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Journal of Education for Business

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Using a class blog for student experiential learning

reflection in business courses

Jodie L. Ferguson, Suzanne C. Makarem & Rebecca E. Jones

To cite this article: Jodie L. Ferguson, Suzanne C. Makarem & Rebecca E. Jones (2016) Using a class blog for student experiential learning reflection in business courses, Journal of Education for Business, 91:1, 1-10, DOI: 10.1080/08832323.2015.1108279

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Using a class blog for student experiential learning re

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ection in business courses

Jodie L. Ferguson, Suzanne C. Makarem, and Rebecca E. Jones

Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia, USA

ABSTRACT

Reflective observation is an important component of experiential learning that allows students to draw meaning from their experiences and incorporate that meaning into new learning conceptualizations. However, the present study indicates that business educators rarely incorporate reflection after concrete experiences into curricula. This research explores the use of a class blog as a medium for students to engage in social reflective observation. The authors include a case study of two marketing classes that used class blogs for reflective observation after semester-long group projects. Results from a survey of student attitudes toward the blog assignment indicate positive affective responses and perceived effectiveness of the blog task as a tool for reflection.

KEYWORDS class blogs; experiential learning; reﬂection

In recent years, business educators have advanced experi-ential learning in course curricula (Frontczak & Kelly,

2000; Gremler, Hoffman, Keaveney, & Wright, 2000). According to experiential learning theory, students learn from experience in a four learning mode process: (a) con-crete experiences in which students involve themselves fully, openly, and without bias in new experiences; (b) reflective observation in which students reflect on and observe experiences from many perspectives; (c) abstract conceptualization in which students create concepts that integrate observations into logical and sound theories; and (d) active experimentation in which students use theories to make decisions and solve problems (Kolb,1976,1984). The experiential learning process is a continuous cycle where concrete experiences are the basis for reflection, reflections are assimilated into abstract concepts from which new implications can be drawn, actively tested, and

ﬁnally, can serve as guides for new concrete experiences (Kolb & Kolb, 2005).Figure 1 illustrates the experiential learning process, including possible course tasks for each of the learning modes. Business educators have utilized experiential learning activities, such as live case studies (Elam & Spotts, 2004),ﬁeld trips, interactive simulations (Gremler et al., 2000), and job shadowing (McCarthy & McCarthy,2006).

In the present research we focused on exploring the use of reﬂective observation in business courses by inves-tigating the following research questions:

Research Question 1(RQ1): To what extent are reﬂective observation tasks employed in business courses?

RQ2: If given a class blog assignment for reﬂective obser-vation in a business course, how and with what content might students respond?

RQ3: What student attitudes, including positive affect and student perceived learning, might result when using a class blog assignment for reﬂective observation in a business course?

Reflective observation is an important component of the experiential learning process. It provides students the opportunity to think about hands-on experiences, thus allowing them to draw meaning that will guide their sub-sequent behaviors and the way they approach new learn-ing conceptualizations and experiences (Baker, Jensen, & Kolb, 2005). The scarcity of reflective observation tasks in business courses could therefore limit or inhibit the experiential learning process. By tackling the above research questions, the current research contributes to our understanding of the extent to which business educa-tors are reluctant to use reflective observation tasks. The research also advances the use of a reflective blog task as a tool for reflective observation that can be easily imple-mented by educators in their business classes. Finally, this study tests the reflective observation blog task by exploring the perceived learning and affective value of this tool from the students’perspective.

