Many faculty seek to encourage students to reflect—to consciously think about what they are learning and sometimes about how they are learning. Through reflective journals students often answer a set of teacher-supplied prompts. In other assignments they may be reflecting on a course activity, say their work with others in a small group, or they may be writing about what they observe, say during an internship experience. They may be reflecting on the skills observed in others or the skills they find themselves using or working to develop. But just how reflective is that journal writing?
