Back to the Basics: Handwritten Journaling,Student Engagement,and Bloom’s Learning Outcomes

Abstract

Often considered an enhancement to the learning experience, technology can also stifle creativity and higher levels of thinking. This study repositions students away from technology and back to the basics to stimulate engagement and higher levels of learning. It investigates the relationship between learning outcomes and the reflective journaling process in the context of an undergraduate marketing class in the United States. In addition, this study investigates a technique in which students are introduced to topics that are sensitive in nature, yet relevant to the real world. Although reflective journaling has been utilized in courses in areas such as educational psychology and social work, it has not been widely practiced in business courses such as marketing. Through the lens of Bloom’s Taxonomy, we qualitatively analyze handwritten reflective journaling assignments about loneliness and social media to determine how the process highlights higher levels of learning. The opportunity to use handwritten journals provided a unique learning experience and a hands-on approach to allow marketing students to experience learning in a new light.

Keywords

reflective learning journaling creativity creative learning Bloom’s Taxonomy

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Acquisti

Brandimarte

Loewenstein

(2020). Secrets and likes: The drive for privacy and the difficulty of achieving it in the digital age. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 30(4), 736–758. https://doi.org/10.1002/jcpy.1191

Allen

LeFebvre

Bourhis

(2020). Is the pencil mightier than the keyboard? A meta-analysis comparing the method of notetaking outcomes. Southern Communication Journal, 85, 143–154.

Anderson

Krathwohl

D. A.

(2001). Taxonomy for learning, teaching and assessing: A revision of Bloom’s taxonomy of educational objectives. Longman.

Asamoah

(2020). Digital overload: What is it, and how is it affecting our mental and physical health? https://www.goodrx.com/blog/what-is-digital-overload-definition-symptoms-how-to-manage/

Atkins

Murphy

(1993). Reflection: A review of the literature. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 18(8), 1188–1192.

Berezan

Krishen

A. S.

Agarwal

Kachroo

(2020). Exploring loneliness and social networking: Recipes for hedonic well-being on Facebook. Journal of Business Research, 115, 258–265. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2019.11.009

Berezan

Krishen

A. S.

Jenveja

(2019). Loneliness and social media: The interplay of physical and virtual social space. In Krishen

A. S.

Berezan

(Eds.), Marketing and humanity: Discourses in the real world (pp. 49–68). Cambridge Scholars Publishing.

Bisman

(2011). Engaged pedagogy: A study of the use of reflective journals in accounting education. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 36(3), 315–330. https://doi.org/10.1080/02602930903428676

Bloom

Engelhart

Furst

Hill

Krathwohl

(1956). Taxonomy of educational objectives: The classification of educational goals. Longman.

10.

Boden

C. J.

Cook

Lasker-Scott

Moore

Shelton

(2006). Five perspectives on reflective journaling. Adult Learning, 17(1–4), 11–15.

11.

Carrington

Selva

(2010). Critical social theory and transformative learning: Evidence in pre-service teachers’ service-learning reflection logs. Higher Education Research & Development, 29(1), 45–57. https://doi.org/10.1080/07294360903421384

12.

Combs

(2021). 7 in-demand tech skills to master in 2021. https://www.techrepublic.com/article/7-in-demand-tech-skills-to-master-in-2021/

13.

Dahl

A. J.

Peltier

J. W.

Schibrowsky

J. A.

(2018). Critical thinking and reflective learning in the marketing education literature: A historical perspective and future research needs. Journal of Marketing Education, 40(2), 101–116. https://doi.org/10.1177/0273475317752452

14.

Dreyer

L. M.

(2015). Reflective journaling: A tool for teacher professional development. Africa Education Review, 12(2), 331–344.

15.

Gimenez

Bugescu

Black

Hancock

Pugh

Nagamine

. . . McCandliss

(2014). Neuroimaging correlates of handwriting quality as children learn to read and write. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 8, Article 155.

16.

Hay

Peltier

J. W.

Drago

W. A.

(2004). Reflective learning and on-line management education: A comparison of traditional and on-line MBA students. Strategic Change, 13(4), 169–182.

17.

H.-f.

Krishen

A. S.

(2019). When is enough, enough? Investigating product reviews and information overload from a consumer empowerment perspective. Journal of Business Research, 100, 27–37. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2019.03.011

18.

James

K. H.

Engelhardt

(2012). The effects of handwriting experience on functional brain development in pre-literate children. Trends in Neuroscience and Education, 1(1), 32–42. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tine.2012.08.001

19.

Kaufman

Flanagan

(2016, May 7–12). High-low split: Divergent cognitive construal levels triggered by digital and non-digital platforms [Paper presentation]. Proceedings of the 2016 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, San Jose, CA, USA.

20.

Kobert

L. J.

(1995). In our own voice: Journaling as a teaching/learning technique for nurses. Journal of Nursing Education, 34(3), 140–142.

