 3 semesters; students are placed in one of five Law School Clinics, one of which post-dated the commencement of this research.12 Assessment of the subject comprises assessment of placement engagement (worth 35%); 4 reflective writing pieces (blogs and journals in total worth 35%) and a single major project which may be completed individually or in small groups (worth 30%). All assessment is 12 See Adelaide CLE course information webpage: Reviewed Article 163 summative. For blogging, students must complete 2 x 6-800 word blog entries (each worth 7.5%) in the first part of the semester, specifically to capture student thoughts in the first 5 weeks of placement when the learning curve is very steep, and to help establish a sense of community between students at the start of the subject. Each student posts a blog and also responds to another student’s blog with their own ideas, observations and suggestions. Students can read all of the blog entries and replies but are only required to answer one. Students have so far agreed to a protocol to answer a blog that does not yet have a response so that everyone gets comments.13 Both contributions (original blog and answer) are graded and students are given specific feedback on examples of good reflective writing and on how the students could engage in deeper reflection. Suggested blog topics that coincide with seminar topics and the anticipated learning arc students will follow are provided for each entry, but students may also choose their own topics. In addition to blogging, students must also complete 2 x 800 word journal entries and are then required to respond to specific teacher feedback and questions about their entry via a private discussion board (each sequence being worth 10%.)14 Journals occur in the last 4 weeks of the course when students have greater experience on placement, 13 While this restricts students from answering a particular blog that they are really interested in if someone has already done so, it does require intellectual engagement and perspective development by turning students’ minds to diverse issues. Students are also permitted to add a second answer to an existing blog, provided students have already answered one without an answer. 14 In first semester 2018 assessment comprised 3 x journal entries. However, after this semester Margaret felt that the depth expansiveness and quality of journal entries was such that reducing this to 2 entries each worth 7.5% was appropriate. In 2019 the structure has been varied: 3x blog entries/responses worth 5% each, followed by 2x journal dialogues each worth 10%. Reviewed Article 164 and have completed most of the seminar program, to ensure sufficient material and experience to draw on in reflective journals. Teacher comment and feedback on this assessment is designed to prompt deeper, focused reflection and to ask students to consider different perspectives. For example, the teacher may direct students to additional literature or pose a question to prompt further thought about the reflected topic. Appendix B sets out full details of Adelaide’s instructions for students with respect to the blogs and journals together with the assessment rubrics. Both Matthew and Margaret use blogging and journaling as a tool to promote reflection in their CLE courses. With blogging, students are able to practice reflective writing, see their peers’ work, and obtain guidance from the teacher that assists with journaling. However, Matthew and Margaret’s approach differs in that Margaret’s assessment provides for a more structured conversation between students and the teacher. Margaret’s students are assessed on their feedback and peer learning through their responses to other blogs to demonstrate the following: first, students have “heard” the comments of the blogger; second, to contribute something of their own experience or thoughts to the conversation; and, third to leave the blogger with something new to think about or consider. Matthew’s blogging and journaling activities are not designed in this manner, mainly due to the due dates of assessment. However, he encourages this process through discussion of blog entries in the classroom and during placement at the Legal Advice Clinic. Furthermore, although it is not required, some students also provide supportive written responses to their Reviewed Article 165 peers’ blogs. As discussed above, our courses only require two or three blogs from students. This is contrary to some views that multiple entries are ideal if reflective practice is to become embedded.15 Our experience has been that students rapidly develop blog/journal fatigue, which can affect the value of reflection. Matthew and Margaret’s CLE courses provide students with guidance on reflective processes to support students with their journaling and blogging. This takes the form of Kolb's learning cycle, modelling the four phases of preparation for the task by reference to existing resources, engagement in the task, reflection on the process, and preparation for the next engagement incorporating further preparation based on reflection.16 At Adelaide, students are asked to do short activities in class and then write a reflection on it demonstrating these four steps, and the students are evaluated in class on a document viewer so that all students can see the process in action. At UniSA, students are introduced to reflective practice by considering Georgina Ledvinka’s student A and student B interviewing vignette.17 Through this introduction students use mentimeter to highlight their understanding of reflective practice by creating a word-cloud which contains the reasons why they think student B (who is far more reflective about their experience) will learn more than student A 15 Freeman, W. and Brett, C. (2012) ‘Prompting an Authentic Blogging Practice in an Online Graduate Course’ 59 Computers and Education 10, p.14. 16 Ledvinka, G. (2006) ‘Reflection and Assessment in Clinical Legal Education: Do You See What I See?’ 9 International Journal of Clinical Legal Education 29, p.32. 17 Ibid, p.30. Reviewed Article 166 about legal interviewing. 18 Both Matthew and Margaret’s student cohorts also receive examples of reflective writing in course materials. (b) Contextualising Reflective Practice and Reflective Writing The benefit of reflective practice and the concomitant pedagogical role of reflective writing is well accepted in CLE.19 Law student engagement in reflective practice ‘promotes innovative and critical thinking, strengthens legal professionalism, and builds a stronger aptitude for problem-solving’20. Schon coined the term reflective practice and it is used to describe the process of developing professional knowledge and skills. He posited that mastery of professional knowledge and skill is best achieved when a professional can reflect in and not just on their action.21 Schon’s work has had a profound influence on course design in CLE; and, since his exposition of multiple models of reflective practice have been developed to highlight different levels and stages. For example, Hatton and Smith propose four levels of reflection: descriptive (recall); descriptive reflection (individual perspective); dialogic reflection (stepping back from individual perspective and recognising alternate views and explanations); and, critical reflection (analysing and synthesising multiple perspectives together with historical and socio-political critique).22 Most recently, 18 For further detail about mentimeter, see webpage: . 19 Burton, K. and McNamara, J. (2009) ‘Assessing Reflection Skills in Law Using Criterion-Referenced Assessment’ 19 Legal Education Review 171. 20 Leering, M. (2017) ‘Integrated Reflective Practice: A Critical Imperative for Enhancing Legal Education and Professionalism’ 95 Canadian Bar Review 47. 21 Schon (n 4), pp.62-67. 22 Moon (n 5), p.97. Reviewed Article 167 Leering conceives of reflective practice as having three overlapping aspects: reflection on practice; self-reflection; and critical reflection. She notes that these overlapping aspects exist in a community, and the rigour of reflective practice is maximised when it is shared with others to enable feedback and further investigation.23 Both the Leering and Hatton and Smith models logically break down the micro-reflection that students will ideally follow to become reflective practitioners. All models of reflective practice are conceptually consistent;24 the aim is for students to develop the skill of being able to contemporaneously act as a legal professional and also engage in innovative and critical thinking to solve problems.25 CLE courses are designed to give law students an opportunity to reflect and think critically about the law from a range of perspectives and to help provide a legal service.26 Matthew and Margaret’s CLE courses focus on promoting access to justice, target disadvantaged and vulnerable clients, and also utilise a multidisciplinary framework to help students to reflect and recognise new perspectives in law. 27 Students are encouraged to reflect on their performance with functionally evaluative questions including: what did or did not work? If I had this experience again, what 23 Leering, M. (2014) ‘Conceptualizing Reflective Practice for Legal Professionals’ 23 Journal of Law and Social Policy 83, pp.95-98. 24 Casey, T. (2014) ‘Reflective Practice in Legal Education: The Stages of Reflection’ 20 Clinical Law Review 317, p.331. 25 Ibid, pp.350-1. 26 Evans, ‘Best Practices in Clinical Legal Education’ (n 3), pp.4 -7. 27 In Matthew’s CLE course some of his students attend at a Health Justice Clinic. See Ferrar, K. et al, (2019) ‘Interdisciplinary Learning Opportunities for Clinical Students and Teachers – A Case Study Shared’ Australian Journal of Clinical Education 1. Reviewed Article 168 would I do differently? What have I learned from this experience? How will I incorporate what I have learned into future practice? Of course, answering the above questions and building professional identity and expertise does not occur in a vacuum. Meaningful analysis and evaluation of performance also requires students to reflect on themselves as individuals and their place in a community. Such introspection is necessary because performance is inextricably linked to the individual and the community within which an individual’s performance takes place. For law students, introspection about performance and their relationship to the legal professional community generates questions like, what are my strengths and weaknesses?28 How do I learn best?29 What assumptions, values, and personality traits do I hold?30 To provide students with different perspectives in answering these questions, both Matthew and Margaret use reading lists and students are expected to incorporate literature into blogs and journals. This literature includes discussion on practical legal skills, legal ethics, professionalism and the role of lawyering, social and legal justice, and wellbeing in the law.31 Reflection on providing a legal service in the community - especially to those who cannot otherwise access it - together with exposure to relevant literature has the power to generate ‘disorienting 28 James, C. (2011) ‘Law Student Wellbeing: Benefits of Promoting Psychological Literacy and Self- Awareness Using Mindfulness, Strengths Theory and Emotional Intelligence’ 21 Legal Education Review 217. 