Top 5 Reasons to Use a Learning Journal

A learning journal is a collection of notes, thoughts, drawings, sketches, observations, and kept in a collected space (such as a notebook) to enhance your learning, make connections, and build upon prior knowledge. I LOVE beautiful learning journals!

The premise behind keeping a journal is that in order to improve and change something you must be aware of in the first place! As a method of reflection, a learning journal can help you “slow-down” and evaluate a learning experience at your own pace, connecting the dots on how the information learned might be applied in your real-life scenarios.

A learning journal gives you the place to ask yourself questions about the learning experience. Questions you might  ask yourself and record in your journal are: 

• What happened? Describe the experience.
• How do I feel about the experience (before, during, after)?
• What insights have I gained through this experience? (eg. self and others)
• What do I think helped or hindered my learning? (eg. other people’s learning)
• What will I do the same/different because of this experience?

If you’ve never used a learning journal before, here are my Top 5 Reasons to Use a Learning Journal.

A Learning Journal helps you to:

1. Develop self-directed learning where you can track your progress
2. Sharpen your observations and encourages critical thinking
3. Explore your understanding and perceptions and question your assumptions on a topic
4. Store your thoughts, ideas, ponderings, insights, and questions to help recall and retention
5. Share your new knowledge, ideas, and lessons learned with others

So, what does a learning journal look like? Learning Journals have become part of our GamiCon DNA. There is no set “look” to a learning journal. Here is a link to the downloadable journal we designed and used for a gamification conference, Camp GamiCon, that was held in the fall of 2021. Camp GamiCon Learning Journal

Our intern just shared the cover (see image with this blog) of the journal for our upcoming GamiCon48V with me and I LOVE it.

How have you used your learning journals? In what ways have they helped you in your life?