Experiential learning in business courses

In abstract conceptualization (the right-hand box in

Figure 1), students may consider concepts, problems or

CONTACT Jodie L. Ferguson jlferguson@vcu.edu Virginia Commonwealth University, Department of Marketing, P.O. Box 844000, Richmond, VA 23284-4000, USA.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/08832323.2015.1108279

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situations, examine alternative solutions, and evaluate consequences of solutions (D. A. Kolb,1976). Moving to the active experimentation, students can take solutions conceptualized in abstract conceptualization and execute solutions in a contrived or simulated setting. In concrete experiences, students explore how the solutions could work in the real world. Finally, in reflective observation, students can make observations and comparisons in the real world and may identify a new problem or phenome-non to start the experiential learning cycle again (D. A. Kolb,1976). In a business course, abstract conceptualiza-tion tasks may include activities such as lectures, read-ings from textbooks or articles, while active experimentation could take the form of class exercises, mock scenarios, minicases, or practice problems. Con-crete experiences can be learning exercises where stu-dents take what they have learned in abstract conceptualization and active experimentation, and apply their knowledge to a real-world or realistic scenario for an authentic experience, such as a service learning proj-ect. The difference between active experimentation and concrete experiences is that active experimentation involves applying solutions to artificial situations, while concrete experiences involve applying solutions to real-world situations. Many business educators utilize a semester-long hands-on project, typically executed in teams, which requires students to take learnings from the semester and apply them to either an actual client’s business problem or a very realistic business problem. For example, many times community nonprofits or small businesses seek to participate in marketing class projects to obtain marketing help at minimal cost.

“Experiential learning is education through active experience and reflection on that experience” (Cornell, Johnson, & Schwartz, 2013, p. 137). However, student tasks for reflective observation may get overlooked in business courses, thus limiting the students’ ability to draw meaning from their active learning experiences and to achieve experiential learning objectives. Class projects are often due at the end of the semester, which leaves lit-tle time for additional reflective observation assignments. Furthermore, before social media and Internet connec-tivity, there were limited options for students to reflect as a group or as a class on concrete experiences.

There is growing interest in employing web tools to enhance experiential learning (Granitz & Koernig,2011; Levin & Davis,2007). Blogs, social media, and other web tools have been used by business educators as ways to collaborate (Granitz & Koernig, 2011); share opinions, experiences, and examples of course concepts in practice (Hazari, Brown, & Rutledge,2013; Kaplan, Piskin, & Bol,

2010); enhance student written business communication (Quible, 2005); and encourage active participation from students (Levin & Davis,2007). Although previous edu-cators have utilized blogs to enhance learning, the experi-ence of contributing to the blog—not the act of reﬂection—was the focus of class blogging activities (Granitz & Koernig, 2011; Kaplan et al., 2010; Levin & Davis,2007).

In the present article we focus on how a class blog can be used specifically as a reflection tool in the experiential learning cycle. Additionally, the current article extends the extant literature on the use of blogs as an educational tool by providing student instructions on a blogging assignment, a written rubric for grading this assignment (as suggested by Kaplan et al., 2010) to help overcome the challenges of grading blogs (Hazari et al.,2013), and guidelines for students writing blogs. Within this article, we discuss the importance of reflective observation as a component of experiential learning in business classes. We also present a case study using two marketing classes to demonstrate the implementation of a reflective blog and to provide evidence of positive student attitudes toward the assignment with respect to positive affect and perceived learning.

Reﬂection in business classes and the use of a class blog

Ourfirst research question focuses on understanding the extent to which reflective observation is used in business courses. This section provides evidence that reflective observation tasks may not be widely used in business courses. To shed light on why lack of reflective observa-tion can be problematic, the importance of reflective Figure 1.Experiential learning theory and marketing course

activities.

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observation as a learning mode in the experiential learn-ing process is then discussed. Finally, blogs are intro-duced as a tool for implementing reﬂective observation.

Frequency of use of reﬂective observation in business classes

To get a better idea of the frequency with which business students engage in reflective observation in business clas-ses, a short survey of seventy-three students in two upper level marketing courses was conducted. Students were asked to distribute 100% of time spent on coursework representing the four experiential learning stages for their most recent course in each of the following disci-plines: accounting, economics, finance/insurance/real estate, information systems, management, and market-ing. The four experiential learning stages were described in the survey according to the coursework tasks pre-sented per each experiential learning stage in Figure 1. The undergraduate student sample consisted of 77% marketing majors; 46% men and 54% women; 3% sopho-mores, 53% juniors, and 44% seniors. When averaged across all six disciplines, reflective observation repre-sented the smallest percent of the four experiential learn-ing stages in coursework (i.e., MRO D 7.2%, SDRO D 7.0%;MCED10.6%,SDCED8.7%;MAED30.1%,SDAE

D 10.5%; MAC D 52.1%, SDAC D 17.0%). Thus, these results provide some evidence that reﬂective observation does not occur as frequently in business classes as the other three experiential learning tasks.Figure 2presents

the mean percentages for the four experiential learning tasks for each of the six disciplines surveyed.