29 Hyams, R. (2011) ‘Nurturing Multiple Intelligences through Clinical Legal Education’ 15 University of Western Sydney Law Review 80. 30 Leering (n 23), p.98 31 The reading list includes the articles cited above including Hyams (n 29); James (n 28); and Leering (n 23). Further detail about the instructions provided to students for reflective writing prompts can be found at Appendix A and B. Reviewed Article 169 moments’ for students that may expand their perspective, professional aspirations and understanding of law.32 Capturing this moment in reflective writing helps ensure it is memorable. (c) The Challenge of Teaching Reflective Practice and Writing However, teaching and facilitating reflective practice and writing is challenging. Both practices are deeply personal activities, involving intimate self-disclosure. They can provide both unflattering self-discovery33 and an opportunity to explore personal thought and its relationship to the outward professional world.34 In addition to self- discovery, meaningful reflection and reflective writing also requires students to critique and contextualise their performance and its relationship to the community using different perspectives including historical, social, and political.35 These perspectives are often introduced through literature and students are often assessed (including ours) on their ability to analyse and synthesise their placement experience against such material.36 Our experience with law students has been that even before they encounter these challenges, they may be unfamiliar with reflective practice (in 32 Donnelly, L. (2017) ‘Putting Disorienting Moments at the Centre of Legal Education’ 24 International Journal of Clinical Legal Education 80; Fran Quigley, ‘Seizing the Disorienting Moment: Adult Learning Theory and the Teaching of Social Justice in Law School Clinics’ (1995) 2 Clinical Law Review 37. 33 Hess, G. (2002) ‘Learning to Think Like a Teacher: Reflective Journals for Legal Educators’ 38 Gonzaga Law Review 129, p.146; Ogilvy (n 8) p.91. 34 Elkins, J. (1993) ‘Writing Our Lives: Making Introspective Writing a Part of Legal Education’ (1993) 29 Williamette Law Review 45, 68-69. 35 Burton and McNamara (n 19), pp.186-7; Ledvinka (n 16) p.43; Balsam, J., Brooks, S.L. and Margaret Reuter, (2017) ‘Assessing Law Students as Reflective Practitioners’ 62 New York Law School Law Review 49, p.70. 36 Ibid. Reviewed Article 170 fact, CLE may be the first time students have encountered this concept) and are often quite uncomfortable with the idea of using first person language and expressing their own views. 37 Student discomfort with reflection and reflective writing is largely the product of years of learning about the law in an environment that privileges a belief that black letter law and “legal” reasoning is paramount.38 Often students say they “don’t know what to talk about”, or need to be assured that their own ideas are “ok”.39 We and other CLE teachers and supervisors often recommend to students that a particular issue or an event that students are discussing is worthy material for reflection. We also encourage (and as discussed above require through assessment) students to synthesise and analyse their experience using different perspectives through literature and conducting independent research. Students seem, at least in the early part of clinical practice, to have difficulty identifying issues from their placement experience as important enough to discuss. Likewise, students often have difficulty with connecting their reflected placement experience to different perspectives highlighted in literature. Prompting reflection and reflective writing in a manner that maximises its benefit to a cohort of law students requires diverse teaching strategies 37 Spencer, R. (2014) ‘First They Tell Us To Ignore Our Emotions, Then They Tell Us to Reflect’ 21 International Journal of Clinical Legal Education 33. 38 Castles, M. and Boothby, C. (2020) ‘Which Hat Shall I Wear Today? Exploring the Professional and Ethical Implications of Law Clinic Supervision’ in Strevens, C. and Field, R (Eds) (2020) Educating or Well Being in Law: Positive Professional Identities and Practice, Routledge Oxford, p.117. 39 This experience is shared by other CLE teachers. See, for example, Miller, S. R (2013) ‘Field Notes From Starting a Law School Clinic’ Clinical Law Review 137, pp.156-7. Reviewed Article 171 and tools. This conforms with Moon’s recommendation that support be provided to enable students to engage effectively with reflective writing.40 (d) Bringing Blogging into the Equation One of these ideas is blogging, an activity that is popular among students, reinforces learning, and fosters a shared, collegial learning environment. In 2011, Kift et al identified a range of features in legal education that contributed to heightened law student distress, nationally and globally.41 Since that time there has been a surge in commentary on the importance of “community” in learning in other disciplines, both to complement learning, and manage wellbeing. The value of networked community engagement,42 the impact of peer support in creating productive learning communities,43 with communities expanding things in common, sharing private and collective work achievements, and equipping students to become leaders in their future professional communities.44 Unlike journaling, which is traditionally characterised by solitude, and an emphasis on individualised introspection, blogging permits peer-to-peer reflection and immediate peer-to-peer (and teacher) feedback. These claims align with research into effective teaching strategies for the millennial 40 Moon (n 4) 115-117. 41 Kift, S. et al, (2011) Excellence and Innovation in Legal Education, LexisNexis Butterworths, 1st ed. 42 Prenger, R., Poortman, C. and Handelzalts, A. (2019) ‘The Effect of Networked Professional Learning Communities’ 70 Journal of Teacher Education 441; Stejin, W., Schouten, L. and Vedder, A. (2016) ‘Why Concern Regarding Privacy Differs: The Influence of Age and (Non-)Participation on Facebook’ 10(1) Cyberpsychology: Journal of Psychosocialc. Research on Cypberspace 3. 43 Zacharopoulou, A. and Turner, (2013) ‘Peer Assisted Learning and the Creation of a “Learning Community” for First Year Law Students’ 47 The Law Teacher 192. 44 Kim, B. (2018) ‘Things in Common in Learning Communities’ 46 Instructional Science 627. Reviewed Article 172 generation. Millennials have embraced technology and value “real time” feedback, prefer channel broadcasting (blogging and social media) over one-to-one electronic communication (email and short text message), and value peer teamwork, learning and collaboration.45 For the millennial generation blogging may therefore have tremendous pedagogical benefit. Of course, blogging is not without potential downsides.46 Students need training in how to write for an (academic) blog to understand the difference between narrative storytelling and critical evaluation of experience. This is particularly so of law students for whom blogging and journaling is novel, against the context of legal education in which personal opinions (as opposed to precedent and predictable scholarly conclusions) are not valued.47 Voluntary engagement with blogs can be sporadic and decline over time.48 Intentional blogging can be done “in the moment”, but in reality is likely to be done some distance from the events. This might require a two-step process – the student first captures what happened and some of their initial 45 Desy, J.R., et al, (2017) ‘Milestones and Millennials: A Perfect Pairing – Competency-Based Medical Education and the Learning Preferences of Generation Y’ 92(2) Mayo Clinic Proceedings 243; Price, C. (2009) ‘Why Don’t My Students Think I’m Groovy? The New R’s for Engaging Millennial Learners’ 19(2) Psychology Teacher Network 1; Carver, T. (2011) ‘Peer Assisted Learning, Skills Development and Generation Y: A Case Study of a First Year Undergraduate Law Unit’ 37(3) Monash University Law Review 203. 46 For a good summation of the concerns blogs in legal education, see Black, P. (2006) ‘Uses of Blogs in Legal Education’ (2006) 13 James Cook University Law Review 8, pp.20-23. 47 Berger, L.L. (1999) ‘Applying New Rhetoric to Legal Discourse: The Ebb and Flow of Reader and Writer, Text and Context’ 49 Journal of Legal Education 155, p.156. 48 Black (n 46) p.21. Also see Roper, V. (2018) ‘Blogs as a Teaching Tool and Method of Public Legal Education: A Case Study’ 2(1) International Journal of Public Education 46, p.64. Reviewed Article 173 thoughts, and then later engages in deeper reflective writing to allow thoughts to be explored and analysed.49 The few published refereed articles in legal education that refer to using a blog for reflective writing have assumed that student authorship is kept anonymous.50 Anonymity in journaling is also considered critical.51 Maintaining this anonymity is based on the expectation that it will improve authentic reflective practice amongst students. We have taken perhaps a unique approach that diverges from traditional orthodoxy in that we have used blogging in such a way that the students know the identity of their peers’ blog entries. This is partly for the practical reason that neither University’s online learning platform enabled anonymous contributions to blog or discussion functions.52 Specific protocols for public blogging were therefore required. We both developed protocols that are explicitly communicated and agreed with students. Ensuring that students do not feel threatened or belittled by any commentary; courtesy; always being constructive; acknowledging different perspectives; taking time to consider the content and phrasing of comments; and, being respectful of both views and people is discussed in the classroom at the 49 Beveridge, I. (2006) ‘Teaching Your Students to Think Reflectively: The Case for Reflective Journals’ 2 Teaching in Higher Education 33, p.34. 