PS1 Reflection Due 02/08/17 at 23:59
General Instructions
In this course we require you to complete a reflection following each problem set. A reflection consists of comparing your work to the solutions, answering questions about the learning process during the problem set, and occasionally other learning-related questions.
Reflections are designed to help you take an active role in monitoring your learning. Because we value the time and effort you put into a good reflection, you will also receive credit for completing them.
The process is more or less the following: read first the questions in the reflection form, study the solutions carefully, and then go back to the form to answer the questions.
In the reflection form, provide detailed answers, which include code snippets from your assignment or from the solution to illustrate your point. Do not copy your entire solution in the form, we have your source code. Only select short snippets when explaining a particular aspect of your code.
Note that vague or very general answers will receive little credit, a missing submission will receive 0 points.
Sample Reflection Answer
Given that this is the first time you are asked to perform this reflection task, we have created a sample document showing a strong and weak answer for one reflection question. Access the sample reflection document (valid only with your Wellesley Gmail account).
Reflection Form
PS1 Reflection Form, opens a Google Form. Click "Back" on your browser to return to this page, or right-click on link to open form in a new tab.
PS1 Solutions Page
This link is password-protected. Only current students enrolled in this class can access it via their own personal Banner ID (the B number that appears in the one-card). Make sure to enter it correctly.
How reflection is graded
Whenever there are questions being graded, a student might be tempted to try to find the "correct" answer, or the answer that the instructors are looking for. We want to invite you to forget about this instinct when filling out the reflection form. There are no right or wrong answers, there are only answers that indicate different levels of engagement with the questions. We expect that you engage with the questions thoughtfully and share your honest thoughts with us. Knowing about your struggles and successes helps us improve our pedagogy and provides you with opportunities to monitor your own learning, so that you can make appropriate adjustments if needed.
Occasionally, there will be questions about your learning process or learning attitudes, in addition to questions about the problem set. We hope that they will help you to become aware of what kind of learner you are, and what helps you to be more successful. To make you comfortable sharing your honest thoughts (as opposed to the convenient answer), we have taken these measures:
-
Your PSet reflections during the semester will be only read by student graders. Being themselves students like you and having taken CS111 only recently, they are more attuned to how you feel about the weekly tasks. They will provide instructors with summaries that don't identify individual students.
-
The graders will not look for a "right" answer or a "pleasing" answer (e.g. pair-programming was great, when you didn't feel it was so). Being honest with yourselves and us is beneficial to all.
- Only after the semester is completed and grades registered, some instructors might look at some of your responses with the purpose of deciding what adjustments to do for the next semester. We might also try to use them for research purposes, for example, to ascertain whether certain learning practices are more common than others, etc.