Frontczak (1998) suggested that for successful experi-ential learning, all four stages of the learning cycle must occur. In fact, some faculty suggest that each of the four stages should be represented within individual exercises used in higher education (Olsen,1994; Frontczak,1998). Although there may not be an optimal combination of coursework representing each of the four stages, incorpo-rating more reﬂective observation into business classes could aid in students completing experiential learning cycle topics covered in courses. Additionally, most stu-dents need practice and guidance to exercise each stage of the learning cycle (Frontczak, 1998). Thus, leaving reﬂective observation up to the student may not be the most effective way to achieve learning success.

The importance of reﬂective observation

In contrast to traditional business education tools such as analyzing case studies, experiential learning allows busi-ness students to make real decisions by engaging in hands-on activities and experiences in their respective

ﬁelds (McCarthy & McCarthy,2006). Experiential learn-ing can therefore achieve objectives such as better stu-dent understanding and retention of course concepts, increased interest in course topics, and higher student conﬁdence in their skills and their career knowledge (Cornell et al.,2013).

In experiential learning theory, reflection is an essen-tial element of understanding meaning that, in turn, guides and informs behaviors that subsequently create new concrete experiences (Baker et al.,2005). Reflection involves the “thinking about past or ongoing experience of events, situations, or actions so as to make sense of them”(Reynolds,2011, p. 5), and in doing so, individuals can draw on existing ideas and apply them to new expe-riences. Reflection is crucial to the learning process. Learning follows a rhythm of reflecting on ideas and experiences to uncover meaning, and of expressing that meaning in thought, speech and action (Baker et al.,

2005; Kolb,1984). Referring toFigure 1, reﬂective obser-vation occurs after the student encounters concrete experiences and leads the student into abstract conceptu-alization. In business courses, the act of reﬂection can serve as a link between the students’hands-on class proj-ect where students need to make real decisions (i.e., a concrete learning experience) and new abstract concepts found in course readings or new topic lectures.

Reﬂection, no doubt, has an internal, individual cog-nitive component, but reﬂection can also take place socially, in considering different experiences and making sense of experiences with peers. Conversational dialect Figure 2.Survey mean percentages for experiential learning

coursework tasks for six business disciplines.

JOURNAL OF EDUCATION FOR BUSINESS 3

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provides opportunity for reflecting as a group, where members construct meaning together from their experi-ences (Baker et al., 2005). Ramsey (2005) suggests a learning cycle that incorporates individuals sharing nar-ratives of experiences in which the reflectors (i.e., mem-bers of a group) can hear alternative perspectives and values. In this regard the different narrators’perspectives can bring a richer texture than a single individual’s con-crete experience can (Ramsey,2005). D. A. Kolb (1984) promoted an idea of conversational learning, that is, learning through sharing experiences socially. Further, conversational learning can emerge when individuals are open to listening to other viewpoints and reconsidering one’s own point of view (Baker et al.,2005). Thus, stu-dent reflection can occur both individually and collec-tively with a group or team.

Blogs

Blogs (i.e., short forweblogs) create an online space for authors to share opinions, stories, and commentaries with wide audiences and allow readers to react to blog posts through a commenting function (Kaplan et al.,

2010). Thus, blogs promote social interactivity and can provide a platform for conversations and for active learn-ing (Hazari et al., 2013). Providing a class blog for stu-dents to reflect on and narrate their concrete experiences, as well as to post comments on other stu-dents’ narratives, enables further individual and collec-tive student reflection. In the following section we describe a reflective blog assignment in which we created a class blog for two marketing courses and required a team blog writing assignment following a semester-long hands-on project that served as the students’ concrete experience.