50 Ashford, C. (2007) ‘From Baghdad to Sunderland: Weblogs and Reflective Learning, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Blog’ 41 Law Teacher 206, p.209; Allen, R. and Jackson, A. (2017) ‘Contemporary Teaching Strategies: Effectively Engaging Millennials Across the Curriculum’ 95 University of Detroit Mercy Law Review 1, 18. 51 Ogilvy (n 8) p.91. 52 Blogs are not public; they are available only to the enrolled class. When faced with this reality, we concluded that the potential benefits of identifying peers by name and creating a respectful community of practice was sufficiently good reason to continue without anonymity. Blogging is managed through university learning platforms, MYUNI and at Adelaide and Moodle at UniSA. Reviewed Article 174 commencement of each semester. Course material and class content consider the role and values of feedback, and how to give and receive constructive feedback.53 It is also consistent with our expectation that students reflect the standard of inter-collegiate behaviour expected among lawyers. We both oversee and curate the blogs throughout the course, which enables issues arising to be canvassed when needed, both individually with students, and in the classroom. This monitoring also enables us to refer students to their peers’ blogs and encourage further discussion where students might find this useful. Our experience has been positive, with students predominantly reporting satisfaction and confidence in the public nature of blogging. Towards the end of the period of this study, Adelaide accessed and used software that concealed student names in blogging. That experience is subject to a current survey seeking to establish the value that students place on anonymity in this context. Responses so far suggest marginal but not overwhelming preference for anonymity. (d) Goal of our research In light of the foregoing, research into our students’ preferences and perceptions about reflective writing and the use of blogs and journals in CLE is timely, especially in the millennials era. In contrast to the journal between teacher and student the risk of judgment (real and perceived) is much higher in a broader communication loop such 53 The value of this learning extends beyond immediate reflective writing skills – giving receiving and evaluating feedback is a critical aspect of day to day professional life. Reviewed Article 175 as blogging. Such risk may impinge on enhancing reflective practice. That said, introducing class interaction built on student engagement with online blogging enables shared reflection, peer-to-peer knowledge sharing and feedback, and can make good use of group dynamics as a learning strategy. The online format allows instant posts about issues of interest, and for most of our students this medium is part of the pervasive social networking communication that students engage with on a daily basis.54 Socially connected communication is a key feature in the lives of our students, and blogging enables an element of that social connectedness into the classroom. Having a greater insight into our students’ perceptions and preferences with blogs and journals will give us a better understanding of these dynamics and also with their experience of reflective practice. We hope this research will also assist in developing best practice for teaching reflection and reflective writing when blogs and journals are used in clinical classes. Research Design and Methodology The research design comprised of a survey-monkey questionnaire (see APPENDIX C) and focus group sessions to follow up any questions that arose from the survey results. All students enrolled in CLE courses at Adelaide and UniSA during teaching terms 1 and 2 in 2018 were invited to participate in the research. The student cohort during this timeframe totalled 70 at Adelaide and 102 at UniSA. The relevant ethics 54 Freeman and Brett (n 15) p.10. Reviewed Article 176 committees from both universities approved the research55 and students were invited to participate by way of group emails that attached a participant information sheet and consent forms. As Matthew and Margaret are involved in teaching and assessing the CLE courses while conducting research on their students, research design explicitly facilitated students being able to participate anonymously. The survey did not ask students to provide any identifying details and it is impossible to individualise any of the data received from survey-monkey software. Likewise, the focus group sessions were facilitated and conducted by third party staff members at our respective universities. 56 Transcripts of these focus group sessions were created by using a zoom recorder that enables uploading and conversion of recorded conversations to text. Matthew and Margaret each received de-identified text transcriptions of the focus group sessions. Protecting students’ confidentiality helped to ensure candid student response and voluntary participation. IV Discussion and analysis of student response Matthew’s student cohort yielded 19 responses to the survey-monkey questionnaire and 3 students participated in the follow up focus session.57 The anonymity of the data 55 Human Research Ethics Committee at the UniSA and Human Research Ethics Committee at the Adelaide. 56 Jane Knowler conducted the focus group session for Matthew at UniSA and Lecturer Kellie Toole conducted Margaret’s focus group at Adelaide. 57 The first email to students was sent by Kelly Ladyman an employee of the UniSA, and it yielded a low number of student responses. Matthew sought and obtained an amendment to his ethics application that permitted him to personally email students inviting them to participate in the research, which improved the response to 18.5%. Reviewed Article 177 precludes comparison of student perception between Matthew’s two courses. For Margaret, 48 students completed the survey-monkey questionnaire and 7 students participated in one follow up focus session. Response rates to the survey were variable, with about 2/3 of Adelaide students participating, a smaller proportion of UniSA students. Although participation in focus groups was low it provided value in terms of more detailed insights from students. This part sets out an analysis of the student response to the survey-monkey questionnaire together with their discussions in the focus group sessions. These follow-up sessions provided students with an opportunity to have a more expansive discussion about their experiences with blogging and journaling in our courses. Student response to the questionnaire – which is divided into parts A, B, C and D – generate a mix of quantitative and qualitative data. Our analysis first summarises the quantitative data to provide a general understanding of student perceptions and preferences with respect to reflective writing in blogging and journaling. This is followed by discussion of the qualitative data where we highlight the key themes in students’ comments. The focus group session data underpins and adds depth to this thematic discussion. (a) Questionnaire: Quantitative Data In Parts A and B of the questionnaire, which focused on blogging and journaling respectively, student response to both styles of reflective writing were positive. About 90% of UniSA and 80% of Adelaide students strongly agreed or agreed that blogging Reviewed Article 178 helped them see issues from different perspectives and to focus deeply on topics, challenges and ideas.58 Likewise, almost 70% of UniSA and 85% of Adelaide students strongly agreed or agreed that making and receiving comments in their blogs helped them to appreciate the value of feedback.59 About 90% of both UniSA and Adelaide students strongly agreed or agreed that reading and receiving comments from peers and receiving feedback from the marker helped them to prepare better blog entries in the following weeks.60 All students considered that their blogs were treated respectfully.61 UniSA and Adelaide students also viewed journaling as a valuable tool for learning. Over 75% of students indicated that journaling helped them to organise their thoughts, apply theory to practice, and improve their problem-solving skills. 62 Almost 95% of students agreed that journaling assisted with performance improvement, developing self-awareness and seeing other perspectives. 63 With respect to the statement that blogging helped with their reflective journal, almost 80% of UniSA students and 90% of Adelaide students agreed with this proposition.64 Only 50% of UniSA students strongly agreed that the feedback on journal entries helped them to focus deeply on issues. 65 This is in contrast to Adelaide student response where almost 58 See Appendix C, Questions 3 and 4. 59 Ibid, Question 6. 60 Ibid, Question 1 and 2. 61 Ibid, Question 5. 62 Ibid, Question 13. 63 Ibid. 64 Ibid, Question 7. 65 Ibid, Question 8. Reviewed Article 179 all of the students thought the feedback helped with deep focus on issues. The explanation for this difference is probably due to the difference in assessment discussed above for our CLE courses. In Margaret’s course, students are required to respond to feedback and questions for two pieces of journaling assessment, while in Matthew’s course, students submit a reflective report as the final assessment piece at the end of the course and do not have to respond (or otherwise consider) the feedback provided. Part C of the questionnaire asked students the following: first, whether and why students preferred blogging or journaling;66 second, whether confidentiality changes their approach to reflective writing;67 and, third whether students prefer a single submission of assessment worth more or multiple smaller submissions of equal value.68 From the UniSA cohort, 50% preferred journaling, 25% preferred blogging, and 25% said both activities were equally preferable. Almost 70% of students said confidentiality changed their approach to reflective writing. For the Adelaide students, there was not a clear majority preference for blogging or journaling, with almost equal preference. Just over 50% of Adelaide students said that confidentiality changed their approach to reflective writing. Matthew and Margaret do not have an explanation for the differences in these specific results. However, as discussed in further detail below, the public nature of blogging appeared to have an impact on 66 Ibid, Question 15. 67 Ibid, Question 16. 