The Impact of Blogs on Reflective Practice: A Pilot Project

What is the impact of blogging on reflective practice? Is it better than journalling? Journalling is highly personal and private unless shared with others. Does a community of practice, that journals publically within this group gain more with respect to professional development? These questions are explored in this pilot project involving final year physiotherapy students. The attached power point provides some detail on the project.
Two groups will engage in reflective practice during the course of some clinical fieldwork. One group will use standard journalling processes. The other group will use Blogging in pods of 5 learners who can see and contribute to individual and/or group reflections. Focus groups will determine qualitatively, differences in learning, practice and performance. To guide the learning process, students will reflect on clinical practice ethics, evidence based practice and professional practice (eg. clinical reasoning, peer support, and general questions/answers) Other measures may also be taken to look at differences between the two groups.