Tips for writing a learning diary

Commenting and analysing the presented claims: A good learning diary refers to and comments on the thoughts presented in source materials.

Repetition of what was learned: Find the main points (...of the text, from the lecture etc....) so you can evaluate if you have understood the studied phenomenon.

Notes: write down the main points to yourself so you can get back to them when needed. 

Problem list: make a list of all the difficult and problematic concepts to identify “what you don’t know yet”. Based on this you can for example plan what to read next. 

Critical analysis: Write down all your thoughts, opinions and contradictions that come to your mind during the course. 

Reflection of your own learning: evaluate your individual learning process. What kind of goals you have set for yourself, what kind of things would you like to learn more from? 

(Source: Principles of using register-based and big data for analytics, summer course, Uni Oulu)