68 Ibid, Questions 17 and 18. Reviewed Article 180 Adelaide and UniSA students’ willingness to share reflected topics with peers. Students appear to frankly acknowledge this as a factor in blogging, with some apparently not concerned, and others more so. Without further investigation, we conclude that there is a lost benefit in blogging arising from the reluctance of some students to fully embrace self-revelation. This may relate to anonymity but may also have deeper causes. Margaret has noted that student blogs are typically self-reflective and commenting on personal experience with clients, but journals often go into revelatory and detailed discussions of relationships with supervisors and other students that students clearly do not want to disclose outside of the student/marker relationship.69 The assessment question about preferencing a single submission worth more or multiple smaller submissions of equal value indicate preference for multiple smaller submissions for both UniSA and Adelaide students. While this question did not explicitly ask students to compare their experiences with blogging and journaling, it probably further highlights student desire for feedback on their reflective writing. As discussed above, our experience is that students seek assurance with their reflective writing, and multiple smaller submissions enables recurring feedback. Blogging, which permits comparison and instant feedback from peers together with feedback 69 At Adelaide the journals are not marked by the students’ direct supervisors. On occasion feedback to students includes suggestions and ideas for evaluating and managing relations with other students and/or supervisor. Reviewed Article 181 and assessment by the teacher, may better cater for students’ learning needs.70 This is consistent with student comments that they found benefit in hearing what other students were doing, in appreciating commonality of experiences, and in receiving feedback along the way. This suggests that the value of blogging accumulates as students become more confident both in their experience in placement and their trust in the blogging process. Part D asked students to compare their learning experiences and participating in journaling and blogging. It required students to nominate either journaling, blogging or neither in response to 14 statements about which activity students felt helped with a particular aspect of their learning experience in the CLE course.71 In summary, the student responses between Adelaide and UniSA students were varied. Over 80% of UniSA and Adelaide students thought that blogging was more helpful in their assisting others with feedback and support. Likewise, almost 75% of Adelaide and UniSA students thought that blogging was more helpful in developing new perspectives. These results appear to be consistent with the interactive, shared nature of blogging. Conversely, Adelaide and UniSA students differed in their views about whether journaling or blogging was more helpful in: questioning or challenging their beliefs, values or knowledge; planning their professional life and developing career goals and plans; learning from experience; receiving critical feedback and, developing 70 Garcia, E. et al, (2019) ‘Student Learning in Higher Education Through Blogging in The Classroom’ 136 Computers and Education 61, pp.63-4. 71 Appendix C, Question 19. Reviewed Article 182 self-awareness, problem-solving together with interpersonal skills. With respect to these learning experiences, approximately 60% of UniSA students thought that journaling was more helpful while approximately 60% of Adelaide students thought it was blogging. The variation in these results may be the product of differences in the assessment regime. For example, Margaret provides feedback responses on journaling to which her students are expected to respond. This may account for why a majority of her students nominate journaling as being more helpful in reflecting deeply on experience. While Matthew’s students submit one longer journal (reflective report) at the end of the teaching term where his students are asked to analyse their goals and reflect on their placement experience and what this means looking forward into their professional lives.72 This may be why his students say that journaling better helps with their planning their professional life and developing career goals and plans. For both universities, the data shows that students perceive benefits for their learning about reflection and reflective writing in both blogging and journaling. Close analysis of the responses suggests that student responses are quite tightly linked to elements of content, for example, valuing feedback that enables them to think more deeply and enhance their grades, noting the impact of reflection on future career options when that is specifically requested, and responding positively to the “sharing” of experiences and uncertainties in the early stages of a challenging course. 72 See Appendix B, Reflective Report for Law Professional Placement. Reviewed Article 183 (b) Questionnaire: Qualitative Data Matthew and Margaret together reviewed the survey-monkey questionnaire comments and focus group discussion transcripts and segmented this data into overarching themes.73 This was achieved by identifying and grouping specific words and phrases used by the student cohort who participated in the research. We have developed four main themes from the data in our investigation of students’ preferences and perception of blogging and journaling: (1) marker feedback and students’ preference in the quality and style of that feedback; (2) peer feedback, which raised consideration of the impact and relationship between summative and formative assessment of reflective writing; (3) sharing reflection with peers and being part of a community where personal feelings and experience can be validated; and (4) sharing personal thoughts with peers and the impact on reflection and reflective writing. (i) Marker Feedback Almost all of the Adelaide and UniSA students who completed the questionnaire, and also those who participated in the focus group sessions, provided comments about marker feedback. On the pragmatic level of being assessed, students commented that feedback helped them understand “what the marker wanted to see”, “what areas I needed to improve 73 We followed a similar process to that described in Hess, G.F. (2014) ‘Qualitative Research on Legal Education: Studying Outstanding Law Teachers’ 51(4) Alberta Law Review 925, pp.934-7. We did not code our data using computer software because our data was not so voluminous as to require this technology. Reviewed Article 184 on”, “where to expand”, “how to approach writing” and to confirm “whether I was on the right track or not.”74 Important characteristics of marker feedback for students included it being “constructive”, “immediate”, “detailed and personal … rather than generic.”75 There is nothing particularly novel or ground-breaking with this data. Thoughtful feedback in CLE is viewed as an integral pedagogical tool that enhances student learning and promotes reflective practice.76 Summative assessment increases student attention and motivation for graded work.77 Additionally, formal criterion- based student evaluation provides structure for feedback; such structure is beneficial for students because it gives clarity on the requisite skills to master and the parameters of evaluation.78 However, from our analysis of the qualitative data about marker feedback, we note two important issues with promoting reflective practice and writing. First, students at both universities commented on the perceived value of personalised questions the marker posed on their blogs (and the journals too for Adelaide). Asking questions in feedback clearly promoted self-assessment and reflection leading to improved learning outcomes and engagement with new material.79 Students comments included: 74 UniSA and Adelaide student focus group comment extracts about marker feedback. 75 Ibid. 76 Mack, K. (1993) ‘Bringing Clinical Learning into a Conventional Classroom’ 4 Legal Education Review 89 77 Hyams (n 2) p.34. 78 Ibid p.35; Also see Barry, M.M (1995-1996) ‘Clinical Supervision: Walking That Fine Line’ 2 Clinical Law Review 137, pp.163-4. 79 See Withey, C. (2013) ‘Feedback Engagement: Forcing Feed-Forward Amongst Law Students’ 47 Law Teacher 319, pp.328-342. Reviewed Article 185 ‘I like the additional questions that Margaret would put in our blogs, it gives you a different perspective you might not have thought of yourself’ ‘... [T]he marker would ask me questions that would make me really think about how I react and behave the way I do. I began asking myself similar questions when completing future blog posts, and constantly asked myself why I think the way I do. I think it allowed me to be more introspective.’ Second, students at both universities also highlighted caring, authentic feedback from the marker as being critical for them to engage and “feel okay” about reflective practice when blogging: ‘My initial blog was terrible because I was afraid to open up and did not believe the supervisors would care, however based on how much feedback I received, I realised they do genuinely care and took the time to read my blog and critically evaluate it.’ ‘I noticed that when marking, language such as ‘a minor criticism' was used. I am assuming the lecturers are very careful about this, for example to not make students feel bad.’ ‘I never felt that I was being judged for how I was feeling.’ Extant literature highlights that quality reflective writing hinges on safety, respect and non-judgment from academics involved in responses or grading.80 With respect to the preceding students’ comments, we suspect that sharing reflection with peers in 80 Ogilvy (n 8) p.60. Reviewed Article 186 blogging makes caring, authentic feedback from the marker an even greater imperative. In contrast to the proponents who see benefit in using feedback as a tool for graded student evaluation,81 critics point to this process as being ‘more judgmental, and suggest[ive] [of] a power dynamic that is inconsistent with self- reflection clinics encourage’.82 It is argued that a teacher’s grading is unnecessary for expressing ‘encouragement or concern’ and it is a ‘simplistic mechanism … attractive to teachers precisely because it is unspecific and impersonal.’83 While these concerns about grading were not borne out in students perceptions of marker’s feedback to students posts (which were detailed personal and specific), the authenticity of the feedback from other students who were subject to grading in their response was questioned by students at Adelaide. (ii) Blending Summative and Formative Assessment with Peer Feedback At Adelaide, there were mixed responses concerning the authenticity of the graded blogs. One student in the focus group thought having peer blog responses marked meant that, ‘naturally they had thought about it and it contained value’. However, others disagreed and suggested that peer responses were not genuine because they were designed to maximise grades. These concerns were expressed by a number of students and encapsulated in the following comments: 81 Hyams (n 2); Barry (n 78); Withey (n 79). 