The re_ﬂective blog assignment

To demonstrate the use of a class blog for student reﬂ ec-tion, two traditional (not online) undergraduate, upper-level marketing courses (i.e., a buyer behavior course and an experiential marketing course), taught by separate instructors at a southeastern university, were utilized. The buyer behavior course focused on traditional con-sumer behavior topics and their various applications in marketing strategy, while the experiential marketing course focused on cultivating positive, personal brand interactions with consumers through product and service offerings, communication, and staged experiences. The classes consisted of 54 students (buyer behaviornD35, experiential marketingnD19). Fifty-eight percent of the students were marketing majors and 87.1% were juniors and seniors. When asked about their past experience

with writing blog posts, the majority of the students in the sample reported being either somewhat experienced (54%) or very experienced (20%). These numbers indi-cate that students have previously written and shared blog posts. Also, we found that a large percentage of the students in our sample shared their own words (70%), photos (81%), videos (54%), and other content (74%) online with moderate or high frequency.

A semester-long group project was assigned at the beginning of the semester in both classes to serve as the task for concrete experience. The experiential marketing project (i.e., a real-world business problem) involved stu-dents planning and executing student events for a com-munity partner in the same city as the university. The buyer behavior project (i.e., a realistic contrived business problem) required students to engage in secondary data collection about a consumer segment of their choice and to evaluate current marketing campaigns that success-fully or unsuccesssuccess-fully target that consumer segment.

The reflective blog task asked students to reflect col-lectively on their group’s concrete experience (i.e., the group project) and to write one blog posting per group. Specifically, the learning objective of the task was to reflect on the project as a group and to create a blog post-ing that narrates the group’s experience. This task was scheduled for completion once the groups reached the

final stage of their group project work. Thirteen blog postings across the two classes were collected. In addi-tion to asking the groups to write a blog posting, we required students to comment individually on other groups’ blog posts. This secondary task of commenting was to encourage students to read each other’s narrated experiences, promoting further self-reflection and learn-ing. This task also served as a cue for the groups to be mindful that what students say in the blog posting would be read by others, and to discourage hurtful or embar-rassing posts. In total, all 54 students provided at least one blog post comment. The documents from the imple-mentation of the blog assignment, including the student instructions for the reflective blog assignment, the grad-ing rubric for evaluatgrad-ing the reflective blog, as well as a helpful student blog-writing document, “Tips on Build-ing a Better Blog Post for Business Students,” created postassignment for future implementation of this assign-ment, are all presented in the Appendix.

In the experiential marketing course, the reflective blog was a required task that carried afive percent weight of the project grade. In the buyer behavior course, the reflective blog was an optional task forfive extra-credit points toward the project grade. Even though the task was optional in the buyer behavior course, all the groups still opted to participate. Another difference in imple-mentation was that in the experiential marketing course,

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the blogs were made publically available online using a course blog website, managed by the course instructor, independent from Blackboard. In contrast, the buyer behavior course blogs were hosted on Blackboard, where the blogs were only available to the instructor and classmates.

Method

Because of the rarity of reflective observation tasks in business courses, it is important to explore how students reflect on their concrete experiences. To that end, we used a content analysis method that allows for observing and analyzing communication behavior in order to bet-ter understand the cognitions and emotions students express in their reflective blogs (Kassarjian,1977). Two marketing faculty coders experienced in coding qualita-tive data independently examined the content of the thir-teen posts from both courses. Where there were differences in the coding of content, the two coders con-ferred and came to agreement.

This study also uses a quantitative survey to measure student attitudes toward the blog assignment. At the end of the semester, students completed an anonymous sur-vey that measured their attitudes toward the reflective blog task, in addition to demographics and other student characteristics. Eleven 5-point Likert-type scale items, modified from subsets used by Elam and Spotts (2004) and Schlee and Harvich (2013), were used to measure student attitudes toward the reflective blog task. Notably, the samples from these two marketing classes are small (nD54), but do provide some insight into student atti-tudes following a class blog assignment. The resulting data enabled us to investigate positive and negative stu-dent attitudes, in addition to the perceived value of the blog assignment as a tool for reflective observation, shar-ing experiences, and experiential learnshar-ing.

