The Use of Reflective Journals

1)
-to record experience
-to develop learning in ways that enhance other learning
-to deepen quality of learning in the form of critical thinking or developing a questioning attitude
-to enable the learner to understand their own learning process

2)
-to facilitate learning from experience
-to increase active involvement in learning and personal ownership of learning
-to increase ability to relfect and improve quality of learning
-to enhance problem solving skills
-as a means of assessment in formal education
-to enhance professional practise or the professional in self practice

3)
-to explore the self, personal constructs of meaning and understand one's view of the world
-to enhance the personal valving for the self towards self-empowerment
-for therapeutic purposes or as a means of supporting behavior change.
-as a means of slowing down learning, taking more thorough account of a situation

4)
-to enhance creativity by making better use of intuitive understanding
-to free up writing and the representation of learning
-to provide an alternative voice for those not good at expressing themselves
-to foster reflective and creative interaction in a group