Projects+and+Feedback

The rubrics that are listed on the class wiki are merely for sources of ideas rather than hard and fast evaluation tools for your projects. If you are currently thinking about using some sort of rubric, you should first review the article [] about the pitfalls of rubrics.

Instead of relying on a rubric, review the following list (yet to be created, but we have some preliminary ideas) with your team mates include the items most useful to you and your team as you think about your project experience. There should be an overall write up by the team and an additional write up from each individual. **Please include your thoughts on the following questions but not limited to just ones below:** · How the different structure of the course challenged you and how you overcame those challenges? · What advice would you give to students just beginning the course in future terms? · How can students realize that they know enough to help others with their programming problems? · Would you do another large project like this one? What would you do differently?

If you will be taking more computer programming courses:

· What have you learned that has prepared you for future programming courses? Answers to this question might include programming techniques such as decision statements, looping, and arrays, but also more general skills you have acquired. However, don’t just say “problem solving skills.” Be specific, what problem solving skills, how might you apply them in a broader context?

Please post your team write up on http://lscchome.wikispaces.com/ along with your project files. If you completed the project by yourself, please post your individual write up without your grade (please see below). For the C class, here's the page: C Projects.

In addition, as individuals write up your thoughts on what you have learned as well as how you have changed during our time together. Please don’t limit this to technical aspects of programming, but spend some time thinking about how your basic skill set, beliefs, and attitudes have changed. For example, a student recently shared the following after taking a Visual Basic course. Notice how the skills he gained from programming have translated into other domains.

When I made my first attempt at programming I felt completely overwhelmed. I felt overwhelmed because of how different it was compared to anything else I had done before; it was a whole new world to me. In the beginning I had to just take everything on faith and accept concepts and code that did not make sense. But after I experimented on my own things began to click. I always had personal projects that I wanted to create and sometimes I bit off more than I could chew, like the Blackjack game but the experience was priceless. **Working on those personal challenges made my problem solving skills increase exponentially because I was determined to get them to work one way or another.** Everything I learned while solving those problems immediately reflected on what was being taught in the classroom. You can't learn programming in one huge chunk, you learn by understanding a few bits and pieces at first and then you realize how those bits and pieces connect to other things that form a complex concept.

As I said before when I first delved into programming it was a new world but **I realized it was only the beginning when I began using the problem solving skills in other areas of my life.** I will not deny that it was a constant struggle at first and still is, but it is well worth it. **I have a new skill set that many people do not have and it has enabled me to greatly build upon my already existing skills.**

The Challenge and Benefit of Self-Grading
I recently had an interesting conversation with a student about grades. She said that it is one thing to get assigned a higher grade you don’t deserve by someone else, but, it was another thing to actually give yourself a higher grade you don’t deserve.

Believe it or not, a lower grade may actually be better in the long run. For example, if you assign yourself a B or C, it may have been that you realized that you had more important priorities, such as other courses, family, etc. I just shared this with a current group and said that maybe a D might not be so helpful. A student responded that her D had a great story to go with it. She set fire to the chemistry lab, about two feet away from the instructor. She went on to say that the fire resulted because she had over thought the problem. Now that’s learning!

So, think about how you might leverage your grade in your future. How might you make whatever grade you give yourself useful? While grades might not normally be an interview topic, it might choose to make it one. My guess is that most places, the person doing the interview didn’t get straight A’s either. If they did, you might want to work elsewhere.