Results

Insights into students’reﬂective cognitions and emotions

Two arching domains in the groups’reﬂections were iden-tiﬁed as a result of analyzing the content of blog posts: cognitive experiences and emotive experiences. These two domains were further divided into three themes under each domain. Table 1 summarizes occurrences of the themes expressed in each blog post. In the following we describe and provide sample quotes for each of the six themes (i.e., cognitive experiences: challenges, processes, and outcomes; emotive experiences: social connectedness, subject/project appreciation, and hedonic value).

All the groups reflected on at least two of the three cognitive themes. For challenges, students reflected on the challenges and obstacles they faced while working on the project. Examples of these challenges included diffi -culties relating to scheduling group work (e.g., “one of the obstacles we faced was finding time when we could all meet”), research challenges in finding information about the topic (e.g., _“it was difficult to find credible sources”), or obstacles related to implementing hands-on tasks (e.g., “a major obstacle our group faced was the fact that there simply were not many students passing through during the time of day that our event was scheduled”). For processes, 12 of 13 groups talked about the processes they implemented in order to overcome the challenges and to complete the projects on time. For example, one group said: “we communicated mainly through email, […] created Google documents, shared helpful links, made suggestions on each other’s work.” The third cognitive experience theme was outcomes. Most groups reflected on the outcomes of their work in terms of being able to reach their project goals (e.g.,“we have enough great ideas and information to deliver an amazing presentation to our professor and our

Table 1.Themes expressed in blog posts.

Emotive experiences Cognitive experiences

Social connectedness Subject/project appreciation Hedonic value Challenges Processes Outcomes

Blog 1 x x x x

Blog 2 x x x

Blog 3 x x x

Blog 4 x x x x x

Blog 5 x x x x

Blog 6 x x x x x x

Blog 7 x x x x

Blog 8 x x x x x x

Blog 9 x x x

Blog 10 x x x x x x

Blog 11 _x _x _x _x _x

Blog 12 _x _x _x _x _x

Blog 13 _x _x _x _x _x _x

Note.x signiﬁes that the theme occurred at least once in the group blog post._{Blogs 11}_–_{13 were part of an experiential marketing course.}

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classmates”) or in terms of learning outcomes (e.g.,“this project also allowed us to see how what we learn in class can influence what we put into this project and make it come to real life”). Students’ reflections on their emotive experiences were evident in the three themes of social connectedness, subject/project appreciation, and hedonic value. The first theme is social-connectedness, where eight of 13 student groups reflected on how working on the group project allowed them to make student connec-tions, as expressed in the following examples: “having group projects is a great way for us students to connect outside the class,” “we collectively learned from one another,” and “this project was very effective in pulling our group together.”The second emotive theme is course subject (i.e., experiential marketing or buyer behavior) or project appreciation, where all but two teams reflected by expressing interest or connection to the topic, or by expressing an appreciation for the hands-on nature of the concrete learning experience (i.e., project itself): “it was nice to apply what we have learned to explore our peers and ourselves,” “we were extremely driven toward the topic,_{” “}we all agree that this was a great learning experience to apply the topics we learn from class to the actual event.” Hedonic value was the third theme expressed by about half of the groups (seven of 13) who reflected on their enjoyment of working on the group project, by making statements such as: “as a group, we had a wonderful experience,” “it was fun and extremely beneficial for us,”and“overall the experience was educa-tional, memorable, and enjoyable.”

Many of the themes resulting from students’reflective observation can be tied to the learning outcomes of the courses used for this study and to experiential learning objectives. This link is especially evident in students’ reflections about the challenges of researching the topic or implementing the hands-on business project, in addi-tion to reflections about the course subject or students’ appreciation for and understanding of the subject matter. Although few of the themes—such as challenges relating to group work and the processes students implemented to overcome these challenges—are not directly tied to the courses’ learning outcomes, reflecting on these themes can enhance students’learning to adapt to different work environments.