21.

Krathwohl

D. R.

(2002). A revision of Bloom’s taxonomy: An overview. Theory Into Practice, 41(4), 212–218.

22.

Krishen

A. S.

(2013). Catch it if you can: How contagious motivation improves group projects and course satisfaction. Journal of Marketing Education, 35(3), 220–230.

23.

Krishen

A. S.

(2021). Where there’s a will, there’s a way: Synthesizing creativity, contagious motivation, and unique projects into the course experience. Journal of Marketing Education. https://doi.org/10.1177/02734753211006820

24.

Krishen

A.S.

Berezan

(Eds.) (2019). Marketing and humanity: Discourses in the real world. Cambridge Scholars Publishing.

25.

J. X.

James

K. H.

(2016). Handwriting generates variable visual output to facilitate symbol learning. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 145(3), 298–313. https://doi.org/10.1037/xge0000134

26.

Liuolienė

Metiūnienė

(2009). Students’ learning through reflective journaling. Coactivity: Philology, Educology/Santalka: Filologija, Edukologija, 17(4), 32–37.

27.

Loo

Thorpe

(2002). Using reflective learning journals to improve individual and team performance. Team Performance Management: An International Journal, 8(5/6), 134–139. https://doi.org/10.1108/13527590210442258

28.

Marks

R. B.

(2000). Determinants of student evaluations of global measures of instructor and course value. Journal of Marketing Education, 22(2), 108–119.

29.

McCorkle

D. E.

Payan

J. M.

Reardon

Kling

N. D.

(2007). Perceptions and reality: Creativity in the marketing classroom. Journal of Marketing Education, 29(3), 254–261.

30.

Michaelidou

Micevski

Cadogan

J. W.

(2021). Users’ ethical perceptions of social media research: Conceptualisation and measurement. Journal of Business Research, 124, 684–694. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2020.03.005

31.

Mladenovic

Martinov-Bennie

Bell

(2019). Business students’ insights into their development of ethical decision-making. Journal of Business Ethics, 155(1), 275–287.

32.

Morse

Barrett

Mayan

Olson

Spiers

(2002). Verification strategies or establishing reliability and validity in qualitative research. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 1(2), 1–19.

33.

Mueller

P. A.

Oppenheimer

D. M.

(2014). The pen is mightier than the keyboard: Advantages of longhand over laptop note taking. Psychological Science, 25(6), 1159–1168.

34.

Muncy

J. A.

(2014). Blogging for reflection: The use of online journals to engage students in reflective learning. Marketing Education Review, 24(2), 101–114.

35.

Pavlovich

(2007). The development of reflective practice through student journals. Higher Education Research & Development, 26(3), 281–295.

36.

Peltier

J. W.

Hay

Drago

(2005). The reflective learning continuum: Reflecting on reflection. Journal of Marketing Education, 27(3), 250–263.

37.

Peltier

J. W.

Hay

Drago

(2006). Reflecting on reflection: Scale extension and a comparison of undergraduate business students in the United States and the United Kingdom. Journal of Marketing Education, 28(1), 5–16.

38.

Planton

Jucla

Roux

F.-E.

Démonet

J.-F.

(2013). The “handwriting brain”: A meta-analysis of neuroimaging studies of motor versus orthographic processes. Cortex, 49(10), 2772–2787.

39.

Ravizza

S. M.

Uitvlugt

M. G.

Fenn

K. M.

(2017). Logged in and zoned out: How laptop internet use relates to classroom learning. Psychological Science, 28(2), 171–180.

40.

Ren

Xia

(2018). Delivering warmth by hand: Customer responses to different formats of written communication. Journal of Services Marketing, 32(2), 223–234.

41.

Ruder

D. B.

(2019). Screen time and the brain. https://hms.harvard.edu/news/screen-time-brain

42.

Sage

Sele

(2015). Reflective journaling as a flipped classroom technique to increase reading and participation with social work students. Journal of Social Work Education, 51, 668–681. https://doi.org/10.1080/10437797.2015.1076274.

43.

Shibata

Omura

(2020). Effects of writing and drawing by hand. In Shibata

Omura

(Eds.), Why digital displays cannot replace paper: The cognitive science of media for reading and writing (pp. 125–153). Springer.

44.

Spiller

Tuten

(2019). Assessing the pedagogical value of branded digital marketing certification programs. Journal of Marketing Education, 41(2), 77–90. https://doi.org/10.1177/0273475318822686

45.

Stanton

A. D.

Stanton

W. W.

(2017). Using journaling to enhance learning and critical thinking in a retailing course. Journal for Advancement of Marketing Education, 25(1), 32–36.

46.

Torino

G. C.

(2015). Examining biases and white privilege: Classroom teaching strategies that promote cultural competence. Women & Therapy, 38(3–4), 295–307.

47.

Weber

(1990). Basic content analysis (2nd ed.). SAGE.