Note Taking
Sometimes we forget the value of encouraging students to observe and take good notes of activities or events. In the past, I have written about using reports of field trips or site visits as a way to encourage students to improve their observational skills and focus on important aspects of a site visit or industry situation. The activity of taking notes helps students look for particular aspects of a visit, especially if you give them a list of items to observe. It also helps them see the value of the site visit and not use it as a social occasion.

Journals
Another way to encourage careful observation involves requiring students to keep journals of demonstrations they observe or experiences they have in industry—in internships, cooperative learning activities, service learning assignments or work situations. Teaching them how to take notes in a journal and encouraging them to record what they notice improves their attention to detail and causes them to observe every professional situation more carefully. 

Some faculty members require students to hand in their journals; others ask students to digest the information and sift through the information and notes in their journals to write a reflective paper on what they have noticed and how they have grown in observing activities or using their skills in a variety of new circumstances. Just reviewing their journals can become a productive learning experience for them. It also helps you avoid the task of reading each and every journal with a wide range of handwriting and note-taking skills. Having your students write a paper from the journal helps improve their critical-thinking skills and practice their writing in a situation that is not research based.

Reflective Papers
Having them write reflective papers from their notes or journals also forces students to take more careful notes and think about what they observe. Additionally, it helps them sift through what they noticed and ruminate on it. After all, John Dewey taught us that we do not learn from experience, but from reflecting on our experience. Otherwise, some of us would be forever making the same mistake.

Encouraging students to reflect on their experience is not an easy task; many current students are used to participating in active learning either while cooking in kitchens, managing their connections on various forms of social media, or using video games. They expect to focus quickly on something and get an immediate response. However, this assignment requires them to observe carefully and then think about what they noticed or missed, what was important, and what could have been different.

A second challenge is some students’ tendencies to just report on what they saw or did and not think about it or bring a different perspective to it. Helping them move from reporting on or reacting (emotionally) to their experience and getting them to reflect on what happened and what could have been different or what they learned from that situation that they will not repeat again makes the learning more powerful and more useful. Sometimes specific questions in a reflective-paper assignment help; other times, providing examples can assist students to move away from reaction to reflection. In any case, it can be a powerful learning tool. If you are not doing it, try it. If you are doing it, consider another way of organizing it or explaining it to students.

Summary
Thank you for reading this column about note taking and journals; feel free to send me comments. Next month, we will continue our focus on teaching strategies and discuss the value of writing white papers as a thoughtful and effective assignment for students. If you have suggestions for other topics, send them to me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., and I will include them in future Mayo’s Clinics.

Dr. Fred Mayo, CHE, CHT, is a clinical professor at New York University and a frequent presenter at CAFÉ events nationwide.