Student attitudes toward the blog assignment

The survey results revealed that students, in general, had a positive attitude toward the reﬂective blog task. In fact, 85% of the students thought the blog post assignment was a good way for the whole class to share experiences (M D 4.28, SD D 0.96) and 74% indicated that they worked collaboratively on writing the blog post (M D

4.04,SDD1.20). Also, 74% of the students believed that the blog posting assignment should be assigned to future classes (M D 3.87, SD D 0.97) and 59% of students found the task to be more enjoyable than most other assignments in business classes (MD 3.57, SD D 1.04).

Table 2provides the overall percentages of students who either agreed or strongly agreed with each of the items, in addition to overall and class means and standard devi-ations for each item.

The current article focuses on how a class blog can be used specifically as a reflection tool postconcrete experi-ence. Although this was measured using one attitudinal item, the results support the use of a blog task as a tool for student reflection and show that 72% of the students found the blog task to be a good way to reflect on the project as a group (MD 3.89, SD D 0.95). In terms of experiential learning outcomes achieved as a result of including a reflective observation task, 50% of the stu-dents agreed or strongly agreed that they have learned something from the blog postings (M D 3.46, SD D 1.14). The results from two more items measuring learn-ing as a result of the reflective blog were less positive, with only 30% of the students agreeing that their learn-ing was enhanced with the blog postlearn-ing assignment (M D 2.87, SD D 0.97), and 25% agreeing that they learned more by participating in the blog posting assign-ment (MD2.94,SDD0.99).

These conflicting findings might be due to our research focus on measuring learning outcomes from the students’ perspective rather than from an objective assessment tool. The positive learning outcomes from reflective observation can be more evident in the long run, when students face similar experiences in other clas-ses or corporate life. Therefore, it is possible for students not to appreciate the learning that occurred as a result of reflection at the level of the current course they are tak-ing. This effect can also be exacerbated by the lack of reflective tasks that students are exposed to in their clas-ses, and consequently their limited familiarity with the learning value of reflective observation.

Discussion and extension

Challenges, concerns, and suggestions when implementing a reﬂective blog task

When implementing a class blog for reﬂective learning, there are some challenging decisions to be made: Do I have to create a public blog website or can I use the uni-versity Blackboard (or similar) system? Should I make the blog task mandatory or optional? Will students feel com-fortable posting their reﬂections for others to read? Although t tests for differences in means between the

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experiential marketing and buyer behavior classes showed no significant differences in student attitudes toward the reflective blog or their learning from it, the lack of differ-ences might be due to small sample size, low statistical power, or the lack of control for crossover effects. How-ever, based on the instructors’ experiences of implement-ing the reflective blog task in both classes as well as the students’ feedback, we believe that the implementation of the reflective blog as either an optional or mandatory task, or as part of Blackboard versus a publicly available blog website, may all bring about similar positive attitude responses. Also, most students (86%) indicated that the public nature of the platform used for implementing the reflective blog task does not affect their blog post content. Therefore, implementation decisions should be based on the instructor’s preferences, comfort level with technology, and course goals.

Given the time and technical expertise requirements of creating a public blog website to host the reflective blog, we recommend this implementation for instructors who have these resources and for whom the public visi-bility of the course is important. Additionally, a public website could be continued semester to semester, and blog and comment posts could be accessible to future students. For instructors who have time and technical constraints and for whomflexibility in implementation of the reflective blog task is more important than course visibility, using Blackboard (or similar university plat-form) may be morefitting.

The individual comments posted in response to the group blog posts stimulated further reﬂection and forced

each student to provide their own, personal contribution to the reflection assignment. All students in both classes participated in the individual comments and student learnings from this exercise were evident in comments such as these:“My group had a similar experience . . . we also used it as an opportunity to have longer and more meaningful engagements,” “[Your comment about] apprehension and uncertainty is . . . well put, and I’m sure it’s universally understood by all the teams,” “[Your comment] is what fosters the meaning of education, learning from our peers so that we can build positive relationships.”Overall, 84% of the individual comments included student reflections in which the individual felt they experienced something similar to the group’s expe-rience in replying to their post, while 16% of the individ-ual student comments mentioned the group’s experience was different from what the individual experienced. Indi-vidual comments—or implementing the class blog as an individual (instead of group) blog posting assignment— could allow for more individualized, personal reflection as part of the experiential learning process. Instructors should contemplate assigning individual versus group blog assignments based on size of class, nature of the project, and course objectives.

