LEAD 490-10DSenior Capstone

Fall 2007

INDIVIDUAL ASSIGNMENT: REFLECTIVE JOURNAL

What is a Journal? Your journal should be a reflective document that provides personal, thoughtful analysis of your individual participation/progress on the group project, and your assessment of the group interactions that may have occurred during the week.

Why keep a journal? Of course, one of the reasons is that it is a course requirement! However, more importantly, we know that the personal reflection and self-appraisal that is part of “journaling” will help you articulate what you learned as a leadership major and why you do the things you do—we call this “deep learning” since it comes about through your own self-analysis, rather than through lectures, memorization, or “book learning.” This thoughtful introspection can help you tell a potential employer, or a graduate school admissions officer, who you are and what talents and interests you possess.

What “products” are required?You will submit weekly journal entries. At the end of the semester, you will also submit your full, aggregated collection of entries so that your “final” journal covers the entire semester. Your full collection may be comprised of your original entries, or you may choose to revise some or all of them based upon feedback from the instructor. More details are found later in this document.

What constitutes a “thoughtful” Journal entry? What are some examples of what you might address in your Journal?Remember that the more connections you make between what is going on in this capstone class to what you’ve learned in other leadership courses, the better your entries will be and the easier they will be to write. For example, analyze the merits (or problems) of the decision-making processes used in this class in light of what you’ve learned about decision-making models in LEAD 341. Additionally, keep in mind the Capstone course student learning outcomes, and be sure to address how you are or are not achieving them. The following are some ideas that you might use as you engage in reflective journaling.

In considering your interactions with your classmates as you proceed with your group project, you could and should address:

What did you learn during this interaction? What did you contribute? What did the other members of the group contribute? What are the group’s plans for the future? What is your assessment of how the group is functioning thus far?

In considering your own actions, you could address:

What happened in the group process today and how does it relate to something I learned as a Leadership major at UD? What happened when I tried something new? Why did I success or fail? Did I have an “aha” moment? Why am I having a déjà vu moment? Did I consider an alternative perspective? Why or why not? Do I have a theory about why this is working or not working? What have I learned that is causing me to interact differently? What new behaviors do I plan on taking for the purpose of what action? What skill set did I offer the group? Do I have skills that I “kept to myself?” What skills need to be addressed or developed in the group for us to accomplish our goals? How will we go about gaining them?

Additional points to consider:

Independent research/readings you have done to support the project New technological skills you need to develop and your plans for going about doing that Your individual feelings about the project People you plan to talk to or did talk to in order to gain necessary background and/or connections The progress you’re making on achieving the course’s student learning outcomes Your plans for the next week

HOWEVER, it is very important that you be honest in your journal entries. If you have not spent any time or given any thought to this course/project during the week, then that is what you should record.

Keep in mind that journal entries might also be components of your e-portfolio (as could be some of the intermediate and final products of this project).

How and when do I submit my weekly journal entries?Make sure each weekly entry has your name (especially important if you are emailing), the dates covered, and the date submitted. These weekly journal entries must be emailed to both instructors (kstein@udel.edu and klp@udel.edu). The instructors will use them to monitor both your progress as well as the progress of the group. Most importantly, the instructors will provide you with useful feedback that you can use to revise your journal entries so that your final collection is of high quality.

The emailed entry must be RECEIVED in both instructors’ inboxes no later than 11:59 pm on the due date. Note that it does not matter when you sent the entry via email; only when it was received. Since you cannot control the timing or extent of traffic on the servers, it is highly suggested that you leave at least one hour for the entry to arrive in the intructors’ inboxes.

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It is fine to include your journal entry in the body of the email itself. However, you may also wish to include your entry as a word attachment. If you choose to do so, do NOT use any symbols (# $ & *, etc) as part of the file name. If you do, your professor will not be able to open the file and your assignment will not be accepted. Here is an example of an excellent file name:Stein week of Sept 3.doc

In the schedule of due dates below, you will note that one instructor’s name is next to the entries for weeks 2-12 (below). This indicates which instructor has primary responsibility for commenting on your entry; however, this is subject to change. So, don’t forget to email your journal entry to both instructors every week.

1. Week of August 27 DUE September 2 (kstein@udel.edu AND klp@udel.edu)To help you practice reflective journaling, address the following as your first weekly journal entry due on September 2 received no later than 11:59 pm (note that September 2 is a Sunday). Drawing upon your knowledge of organizational leadership and decision-making, how do you think the members of the class should best organize themselves to accomplish the group project? Why? Considering your own strengths and weaknesses, what kind of role do you want to play? 2. Week of Sept 3 DUE Sept 10 (kstein@udel.edu)3. Week of Sept 10 DUE Sept. 17 (klp@udel.edu)4. Week of Sept. 17 DUE Sept. 24 (kstein)5. Week of Sept. 24 DUE Oct. 1 (kstein)6. Week of Oct. 1 DUE Oct 8 (klp)7. Week of Oct. 8 DUE Oct. 15 (kstein)8. Week of Oct. 15 DUE Oct. 22 (klp)9. Week of Oct 22 DUE Oct. 29 (kstein)10. Week of Oct. 29 DUE Nov. 5 (klp)

11. Week of Nov. 5 DUE Nov. 12 (kstein)12. Week of Nov. 12 DUE Nov. 19 (klp) NOTE: No entry due for the week of Nov. 1913-14. Weeks of Nov. 26 and Dec. 3 incorporated into your collected Journal, due Dec. 5. This is

your opportunity (required) to offer a semester-long self and group appraisal.

What about my total collection of journal entries? When is that due?

On December 5 in class, you will submit all of your reflection journal entries (remember that you might revise some or all of them during the course of the semester) as one complete journal entity. Therefore, it is very important that you keep your own electronic and hard copies during the semester. Be sure to print out your weekly entries, since hard drives have been known to crash. If you lose your previously submitted entries, it will be very difficult for you to re-create them.

Your complete journal will be graded. Please note that failure to submit weekly journal entries that demonstrate thoughtful self-assessment and reflection upon past learning will result in a penalty that will substantially lower the grade you receive on your final journal submission.

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