Book Review: Journal Keeping by Dannelle Stevens and Joanne Cooper

The book Journal Keeping-How to Use Reflection Writing for Learning, Teaching, Professional Insight, and Positive Change by Dannelle Stevents and Joanne Cooper provides a nice framework for including journals in both higher education and our personal lives. Through the use of a journal we can help solidify our thoughts and come to a better understanding of ourselves. Professors, business owners, and students can all find an educational benefit in writing out their goals, strategies, dreams and hopes. 

The author proposes that such journal writing be implemented in graduate and doctoral education. The journal provides 1. Writing as thinking, 2. Practice in fluency in writing and motivation, 3. Acceptance of journal writing when it is fully integrated into course work. Not only does it provide a higher depth of thought but also improves upon general self-reflection. When students understand the benefits of journal writing they accept and adapt it to their own needs. 

The use of journal also provides critical reflection and opportunities for transformational learning. Informational learning involves acquisition of knowledge while transformational learning provides critical reflection on assumptions and thoughts. Graduate students should learn how to think critically, thoroughly and challenge assumptions they hold to think more clearly.

The journal also helps people to understand themselves in a constantly changing and adjusting world. It helps to ground and define a person’s personality so that they may use this vantage point to make decisions for themselves. Since undergraduate education is important for understanding one’s skills and abilities it would be a natural extension to encourage such students to also understand their personal desires and needs. Perhaps the use of journals would help students find the right major quicker and therefore shave off some cost from the educational process.

Business owners may find the ability to write out their strategic thoughts as an advantage inherent in journal writing. As they think about their strategies and how they fit with their personal goals they can catalog their ideas to go back and expand or review. Continually building on strategic ideas makes them more concrete, thorough, and able to be adjusted when situations change. 

Personally, I have used journal writing in my classes and students seemed to have accepted its inherent benefits. By using journal writing as a graded assignment it allows the students to reflect on important class concepts which helps solidify the knowledge they have learned through reflection. If a student can integrate the knowledge they learned in their class into their lives by remembering key concepts a week after they have been taught you know that student learning is occurring. 

The book is a strong read for professors and administrators. It provides insight into the benefits of journal writing for student success. Since such skills are a habit that helps to develop students as self-reflective individuals who think through complex concepts and issues. The book offers cited resources for those who desire to view other sources of journal writing benefits. The three major sections are Journal Writing Definition, Reflection and Learning, Reflection and Adult Developmental Theory.

Stevens, D. & Cooper, J. (2009)Journal Keeping-How to Use Reflection Writing for Learning, Teaching, Professional Insight, and Positive Change. Sterling, VA: Stylus Publish ISBN 978-1-57922-215-4

Price: $44.00 I received a discount for around half at a WASC conference

Blog Review: 4.4

Pages: Approximately 244

Book Review- Essential Deming: Leadership Principles from the Father of Quality by Dr. Joyce Orsini

The book Essential Deming: Leadership Principles from the Father of Quality by Dr. Joyce Orsini provides a strong read for managers who seek to understand the nature of quality and how to improve operations.  The book covers a number of important concepts such as management problems, quality development, methodology, research studies, knowledge vs. information, and management predictions. Each of these concepts leads the reader to understand higher methodologies in running corporations.

The book contains a number of important lists for administrators to study. It indicates that there seven deadly diseases in the way managers think. It recommends that they understand these all important concepts to improve profits: 

• 1.      Lack of constancy of purpose: Having proper plans that keep the company in business.
• 2.      Emphasis on short-term profits: An excessive push for dividends and short-term profits.
• 3.      Evaluation of Performance: Rewards for people who do well with current systems but few rewards for those who want to improve the system.
• 4.      Mobility of Management: Mobility in management from company to company creates a push for short-term profits. 
• 5.    Management by use only of visible figures: Over reliance on figures may damage unmeasured successful factors that impact the business in the long-term.
• 6.      Excessive medical costs: Increases in medical costs have limited profit margins.
• 7.      Excessive costs of liability: Contingency lawyers have raised costs of business.

The book also provides some interesting discussions on what business colleges should teach and what they should avoid. It appears that Deming wanted to see transformation in American companies. To him this starts with managers having knowledge above and beyond information. Strong business colleges should help students understand theories and then how to apply them within the workplace in order to increase their knowledge. As a professor I have seen a number of colleagues become successful at this approach and it is wonderful to contribute to such future managers understanding. Of particular interest is his understanding of what the true educational process is:

“Joy of learning comes not so much from what is learned, but from learning. It’s fun to learn, if you learn knowledge. Not fun to learn information. The joy in the job comes not so much from the result, not from the product, but from contributing to optimization of the system in which everybody wins (Deming as quoted in Orsini, 2013, pp. 200) 

The book is written at a college level and provides useful information for future managers. It would be my recommendation that students who hope to move into management read this book and take its principles in consideration. It covers everything from management systems to how to understand business studies. The book is based upon a number of lectures and writings by Edwards Deming. Quality to him started in the executive room through positive thinking and innovative products. 

Orsini, J. (2013). The Essential Deming: The Leadership Principles from the Father of Quality. NY: McGraw-Hill Books.  ISBN: 0-07-179022-5

Pages: 326

Price: $23

Blog Ranking: 4.8/5

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