Key Aspects to Include in Your Weekly Journal Entry Assessment

Assessment

What aspects should I include in a journal entry? Some aspects that you could cover in your journal include:

• How well did you adhere to social contracts established by your team
• How timely were the completion of your assigned tasks
• How did you solve the problems for the week
• How well you collaborated and established a set of activities to improve the quality of you and your team's outcomes for the week
• What were the issues faced by you and/or your team while executing the projects?
• What were your proposed solutions to these issues?
• How well did your proposed solutions resolve the issues
• How has that learning helped you or your team to deliver its weekly goal?
• What gaps did you observe in current skill set?
  • How were those gaps uncovered?
  • What will you do to overcome them in the future?
• What strengths did you uncover or confirm in your current skillset?
  • How were they uncovered – what were the circumstances?
  • How will you utilise those strengths in your professional future?

What is the difference between a Retrospective and a Journal?

• A Project Retrospective is a team-based activity involving the entire team reflecting on the recently completed project or project iteration. The focus is on evaluating the team's performance and identifying successes, challenges, and areas for improvement in the project process.

• An Individual Reflection is a personal and individual process where an individual reflects on their own experiences, actions, and personal development. It may cover a broader range of experiences beyond a specific project and can encompass various aspects of personal and professional life.

Guidelines for journal content, word limits

The following resource is a template and guide for Assignment 2.

The journal provides you with the opportunity to reflect on your experiences throughout the unit, including the contribution/s you have made to the success of your team and your own professional development.

Each of your journal entries should use DIEP as per figure 1. DIEP is a strategy to help write a reflection in four paragraphs. The four steps describe an insight (new understanding), interpret and evaluate it, and plan how it might transfer to future practice or learning.

Assessment Summary

The purpose of this assessment is to reflect on personal and team performance throughout the unit and demonstrate professional development via journal entries. Key pointers to be covered in the journal include:

• Team Collaboration: Adherence to team social contracts, timeliness in completing tasks, and contributions to group activities.
• Problem Solving: Identification of issues faced by the team or individually, proposed solutions, and evaluation of their effectiveness.
• Learning and Growth: Insights gained from resolving issues, skills gaps identified, and strategies to overcome these gaps in the future.
• Strengths and Application: Recognition of personal strengths, circumstances in which they were demonstrated, and how these strengths will be leveraged professionally.
• Reflection Framework: Use of the DIEP method (Describe, Interpret, Evaluate, Plan) to structure reflections for clarity and depth.
• Differentiation: Understanding the difference between Project Retrospectives (team-focused) and Individual Reflections (personal-focused).

Assessment Approach Guided by Academic Mentor

The Academic Mentor guided the student through the journal preparation step by step, ensuring that each section of the DIEP framework was properly addressed:

1. Describe (D):

   • The mentor encouraged the student to document weekly activities, highlighting tasks completed, team interactions, and challenges encountered.

   • Students were prompted to provide specific examples to make reflections concrete.

2. Interpret (I):

   • Students analyzed the underlying reasons behind successes and challenges.
   • The mentor guided them to consider team dynamics, personal behaviours, and external factors affecting performance.

3. Evaluate (E):

   • The student assessed the effectiveness of their actions and proposed solutions.
   • The mentor prompted evaluation of both successful strategies and areas needing improvement, reinforcing critical thinking.

4. Plan (P):

   • Students developed action plans for future improvement, addressing identified skill gaps.

   • The mentor encouraged linking insights to future professional practice, ensuring reflection was not just descriptive but applied and forward-looking.

Outcome and Learning Objectives Covered

• Enhanced Self-Awareness: The student identified personal strengths, weaknesses, and gaps in skills.
• Improved Problem-Solving: Reflections on challenges improved analytical and solution-oriented thinking.
• Teamwork and Collaboration: Analysis of social contracts and team interactions strengthened understanding of group dynamics.
• Professional Development: Action plans created using DIEP framework provided clear strategies for future growth.
• Reflective Practice Skills: Student learned to structure reflection effectively using DIEP, linking experience to insight, evaluation, and planning.

Final Outcome: A comprehensive, structured journal entry demonstrating clear reflection on both personal and team contributions, learning from challenges, and planning for professional improvement.

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