TPC Journal V8, Issue 2 - FULL ISSUE

The Professional Counselor | Volume 8, Issue 2 205 that some students perceived written reflective journals as “just another written assignment” that they sometimes seemed to complete with too little reflective depth. Additionally, due to previous experiences having their writing evaluated in more traditional written assignments, some students related that although faculty emphasized the content and quality of reflection represented in the written journals and supported that emphasis through the use of rubrics also solely focused on content, rather than language craft, they still felt they spent more time focusing on language use rather than on deep reflection. Our faculty’s concerns that some students were experiencing a disconnect between the intended purpose of written reflective journals and the act of writing them, as well as some of our students’ misplaced emphases on craft over content, are described and examined elsewhere. In regard to faculty concerns that some students were viewing the task of written reflective journaling to be largely procedural, previous scholars have noted that having adequate time is a crucial factor for facilitating reflective thinking through journal writing (Cowan & Westwood, 2006; Moon, 1999). Students engaged in field experiences may find it difficult to spend sufficient time writing reflective journals due to more pressing challenges facing them in their practicum or internship experiences (Greiman & Covington, 2007). The lack of adequate time to write reflective journals also may have been a barrier preventing some of our students from fully utilizing these opportunities to reflect. Additionally, other literature has identified the writing process itself as a barrier to journal writing. For instance, Moon (1999) wrote that the process of writing reflective journals is difficult for some students who viewed the activity as “alien” (p. 89). Likewise, the suggestion that some students are much more comfortable reflecting verbally (Cowan & Westwood, 2006) is supported by an empirical study in which participants expressed a clear preference for verbal reflections (Greiman & Covington, 2007). Notably, Greiman and Covington’s (2007) study found that students identified the process of writing as being a barrier to their reflection because it was not their preferred modality—verbal reflection was preferred. These findings paralleled results from a previous qualitative examination of students’ perceptions of their experiences with both written and video reflective journals, in which students had a clear preference for the use of video reflective journals (Parikh et al., 2012). Based upon the previously described disconnect observed with our students in completing reflection assignments, we began to integrate the use of video reflective journals into our students’ practicum and internship experiences. Regarding the mismatch between many of our students’ preferred modalities for reflection and our exclusive use of written reflective journals, we found that DDR adequately allowed us to address the concerns of both our students and our faculty. Other professional literature has addressed the experiential results of written reflective journals compared to the use of alternative modalities. Although the use of video as a mode of reflection has been proposed within other educational disciplines (Greiman & Covington, 2007; Miller, Miller, & Kessell, 2002), there was no literature documenting its actual use at the time we began integrating it into our field experience curriculum. Our use of video reflective journaling was met with enthusiasm from our students, and the preference for the use of video as a mode of reflection was demonstrated in a qualitative study that showed students perceived greater benefits to verbal reflections captured by video and then reviewed, discussed, and reflected upon within supervision sessions (Parikh et al., 2012). It was while using video reflections in group and individual supervision, however, that both faculty and students began to express interest in adding a significant element to our video reflective journaling process. While using the video reflections during supervision, much of the discourse perhaps predictably focused on what we imagined to be the perceptions and experiences of the clients whose cases we were discussing. These imaginings quickly coalesced around a natural possibility—recasting video