Reflection 1.1 - Elements and Issues of Programming

[Suggested due date is Tuesday, February 8]

 

For this reflection I want to look back at your Fundamentals of Programming course and think about what it is that you actually learned - both in explicitly defined content and in things that sort of "came along for the ride."

 

 

Write

For this reflection I want you to write on the following things:

Question 1 - What were the elements of programming that you learned in your FOP course?

At first, you may be tempted to rush through this question and only address the five or six main and explicit topics that you were taught and tested over when you studied Scratch and Python. While I DO want you to include this I want you to also go beyond this.  Think back carefully to both Scratch and Python.  In addition to those explicit and specific topics that we studied, what else did you learn about programming.  This can include very easily definable programming topics that just didn't happen to be in our explicit list of six topics.  But it also can include a variety of other things.  To make this easier to read, consider some of the following things

Don't think about this bulleted list as a set of questions you must answer.  Instead, use them as thinking points to help you write a moderately detailed response to the main question above.

 

Question 2 - What are the skills needed in programming?

Programming is a skill. (I tend to believe that all instruction should be skill-based. For those things we often think of as knowledge, what you "do" with the knowledge matters, otherwise the knowledge is useful only for trivia.) A primary goal is for you (and later, your group) to reflect on and identify the components of programming skill—what students of programming need to be able to do as a result of instruction about programming.

Related to question 1, this includes things like:

In fact, you are likely confused as to how this is different from Question 1.  I guess the end distinction is that Question 1 focused on facts/knowledge/patterns, and Question 2 is now asking about what skills you need to have/use to use that knowledge to create a program.  It is my guess that you might have initially included some things in your thoughts on question 1 that better belong here - OR BOTH!  Part of me explicitly asking you to separate the ideas is to focus on the distinction between knowledge and how we then apply that knowledge.

 

 

Question 3 - What would you like to learn in this course

Obviously I have a set of learning outcomes and a structure in mind for this course.  I have a set of readings and activities to, hopefully, facilitate our reflection and learning towards these outcomes.  But there is also a lot of room for wiggle in what we specifically cover.  I want to make sure that I address as many of your thoughts as possible/appropriate in this course.  So take a while to think about what it is you want to learn.  Go ahead and look at the unit and topic headings already listed and use these as a way to start thinking.  When you read those heading what comes to your mind?  What would you want to learn/discuss/think about related to those topics?  What things AREN'T covered in there that you think belong in this course?

 

Submission

By now I think you have the main format of these reflections down. But I will repeat the whole speil one more time:

I do not see there being any right or wrong answers in this activity.  Similarly, length of your answer does not necessarily correlate with the quality of your answers.  Instead, I will be looking to see if you have considered a broad set of ideas/concepts for this reflection and will be looking at the clarity with which you have crafted your response(s).  This includes things like spelling, grammar, formatting, etc.

Remember that I will be grading this on purely a 1/0 basis.  You get credit for submitting something "on time" and that shows that you put time and effort/thought in to crafting a meaningful response. 

One of the things that I have found helpful - for both of us -when I grade like this is to ask you to provide a brief self-assessment of your own work.  As such, I would like you to add a 2-3 sentence self analysis at the end of your deliverable.  This should consist of a reflection on the quality of what you submitted.  This reflection should contain whether you think your work is

and then a brief explanation of WHY you made this assessment

I want to be able to give you some guidance as to how this kind of response would be graded if it were part of a competency demo.  If I look at what you submitted and think it is marginal and you think it is excellent, then we should talk so that we are on the same page. On the flip side, if I think your reflection is excellent and you think it is marginal, then we should also talk. I appreciate your honest admission when an assignment was rushed and you know it.  It allows me not to have to have a detailed talk with you if we both understand this is sub-par but you admit is an exceptional situation

To submit your work you should word process your entire reflection (including the final, self analysis) and save/print as a PDF. 

Give the file the name

for example, I would name mine

And share to the appropriate folder in our shared Google Drive