Journaling and Reflection as Education Tools for Engineering Study Abroad

Study abroad for engineering students is increasingly valued for improving global competency within the practicing profession. Short-term, time-intensive study abroad, while fitting well with other demands on student time, differs from traditional approaches to engineering education. Faculty leading these programs have few examples of learning assessment approaches. This paper describes the development of reflective journaling assignments for engineering students participating in a water engineering study abroad course. Instructor observations and written student evaluations were used to refine the assignments over 3 years. Examples of assignments designed to guide students from core knowledge to critical thinking are included. It was found that students performed best in a new and rigorous learning setting when adjustment to new learning styles was included as stated learning objectives, when guiding questions were used to help students navigate from core knowledge into reflection, when a scoring rubric was applied that provided flexible space for students to explore new concepts, and when students were required to acknowledge understanding of the rubric prior to the start of the course. These findings, while applied here to university students, would also be applicable to workshops for engineering continued education, when advanced thinking is a workshop goal.