82 Barry (n 78) p.158. 83 Rice, S. (2007) ‘Assessing - But Not Grading - Clinical Legal Education’ (Working Paper No 2007–16, Macquarie University) 1 < https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1061622>. Reviewed Article 187 ‘The difference I felt between other students [comments] and Margaret’s feedback was that we all know her well enough and [she] had lots of encounters with us and [we] knew we genuinely asking us those questions and be genuinely interested as opposed to [a] student we met once.’ ‘Feedback given in the course of the exercise was clearly done so to achieve grades. The feedback I received felt as though it was written as much for the markers eyes as it was for mine. This kind of exercise cannot be properly done when it is compulsory and graded.’ When grading is taken out of the equation, peer feedback about the blogging was viewed favourably. At both universities, students highlighted how blogging provided a forum for them to develop self-confidence in their abilities and also build their critical thinking skills through acknowledging different perspectives. These sentiments are captured in this UniSA student comment: ‘It helped reduce the stigma associated with reflection. It allowed me to realise that other people experience similar emotions during the clinic. I could use this discussion with other students’ as well to strengthen my reflective writing too, and demonstrate that I acknowledge other perspectives.’ While Margaret and Matthew do not intend to weigh into the debate about graded vs non-graded evaluation in this paper,84 feedback undoubtedly plays a vital role in 84 See Moon (n 5) pp.149-58; Hyams (n 2) 25; Boothby, C. (2016) ‘Pigs are not Fattened by Being Weighed – So Why Assess Clinic – and Can we Defend Our Methods?’ 23 International Journal of Clinical Legal Education 137. Reviewed Article 188 students’ perception of the value of reflection and their development of a reflective mindset. In terms of striving for grades and understanding what is required in reflective writing, the marker’s feedback was highly valued. Likewise, students recognised the benefit of peer feedback in enabling them to see other perspectives and thus produce better quality reflective writing that met marking criteria. Moreover, it appears that students on our courses were able to utilise both styles of feedback to enhance reflective practice: evaluation (being able to compare and comment on their peers’ blogs) and also valuation (considering the markers’ grade, comments and assessment criteria). One final issue that we consider beneficial using blogs and journals and blending formative and summative assessment for these tasks is that it makes them more accessible and achievable. Many of our law students have not engaged with personal or reflective writing in their prior study. Our subjects place high assessment values to reflective writing (45% at UniSA and 35% at Adelaide). It is important that students are equipped to make as good an effort at reflective writing as they can at more typical academic assessment tasks. Both of our courses focus closely on how to “be reflective” providing guided readings, exercises in class, and in class discussions and practice exercises in reflection. This range of inputs in blogging and journaling support students to be able to perform well in reflective writing as well as gaining the learning and insight that we want them to develop as part of their ongoing reflective practice. Reviewed Article 189 (iii) Sharing Reflective Writing with Peers and Being Part of a Community Another impact blogging has on students’ reflective writing, which is also noted in the feedback discussion above, was the sense of having personal feelings validated and being part of a community. At UniSA, students in the focus group were in agreement that: ‘reading other students blogs made me feel like I could be more open with my blogs because I could see that they were having similar experiences and feeling similar things to me.’ This relational aspect of blogging and helping students to feel that they are not alone may make it a valuable tool in contributing to students’ wellbeing. Two Adelaide students made insightful comments on the benefit of blogging in creating a sense of professional community: ‘I also agree that the blog system is certainly forcing us to work together, which creates a sense of community between all of the CLE students. I'm certainly enjoying this feeling as it is rare amongst the law fraternity.’ ‘What I have come to realise, is that that being a collegiate lawyer extends beyond a paternalistic relationship. Over the last couple of weeks, I have really felt a sense of collegiality with other law students. This is largely attributable to being able to read and respond to other people’s CLE experiences, and also receive feedback myself through the blogs.’ Reviewed Article 190 Emerging scholarship emphasises the importance of community and connection in effective learning in legal education.85 Legal education in many respects is typified by a linear, competitive, black and white reasoning process.86 It encourages a thought process that is rooted in an objective, adversarial and catastrophising paradigm.87 Thinking like a lawyer turns clients into solvable legal problems where calculations of risks and prediction of outcome can be performed for any particular action throughout the legal battle. This thought process makes it difficult for law students to conceptualise human behaviour as being intimately linked to emotion, bias, frailty, and error in perception and judgment.88 The blogging activity stands outside of this paradigm and in fact highlights to students that their peers are undergoing a similar experience. Field et al discuss the multiple stresses that face students in legal education and that students will need to build resilience to in practice89. Our view is that blogging supports recognition of emotional intelligence, and humanises legal education, with overall benefit to their wellbeing.90 85 Field, R., Duffy, J. and Huggins, A. (2014) Lawyering and Positive Professional Identities, p.21. 86 Huggins, A. (2012) ‘Autonomy Supportive Curriculum Design: A Salient Factor in Promoting Student Wellbeing’ 35(3) University of New South Wales Law Journal 683. 87 Field, R. and Duffy, J. (2012) ‘Better to Light a Single Candle than to Cures the Darkness: Promoting Law Student Well-being through a First Year Law Subject’ 12(1) Queensland University Technology Law & Justice 133, pp.153 -54. 88 Ibid p.154. 89 Field, Duffy and Huggins (n 85) p.241. 90 Ibid. Reviewed Article 191 (v) Sharing Personal Thought with Peers and the Impact on Reflective Writing Reflective practice and writing can be seen as deeply personal activities, which involve intimate interrogation of personal thought and reaction to experience.91 We therefore were keen to find out what students thought about sharing their reflective writing with peers through blogging. With respect to whether confidentiality changes our students’ approach to reflective writing,92 our data indicates that Adelaide students appear to be generally less concerned than UniSA students about sharing their reflective writing with their peers. As mentioned above, approximately 70% of UniSA and 50% of Adelaide students indicated that confidentiality does change their approach to reflective writing. As to why confidentiality changes their approach,93 UniSA and Adelaide students can be categorised into three groupings: first, students who were not prepared to share deep, personal reflection with peers; second, students who shared the sentiment of the first group, but changed when students felt safe to share with peers; and, third students who felt comfortable and liked sharing reflective thought with peers. The first group, who were simply not prepared to explore or discuss some matters that would be read by their peers, expressed aversion towards being reflective in their blogging. At UniSA, these students said with blogging they felt “inhibited”, “could 91 Hess (n 33) p.146; Ogilvy (n 8) p.91; Elkins (n 34) pp.68-69. 92 Appendix C, Question 16. 93 Ibid. Reviewed Article 192 not be personal” and “would not be speaking about deep issues”. Likewise, in the Adelaide focus group session students stated: ‘With blogging there was a sense of restriction in that what you’re writing because you know that the rest of the CLE cohort can read it. The journal allowed me to speak frankly.’ ‘I felt that I could discuss issues in more detail when I was writing them for Margaret. Margaret was great at making students feel comfortable and open.’ It would be useful to glean a deeper understanding of this category of student and the reasons why students do not feel comfortable with engaging in reflection with their peers. Only one student at UniSA elaborated on why he or she did not feel comfortable blogging - this student states: ‘As a student who does struggle with ... writing and has an access plan to reflect I found it extremely daunting knowing that my writing would be published for the entire cohort to see. Whilst I do believe that there are many benefits to reflective writing I think the potential for the blogging to be edited slightly even if it is just the students names removed from the blog entries would have a big impact on the students willingness to participate…’ The second group of students said that they were fearful and not prepared to “open- up” until they knew that it was safe to do so. At both universities there were variations of this type of comment: Reviewed Article 193 ‘I was terrified that other students would be able to read about my feelings, and innermost thoughts - because they were not anonymous. This is why I think I refrained from truly getting to the heart of reflection in my first blog post... I was grateful that every student I spoke to was respectful about the posts.’ The third group of students thought that sharing reflective writing with peers was a positive experience from the outset. In this group, students commented that peer sharing encouraged them to “put extra into it” and that it appealed to their “competitive nature”. In the UniSA focus group session, one student stated that, ‘…the public nature of it forced me to properly think about reflective writing from the beginning of the semester. Whereas if it was just left at the very end, and I didn’t have to write something so that I wouldn’t be embarrassed in a sense, my last piece [the reflective report] would have been terrible.’ This preliminary data shows that blogging shared with peers has the potential to promote effective engagement with reflective practice and writing. Matthew and Margaret do not have a firm view about whether reflective writing and blogging should be confidential or otherwise anonymised. Moreover, we are of the view that anonymous blogging is likely to generate a different set of concerns and hesitation amongst a student cohort.94 On our data and teaching experience, the key is to ensure that students feel safe to share their feelings and to harness law student predilection 94 Adelaide recently accessed and used software that concealed student names in blogging in subsequent semesters. That experience is subject to a current survey seeking to establish the value that students place on anonymity in this context. Reviewed Article 194 for competitiveness in a positive manner.95 Of course, this will not always be straightforward in a law classroom where there are a range of learning styles. V Preliminary Conclusions And Recommendations to Contribute to Best Teaching Practice When Integrating Blogs and Journals One of Matthew and Margaret’s aims in introducing blogging in addition to journaling in their clinical courses is to better inculcate reflective practice both in and outside the classroom. A reflective law student enters the legal profession as a self- directed learner with increased self-awareness,96 emotional intelligence,97 and a sense of professional identity.98 Likewise, reflective law students are better able to transition into the legal profession because they have already started to develop their professional resilience, knowledge and expertise. 99 At its essence, the ultimate goal of reflective practice in clinical legal education is deep metacognitive development of students and their integrating the professional and personal self.100 This process can be a deeply private activity that involves inward 95 Field, Duffy and Huggins (n 85) p.243; Sturm, S. and Guiner, L. (2007) ‘The Law School Matrix: Reforming Legal Education in a Culture of Competition and Conformity’ 60(2) Vanderbilt Law Review 515. 96 Hess (n 33) p.136. 97 James (n 28) p.226. 98 Darrow-Kleinhaus, S. (2012) ‘Developing Professional Identity Through Reflective Practice’ 28 Touro Law Review 1443. 99 Leering (n 23) pp.102-104. 100 Ibid p.99. Reviewed Article 195 looking personal analysis, which may generate feelings of discomfort and vulnerability.101 When students are required to engage in this process in writing as part of assessable work it is traditionally achieved through explicit guarantees of privacy in submission. Blogging does not on its face fit within that deeply personally reflective framework for a number of reasons, most stemming from the lack of privacy. Our research suggests that the anxieties of some of the student cohort may have diverse impacts on the authenticity, honesty, accuracy, and openness of blogging. There is a perception that people around the millennial generation are more “carefree” and less concerned with privacy. This arises from the often self-revealing behaviour of this generation online.102 Our study suggests that levels of comfort with personal self-revelation in a social media environment does not extend into the educational or professional arena, and that students are very mindful of the manner in which they reveal personal observations and thoughts, and relate experiences in this more formal context. Conversely, the values of community and peer connection that flow from blogging may contribute to the development of perspective, flexibility and collaboration skills. Blogging appears to introduce a collective experience to reflection and reflective practice for students, which cannot be replicated in journaling. With blogging, students valued sharing experiences as a means of normalising both feelings and 101 Hess (n 33) p.146; Ogilvy (n 8) p.91. 102 Stejin, Schouten and Vedder (n 42) p.3. Reviewed Article 196 challenges; students recognised that different perspectives were prompted by the blogging exchange; they found that peer feedback helped them to learn and reflect more deeply, and they felt that blogging helped create a sense of community and connection within the cohort. Matthew and Margaret are of the view the blogging and journaling are in a sense complimentary. Irrespective of student preference for blogging or journaling, our data indicates blogging helps students recognise other perspectives and also fosters a greater understanding of their individual experience. These are vital aspects of the reflective process and are important ingredients for a rich introspection or self- reflection - which does not necessarily need to be made public. Further to this, it may be the aspects of reflection that blogging promote positively feed into journaling where privacy is protected. To this end, we suggest that using blogging as an introductory assessment tool for reflection may lead to deeper overall learning outcomes for students. However, neither process occurs naturally or intuitively.103 If anything our experience has shown that what we ask students to do, how we equip them to engage in the process, and the stage at which processes are used, is integrally linked to their successful engagement with the process. This conforms with Beveridge’s view that effective reflection requires a combination of factors – the 103 Spencer (n 6) p.181. Reviewed Article 197 trustworthiness of the reader (be that teacher or students); clear expectations, and effective feedback.104 To conclude, blogging and journaling can be seen to have slightly different roles. As our experiment has unfolded, we have discovered that blogging has a tripart purpose within the overall reflective process in CLE. First, it helps to create a learning community in which students can connect to each other both personally and by comparing experiences. This supports wellbeing as well as the development of perspective.105 Second, it creates a pool of material that can be woven into the teaching strategy - bringing to light experiences, observations, common and diverse, that connect theory to practice in the classroom. Finally, it introduces students to the idea of critical reflective learning, which then takes on greater depth in subsequent journaling/ dialogue with their teacher. 104 Beveridge (n 49) p.64. 105 Field, Duffy and Huggins (n 85) p.252. Identify maintaining perspective as one of the key elements of wellbeing in law school. Reviewed Article 198 APPENDIX A UniSA Guidelines for Blogging and Journaling: Blogging Prompts for Legal Advice Clinic Online Post # 1 In 300 words please do the following:- • State a S.M.A.R.T goal you want to achieve at the Legal Advice Clinic (25 words) • Discuss the results of your VIA strength test: Do you think these results have any relationship to your above stated goal - why or why not? (275 words) Online Post # 2 In 400 words, reflect on your performance for your mock interview. In this post, please: • analyse and evaluate one aspect of your performance in the 'mock' interview with other interviewing experiences at the Legal Advice Clinic (250 words); • consider what part(s) of the interviewing process outlined in the text 'Practical Legal Skills: Developing Your Clinical Technique' are relevant to your experience (50 words); • outline what you need to work on to improve your interviewing skills, and how will you do it (100 words). Online Post # 3 In 300 words, discuss an experience in the Legal Advice Clinic and its relationship to access to justice. Describe the experience (50 words) and using literature in the e-reading list reflect on its relationship to access to justice (250 words). Blogging Prompts for Law Professional Placement Online forum post # 1 In 350 words, answer the following questions, which you should be able to respond to even if you’ve not yet started your placement: • Describe the work of your host organisation. (50 words) • What types of legal matters does your organisation handle (or come in contact with)? (50 words) • State a current placement goal. How will you achieve this goal and why exactly do you want to reach it? (250 words) Online forum post # 2 In 350 words, address the following: • Describe a task you have undertaken, undertaking or will undertake and the associated challenges you are experiencing. (100 words) • Reflect on possible solutions and next steps with reference to relevant literature. (250 words) Online forum post # 3 In 350 words, address the following: • Describe feedback you have received on a task. (50 words) • Discuss in detail what you learned from this feedback, and any changes that you plan to make for future work based on it together with relevant literature. (300 words) Alternatively, if you have not received any feedback discuss what the barriers are in your receiving feedback and what you can do to overcome them using relevant literature. (350 words) Reviewed Article 199 Reflective Report Prompts for Legal Advice Clinic Part 1: Self-Awareness and Performance Analysis (1200 words) Using material from the seminars, authentic happiness/VARK tests, and e- reading list to assist your analysis of your Legal Advice Clinic placement performance and learning: • Briefly describe your Clinic goals and then critically discuss them in light of your placement performance. Do this by reflecting on your placement performance: evaluate what you did well or poorly; consider what strengths and weakness you noticed - discuss how you can develop the former and counteract the later; and, analyse what you have learnt from fellow students at the clinic and the role they have had in your performance. (800 words) • Respond to two forum student posts (identify the posts to which you are responding). Outline what you learnt about yourself and your experience at the Clinic from reading these posts. (400 words) Part 2: Client-Centred Practice (900 words) Using the text and relevant