Adaptability for other business courses

Despite the lack of implementation in business courses, reflective observation is an important element of the experiential learning process. Business educators can use blog posting tasks to engage students in reflective Table 2.Students’attitudes toward the reflective blog post.

Scale item

Positive attitudes toward the reﬂective blog

The blog posting assignment was a good way for the whole class to share experiences.

85% 4.28 0.96 4.32 1.06 4.26 0.92

My group collaborated on the group blog posting. 74% 4.04 1.20 3.68 1.25 4.23 1.14 The blog posting assignment was a good way to reﬂect on

the project as a group.

72% 3.89 0.95 3.74 1.10 3.97 0.86

The blog posting assignment should be assigned to future classes.

74% 3.87 0.97 3.79 1.08 3.91 0.92

I enjoyed working on the group blog post. 57% 3.59 0.98 3.21 1.08 3.80 0.87 The blog posting assignment was more enjoyable than most

other assignments in business classes.

59% 3.57 1.04 3.26 1.28 3.74 0.85

I put a lot of effort into the blog post. 50% 3.35 1.18 3.53 1.07 3.26 1.25

Negative attitudes toward the reﬂective blog

Blogs are a waste of time. 8% 2.15 1.05 2.26 1.05 2.09 1.06

Learning as a result of the reﬂective blog

Nothing new was learning from the blog postings(reversed) 50% 3.46 1.14 3.53 1.31 3.42 1.07 I learned more by participating in the blog posting

assignment

25% 2.94 0.99 2.67 1.09 3.09 0.92

My learning was enhanced with the blog posting assignment 30% 2.87 0.97 3.16 1.02 2.71 0.93

_{Combined classes agreement represents the percent of students who indicated agree or strongly agree.}_{For the combined classes column, all items were}

mea-sured on a 5-point Likert-type scale with responses ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree).

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observation. This article provides guidelines for incorpo-rating a reflective blog task as part of hands-on group projects in two marketing courses, buyer behavior and experiential marketing. These types of group projects provide opportunities for experiential learning and are commonly used in business school courses. Business educators could therefore use the reflective blog task to achieve experiential learning objectives, for both real world project reflection and realistic, but synthetic, proj-ect reflection. Our attitudinal survey findings provide evidence of positive student attitudes toward the task in different contexts with flexible implementation options based on instructor preferences. Our findings also lend support to the effectiveness of the reflective blog post task, given the level of student familiarity with posting blogs and sharing content online through social media, especially for millennial students.

Future research directions for reﬂective observation in business courses

The purpose of the current research was to explore stu-dent use of reflective observation in business classes and student attitudes toward a blog assignment as a reflection tool. Future research should test hypothesized relation-ships between use of reflective observation and learning outcomes. In our exploratory study of student attitudes, the perceived experiential learning outcomes of the reflective blog (e.g., I learned more, my learning was enhanced) were not rated as positively as some of the other positive measures (e.g., blog was enjoyable, good way to share experiences). These lower ratings offer an opportunity to explore the learning value of similar reflective observation tasks in future research. For exam-ple, future researchers should consider open-ended ques-tioning of students to examine if and how reflective observation aided learning. Additionally, an experiment involving similar classes, holding all learning activities constant except for reflective observation activities, could allow for comparisons of student grades, attitudes, and perceptions, as further examination of the impact of reflective observation on student learning outcomes.

Acknowledgments

Theﬁrst and second author contributed equally to this article.

