Exploring reflective journaling in academic development consultancy: Reflections responses and challenges

Abstract

Reflective journaling may be used to support staff to meet the demands of their personal and professional development in the light of the challenges and pressures they face, and may also be used by academic developers themselves to plan, develop, implement and evaluate new programmes or initiative. In this paper I explore some of the current challenges facing staff in higher education, in particular the challenges facing academic staff developers. The paper also provides my reflections as academic developer on a recent consultancy experience, using reflective journaling as the academic consultancy strategy. The benefits of using reflective journaling in consultancy are, for example, long term gains relating to change in practice, enhanced or new personal and professional relationships, and the provision of emotional/affective support that are sometimes missing in the usual consultancy support initiatives.