e-readings together with your experiences at the Legal Advice Clinic, engage in reflective analysis of client-centred practice by addressing the questions listed below: • What skills did you develop and use to assist clients to tell their narrative and make an informed decision to resolve their legal and (non)-legal problems? • What barriers inhibited you from being client-centred, and if you could "redo" an interaction with a client, fellow student, or supervisor in order to help you be a 'client centred' professional, what would you do differently if you had your time again? • Do you think there are situations when client-centred practice conflicts with the professional obligations of a legal practitioner - why or why not? Do your conclusions about this have anything to do with your experiences at the Legal Advice Clinic? Why/why not? Part 3: Access to Justice and Lawyers' Ethics (900 words) Critically analyse an experience you had at the Legal Advice Clinic using all four approaches to lawyers' ethics that are described in Christine Parker's, 'A Critical Morality for Lawyers: Four Approaches to Lawyer's Ethics' (2004) 30 Monash University Law Review 49. In your critical analysis, you should: • Highlight the connection between each of the four approaches and its respective impact on access to justice • Outline why a particular approach is (or approaches are) preferable using access to justice literature (in the e-reading list or from your own independent research) to support your conclusion. Reflective Report Prompts for Law Professional Placement Part 1: Goals, Performance Analysis (1. 1,500 words; 2. 1,000 words) Using material from the seminars, authentic happiness/VARK tests, and e- reading list to assist your analysis of your placement experience and practical learning: 1. Briefly describe your placement goals and then critically discuss them in light of your placement performance. Do this by reflecting on your placement performance: evaluate what you did well or poorly; consider what strengths and weakness you noticed - discuss how you can develop the former and counteract the later; and, analyse what you have learnt from your supervisor and the role they have had in your performance. 2. Respond to four forum student posts (identify the posts to which you are responding). Outline what you learnt about yourself and your placement experience from reading these posts. Part 2: Your Future in the Profession and Wellbeing, Values and Ethics (1,500 words) Critically analyse at least three of the articles on the e-reading list which focus on values, ethics or wellbeing by examining their relationship to your placement experience and your plans for personal, educational and career development. How do you plan to stay well in the law (or professional life)? Did your placement engage you in work consistent with your own values? How does this realization help you understand your identity as a lawyer and the path that you may take going forward? Reviewed Article 200 Rubrics for Blogging and Reflective Report [adapted from Susan L Brooks, and Margaret Reuter, ‘Assessing Law Students as Reflective Practitioners’ (2017) 62 New York Law School Law Review 49] Fail Pass Credit Distinction High Distinction Marking Criterion 1 Object of the reflection The focus of the online post does not address the question(s). Online post topic(s) are confused, and very little of the writing clearly supports or flows from the topic(s) of reflection. Overall, the answer to the online post question is not coherent. The focus of the online post partly addresses the question(s). Online post topic(s) are mostly defined, and some of the writing supports or flows from the topic(s) of reflection. Overall, the answer to the online post question is somewhat clear. The focus of the online post mostly addresses the question(s). Online post topic(s) are defined, and most of the writing supports the topic(s) of reflection. Overall, the answer to the online post question is mostly clear. The focus of the online post clearly addresses the question(s). Online post topic(s) are well-defined, and all of the writing supports the topic(s) of reflection. Overall, the answer to the online post question is clear. The focus of the online post addresses all of the question(s) in an articulate and sophisticated manner. Online post topic(s) are well-defined, and all of the writing clearly supports all of the topic(s) of reflection. Overall, the answer to the online post question is clear and concise. Marking Criterion 2 Critical perspective- taking in the reflection The online post is too descriptive and the topic(s) of reflection only consider the writer’s perspective in an uncritical manner. The online post is too descriptive, and the topic(s) of reflection partly consider the writer’s perspective in a critical manner. When needed some perspectives are supported by evidence, but it is done in a superficial manner. The online post has a partial balance of description, interpretation and evaluation, and the topic(s) of reflection mostly consider the writer’s perspective in a critical manner. When needed some perspectives are supported by appropriate evidence (for example, from e-readings, seminar discussions, and additional research). The online post has a good balance of description, interpretation and evaluation, and the topic(s) of reflection consider the writer’s perspective in a critical manner. When needed most perspectives are supported by appropriate evidence (for example, from e-readings, seminar discussions, and additional research). The online post has a complete balance of description, interpretation and evaluation, and the topic(s) of reflection consider the writer’s perspective in a critical manner. When needed all perspectives are supported by appropriate evidence (for example, from e- readings, seminar discussions, and additional research). Marking Criterion 3 Personal engagement in the reflection The online post shows no introspection about the student’s experience and reaction. The online post shows some introspection about the student’s experience and reaction. The online post shows introspection about the student’s experience and reaction. The online post shows introspection and demonstrates self- awareness about the student’s experience and reaction. The online post shows deep introspection and keen self- awareness about the student’s experience and reaction. Marking Criterion 4 Writing mechanics The online post is poorly organised, has multiple errors in grammar, and requires extensive editing to produce clarity and concision. The online post is somewhat organised, has some errors in grammar, and requires some editing to improve clarity and concision. The online post is organised, has negligible errors in grammar, and requires minor editing to improve clarity and concision. The online post is organised and paints a vivid picture. It may have a negligible error in grammar, but editing to improve clarity and concision is not required. The online post is organised, flows well and paints a vivid picture. It has no errors in grammar. Editing to improve clarity and concision is not required. Reviewed Article 201 Fail Pass Credit Distinction High Distinction Marking Criterion 1: Object of the reflection The focus in the reflective report does not properly address the question(s) in Parts I and II. The topics in the reflective report are confused, and there is inadequate detail to explain the relevance of the reflection to the reader. Overall, the reflective report topic setup is cursory and lacks specific contextual detail in response to the Part I and II questions. The focus in the reflective report partly addresses the questions in Parts I and II. The topics in the reflective report are mostly defined, and there is adequate background information to explain the relevance of the reflection to the reader. Overall, the reflective report topic setup is sufficient but it lacks specific contextual detail in some of the response to the Part I and II questions. The focus in the reflective report mostly addresses the questions in Parts I and II. The topics in the reflective report are defined and there is detailed background information to explain the relevance of most of the reflection to the reader. Overall, the reflective report topic setup is clear and there is specific contextual detail in response to most of the questions to the Part I and II questions. The focus in the reflective report addresses all of the questions in Parts I and II. The topics in the reflective report are well-defined and there is detailed background information to explain the relevance of all of the reflection to the reader. Overall, the reflective report topic setup is very clear and there is specific contextual detail in response to all of the Part I and II questions. The focus in the reflective report addresses all of the questions in Parts I and II in an articulate and sophisticated manner. The topics in the reflective report are well-defined and there is detailed background information to explain the relevance of all of the reflection to the reader. Overall, the reflective report topic setup is faultless and there is specific contextual detail in response to all of the Part I and II questions. Marking Criterion 2: Perspective- taking in the reflection The reflective report is too descriptive and the topics of reflection only consider the writer’s perspective in an uncritical manner. The reflective report is too descriptive, and the topics of reflection partly consider the writer’s perspective in a critical manner. Some of the reflective report addresses multiple perspectives, but it fails to identify and examine the perspective of one or more important actors in the topics of reflection. Perspectives are supported by evidence, but it is done in a superficial manner. The reflective report has a balance of description, interpretation and evaluation, and the topics of reflection mostly consider the writer’s perspective in a critical manner. The reflective report addresses multiple perspectives and all of the important actors in the topics of reflection are identified and examined. Most perspectives are supported by appropriate evidence (for example, from e- readings, seminar discussions, online posts, and additional research). The reflective report has a balance of description, interpretation and evaluation, and the topics of reflection consider the writer’s perspective in a critical manner. The reflective report addresses multiple perspectives and all of the important actors in the topics of reflection are