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Appendix: Documents from the implementation of the re_ﬂective blog assignment

A. Student instructions for the reﬂective blog assignment

Please follow these guidelines when writing your list: Post one blog per group toreﬂecton your group’s

learning experience. You can agree on which mem-ber will post the blog after you write it together. Under the Subject Area, include Group # and

Topic.

In theBody Text Area, enter the group’s blog about yourgroup’s learning experience with the project. Some example topics you can talk about include: positives or negatives about your group’s experi-ence, how the experience helped you learn, your group’s teamwork experience of learning together. Word Limit: The length of the blog should be

250-300 words.

I encourage you to be candid in your group blog

post, but please keep in mind that what you write will be read by the entire class.

Please follow the following guidelines when writing your individual comment:

Write one individual comment toreﬂect on how your own learning experience was similar to or different than the experience in the blog post you selected.

Your comment should be thoughtful and preferably offer insights into what could have helped that group with their challenges, or how you learned something from the blog that could have helped your group.

Your comment should be similar to a Tweet or a micro-blog limited to140 characters.

B. Grading rubric for reﬂective blog

C. Tips on building a better blog post for business students

Writing a blog post is similar to writing a feature news or magazine article in the sense that the writer is providing information and a narrative of events. However, bloggers are allowed to put themselves in the story. It is okay to inject your voice, perspective, and reﬂections on the event or experience. Many readers will not have attended the event you are blogging about, so strive to tell a story that conveys what it felt like to be there. Below are some tips on building a better blog post.

Blog Style

Brief is better: shoot for about 300 words.

Adding a single photo supports the purpose of the blog and illustrates an idea or example. Too many photos distract from the post.

A one-sentence author bio at the bottom of the blog gives the reader context on the author’s point of view.

Always check facts for correctness. If you’re not sure how to refer to a company (“MeadWestvaco” or “MWV”?) read over the company’s website and see how they refer to themselves.

Blog Structure

Your lead, orﬁrst sentence, needs to grab the reader’s atten-tion fast. Here are some tried-and-true ways to do that:

Picture or Dramatic Lead:“The standing-room-only audience stayed on their feet a little longer to give a standing ovation at the end of the transfer students symposium.”

Background Lead: “After two years of planning, rehearsal, and perfecting logistics, our military stu-dents’outreach expo wasﬁnally underway.”

Quotation Lead:Seth Godin once said,“The amateur’s launch isfun; the professional’s launch isuseful.”

Ironic or Contrast Lead: “A university president is something of a local celebrity on campus. But at last week’s breakfast event with freshmen in the dining hall, Dr. Bryan was just another regular.”

After your lead, give the reader some brief back-ground. Keep paragraphs short—no more than three sentences. Many paragraphs are just one sentence.

Bring your impressions and point of view alive. Give examples. Use expressive language and vivid adjectives to describe in unexpected ways.

Do not be afraid to take a stand and express your opinions—negative or positive. Your opinions carry more weight if you do not say“We think”or“We liked/ disliked.” “I think it’s great”is weak. Saying,“The hands-on aspects of the project are a great learning experience

Grading criteria Score

1. Reﬂective Expression: The blog post provides evidence of the group’s reﬂective thought and insights into the group’s rational, as well as emotive, experience with the project.

4 3 2 1

2. Content Quality and Argument Support: The content presents the group’s viewpoint in a cohesive manner that is supported by relevant examples.

4 3 2 1

3. Creativity: The content isﬂuently written in a creative way that stimulates dialogue and commentary.

4 3 2 1

4. Quality of Writing and Proofreading: The blog post is well-written, clear, concise, and free of grammatical and spelling errors.

4 3 2 1

_{Score: 4}

DExcellent, 3DGood, 2DAverage, 1DPoor

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that allowed me to apply course concepts to a realistic marketing problem,” is more authoritative and interesting.

Expand on your ideas and make comparisons to other events or experiences, if appropriate. Focus on speciﬁc experiences that you feel strongly about and explain

why. Share what you thought did not work well, but go for balance by not having a completely negative or posi-tive post.

Summarize your thoughts so readers leave the blog post with your feelings clearly stated. Ending a post with a question is a good way to generate comments.