Reflective Journal

Reflection Journal is an individual activity that can be used after different types of tasks, such as a project, discussion, group or individual task, case study, simulation, workshop, or experiment. It involves consciously recording and analysing one’s own decisions, actions, emotions, difficulties, and thought processes during the task. It encourages participants to pause afterwards and look back with some distance at what may have seemed obvious while they were working. It often helps them realise that learning comes not only from the final outcome, but also from the process that led to it: decision-making, communication, dealing with uncertainty, responding to time pressure, and comparing one’s own ideas with other perspectives. As a result, participants develop a better understanding of their own learning  process, become more aware of different points of view, recognise tensions between goals or interests, and draw conclusions that can be applied in future educational, team-based, and professional situations. Reflection Journal helps organise experience, identify what was difficult or important, and turn a single task into an opportunity for deeper reflection
and learning. Journal Variant

1. Post-Task Journal – Participants complete a short reflection sheet immediately after finishing an exercise, project, discussion, or case analysis.
2. Process Journal – Participants make notes at different stages, for example after each team meeting, project work session, or subsequent step of the task.

3. Key Questions Journal – The teacher provides a set of recurring questions, such as: What did I do?, Why did I make this decision?, What surprised me?, and What would I do differently next time?

4. Team Journal – After group work, participants first write down their individual reflections and then compare selected conclusions within the team.
5. Development Journal – Participants return to earlier entries after a few weeks to observe how their thinking, actions, and learning process have evolved.

Course: Team Management
Topic: Decision-Making in Conditions of Conflicting Interests and Limited Trust
Students analyse a short problem-based scenario: a project team needs to prepare an important presentation for a client, but the team members have different priorities. One person wants to finish the work as quickly as possible, another believes the project needs further refinement, a third feels excluded from decision-making, and the leader is trying to meet the deadline. Students are asked to decide how the team should proceed and to prepare a reflective journal.

Warm-Up (5–10 min)
The tutor presents the problem-based scenario and divides students into small teams. Students briefly discuss what might make effective decision-making difficult in this situation. They may consider time pressure, differing goals among team members, lack of trust, unequal distribution of work, or fear of conflict.

Working With the Scenario (25–30 min)
Each team analyses the case and proposes a solution. Students decide what action they would take as a team, how the conflict could be addressed, who should be included in the discussion, and what risks may be associated with their decision. The teams then briefly present their proposals to the whole group.

Pause and Distance (5–10 min)
After the presentations, the teacher asks students to take a moment to reflect individually on the decision-making process.

Working With the Journal (15–20 min)
Students write a short individual reflection. They analyse why they made their decision and what they learned about their own way of thinking. They may refer to what they found difficult, how they responded to the conflict of interests, and what they would do differently if they analysed the situation again.

Summary and Transfer (10–15 min)
Finally, the tutor moderates a short discussion. Students compare the different strategies that emerged in the teams and consider whether the groups tended to avoid the conflict or attempted to resolve it. The discussion should help students identify how similar situations may arise in the real work of a manager or team member.

• After activities that involve decision-making tension, ambiguous outcomes, or strong emotions.
• When the aim of the class is to understand the decision-making process.
• In situations where it is important to transfer classroom experience to real contexts of teamwork, management, or leadership.

• When the class is purely instructional or technical and does not allow time for deeper reflection.
• In groups that have not yet shared an experience that can serve as a basis for reflection.
• When the aim of the class is to assess knowledge quickly or check whether answers are correct.

• Superficial reflection instead of analysing the thinking process → provide guiding questions that focus attention on the reasons behind decisions, turning points, and underlying assumptions.
• Reluctance to engage in honest self-reflection due to fear of assessment → clearly explain that the reflection journal is not assessed in terms of making the “right” decisions, but is intended to support reflection on the process itself.

Easier → Offer a shorter reflection journal with fewer questions, focused on one key moment in the game, such as the decision to cooperate or not. You can also discuss one sample reflection question with the whole group.
More Challenging → Ask participants to compare their own decisions with an alternative strategy that they would now consider more rational, and to justify this choice in their reflection journal. They can also relate their conclusions to a real team or management situation from their own experience.

• Do not reveal everything at the start — leave some consequences to be discovered during the activity.
• Emphasise that the score is not an assessment — what matters is the thinking process.
• Ask questions instead of interpreting — support students in drawing their own conclusions.
• Direct attention to decisions and their justification.
• Encourage honesty — the journal is for the student, not for assessment.
• End the activity with transfer: ask participants to identify one professional or team situation in which their conclusions could be applied.

Formative Assessment
During the class, observe how participants justify their decisions, respond to the changing situation, and interpret the behaviour of the other team. During or after the reflection journal activity, ask follow-up questions to deepen their analysis.

Summative Assessment
Assess a short individual paper (1–2 pages) in which the student synthesises insights from their reflective journal. The paper should include a description of a key decision or situation, an analysis of the student’s own thinking process, identification of a difficulty encountered or a moment of perspective shift, and a conclusion that can be applied in future teamwork or professional practice.