identified and examined in a sophisticated manner. All perspectives are supported by appropriate evidence (for example, from e-readings, seminar discussions, online posts and additional research). The reflective report has a balance of description, interpretation and evaluation, and the topics of reflection consider the writer’s perspective in a critical manner. The reflective report addresses multiple perspectives and all of the important actors in the topics of reflection are identified and examined in a sophisticated manner. All perspectives are supported by appropriate evidence in a sophisticated manner (for example, from e-readings, seminar discussions, online posts and additional research). Reviewed Article 202 Marking Criterion 3: Personal engagement in the reflection The reflective report shows minimal introspection. The evaluation of the writer’s reaction to his or her experience is missing or incoherent. The reflective report shows some introspection about the student’s experience and reaction. There is minimal evaluation of the writer’s strengths and weaknesses in relation to the topics of reflection. The reflective report shows introspection about the student’s experience and reaction. There is some evaluation of the writer’s strengths and weaknesses in relation to the topics of reflection. The reflective report shows deep, genuine introspection about the student’s experience and reaction. There is evaluation of the writer’s strengths and weaknesses in relation to the topics of reflection. . The writer’s evaluation of strengths and weakness highlights what he/she needs to learn going forward is articulated. The reflective report shows deep, genuine introspection about the student’s experience and reaction. There is keen self- awareness and a sophisticated evaluation of the writer’s strengths and weaknesses in relation to the topics of reflection. The writer’s evaluation of strengths and weakness highlights what he/she needs to learn is clearly articulated. Marking Criterion 4: Lessons learned from reflection The reflective report is descriptive and there are not any identifying takeaways or learning that is personal to the writer. The reflective report considers lessons learned from reflection, and partly addresses how this learning will be used in the future. The lessons learned are supported by evidence, but it is done in a superficial manner. The reflective report considers lessons learned from reflection and mostly addresses how this learning will be used in the future. The lessons learned are supported by appropriate evidence (for example, from e- readings, seminar discussions, online posts and additional research). The reflective report considers lessons learned from reflection and clearly addresses how this learning will be used in the future. The lessons learned are supported by appropriate evidence (for example, from e-readings, seminar discussions, online posts and additional research). The reflective report considers lessons learned from reflection and clearly addresses how this learning will be used in the future in a sophisticated manner. The lessons learned are supported by appropriate evidence in sophisticated manner (for example, from e-readings, seminar discussions, online posts and additional research). Marking Criterion 5: Writing mechanics The reflective report is poorly organised, has multiple errors in grammar, and requires extensive editing to produce clarity and concision. AGLC compliance is non- existent. The reflective report is somewhat organised, has some errors in grammar, and requires some editing to improve clarity and concision. AGLC compliant in some areas, but there are errors. The reflective report is organised, has negligible errors in grammar, and requires minor editing to improve clarity and concision. AGLC compliant save and except for multiple minor errors. The reflective report is organised and paints a vivid picture. It may have a negligible error in grammar, but editing to improve clarity and concision is not required. AGLC compliant save and except for a minor error. The reflective report is organised, flows well and paints a vivid picture. It has no errors in grammar. Editing to improve clarity and concision is not required. AGLC compliant. Reviewed Article 203 APPENDIX B Adelaide University Guidelines for Blogging and Journaling: BLOGS BLOG RESPONSES A good blog outlines the experience event or issue with just enough detail to give it context, frames the issue you want to discuss, and then discusses with reference to theory and your own experience.  Blog # 1 – Share your experience/thoughts of your first day on placement. How did you feel on the first day? Relate your feelings to how a client might feel? What specific strategies will you use to help the client through the process.  Blog # 2 – What do you need advice on? There are 20 smart students in this course. Identify one or more things that you would like some advice/support. Frame your questions with reference to theory and to your preliminary thoughts on the issue.  Blog # 3 – Challenges and successes. You should by now have been involved in one or more interviews or other interactions with clients or other advisors. Select an interesting experience. Explain what you learned from the experience, with reference to your starting point and where you are now. Focus on things you have learned or questions you have arising from the experience. NOT INSPIRED BY ANY OF THESE? You can blog about anything you like. Just remember to frame your discussion in a way that another student can learn from and respond to. A good blog response generally covers the following: • Show that you have heard what the blogger says – not be repeating it but by summarising what was said in context (much as you would provide reframed feedback to a client in an interview) • Engage with the blog by adding your own thoughts experiences or suggestions to the discussion • Build on the conversation by adding your own understanding from further research, or by asking carefully thought out questions RESEARCH does not just mean law journals! It means looking for resources that help explain interpret or build understanding and experience – it is completely acceptable to search online for whatever information you find that is helpful it does not have to be a scholarly resource. STYLE – use your own authentic voice, speak in the first person, tell a story rather than a de personalised academic discussion. Try to engage in a conversation with each other. REFLECTIVE JOURNAL Reviewed Article 204 Journal # 1 Journal # 2 I will read and comment on your journal entry within the nominated time, and ask you further questions, which you should answer by the nominated date. I will read and respond to your journal entry within the nominated time, and you may respond within the further time nominated. Blogs and journal posts – Marking Rubric Pass (2) Fail (1) C (3) D (4) HD (5) Discusses and evaluates client interviews/client management Primarily narrative Summative conclusions without reasoned and referenced discussion Reference to readings showing relation of theory to practice. C – reference to readings or additional materials without critical evaluation application and discussion. Minimal narrative. Descriptive analysis (what was said, observed, responses) Critical discussion of readings showing application and understanding of range of sources and ideas. Reviewed Article 205 Discuss/evaluate interprofessional relationships Evaluates others’ performance and role Primarily observational discussion of others role in interviews or other activities. D – Critical discussion of readings AND integrated discussion of found sources demonstrating capacity to relate additional sources to experiences Evaluates working style, relational style, group dynamics, demonstrating learning from engagement with and critical observation of others. Additional self-directed research and investigation. Self evaluation Learning style Mainly narrative/descriptive discussion of own learning process including reactions to situations, identification of challenges, and strategies to overcome. D – identifies and discusses personal reactions responses and perspectives honestly and with insight. Explores personal reactions with references to sources or different perspectives. Insightful evaluation of own engagement with legal process identifying processes behaviours and work management issues. Informed strategies to develop further with reference to readings and other sources as relevant. Justice access/system issues Identifies justice access/ system issues but does not discuss with reference to readings and extra research Identifies and discusses system and access issues with reference to experiences on placement, with reference to broader interrelationship of justice access from whole system/social legal perspective. Reasoned personal Reviewed Article 206 opinion; reference to up to date relevant resources. Ethics and professionalism Reference to relevant readings and professional standards in reference to work experiences C- Relates ethical issues arising on placement or elsewhere in own experiences and relates to ethical rules D- considers found sources and applies with reasons to issues raised. Evaluative discussion of readings relating to professionalism and ethics with apparent connections between day to day experiences and broader concept of ethical and professional practice. Reasoned/ well- argued opinions. Journal/blog topics Brief and narrative response to issues showing personal thought but not going beyond readings; matters discussed in seminars; personal views. Deep analytical discussion of journal questions showing personal insight and application of observations and experiences to underlying themes supported by reference to prescribed and additional materials Reviewed Article 207 Reviewed Article 208 APPENDIX C Reviewed Article 209 Reviewed Article 210 Reviewed Article 211 Reviewed Article 212 (a) How Matthew and Margaret Teach Blogging, Journaling and Reflective Practice (b) Contextualising Reflective Practice and Reflective Writing (c) The Challenge of Teaching Reflective Practice and Writing (d) Bringing Blogging into the Equation (d) Goal of our research (a) Questionnaire: Quantitative Data (b) Questionnaire: Qualitative Data (i) Marker Feedback (ii) Blending Summative and Formative Assessment with Peer Feedback (iii) Sharing Reflective Writing with Peers and Being Part of a Community (v) Sharing Personal Thought with Peers and the Impact on Reflective Writing Blogs and journal posts – Marking Rubric