Dialogue Journals
Using Dialogue Journal activities to facilitate the development of strong writing skills
| Student Activity Time | Medium |
|---|---|
| Instructor Prep Time | Medium |
| Instructor Response Time | High |
| Complexity of Activity | High |
Description
Dialogue Journals have individuals keep a journal in which they write about a reading assignment, lecture, task, or experience. Students exchange journals with another student, who reads the entry, provide comments and ask questions of the writer.
|
Use it when you want...
- To provide a vehicle for students to connect coursework to their personal lives, record their thoughts, have others review their work, provide feedback, and ask questions, or
- To allow students to make connections with other students in ways that can challenge and expand their thinking on a topic.
What students will need
- No special requirements for this approach
Workflow
The following workflow is meant as guidance for how you can facilitate a Dialogue Journal learning activity within a classroom.
Pre-Class
- Decide the following parameters of the activity: the reader’s tasks and role, how and when partners will exchange journals, the medium for the journal (e.g., a computer file, a lined tablet, a formal bound booklet), and whether you will supply students with this or they will need to purchase it.
- Create a handout that includes directions, clarifies your expectations, and provides examples.
In-Class
- On a new page in the journal, students draw a vertical line about one-third of the page from the right margin. The writer writes on the left side, the responder on the right.
- After reviewing the assigned content, the writer enters comments or questions and dates and signs the entry.
- The writer gives the journal to the responder who reads the entries and responds with comments, answers, questions, also dating and signing their work.
- The instructor may collect the journals to clarify points, answer questions, and comment on or evaluate the quality of observations and responses.
Post-Class
- Review journals.
- Provide feedback/grade based quality on the quality of observations and responses.
Accessibility and Room Considerations
- None
Technical Documentation
- None
Examples
Example 1
An Introduction to Political Science professor encourages students to pay closer attention to current political events and to relate these events to course content. He forms long-term pairs to work together for the semester and requires one exchange of entries to add responses each week. He asks students to note any recent political activity in the news that particularly intrigued them and to try to explain or elaborate on the item using the language and theories of political science (Barkley 294).
Example 2
In Mass Communications, the professor teaching her online course is focused on new media and culture. She decides to use Dialogue Journals to develop activities using Piazza (an online question/answer forum integrated with Canvas). She asks students to create a posting based on course topics, including the decreased value of privacy, the digital divide, and issues of race, gender, and socioeconomic class in cyberculture. She asks students to pair up to respond to each other’s posts and encourages other students to comment as well (Barkley 295).
Citation/Source
Barkley, Elizabeth F. et al. Collaborative Learning Techniques A Handbook For College Faculty. Wiley, 2014. pp. 292-296.