In this lesson, students will use a learning journal to record the learning throughout the course in order to gain confidents in using and creatiing with technology.
Students will be able to...
- Document their technology learning journey.
- Self-reflect on the joys and challenges of technology learning.
- Appreciate software development as a process.
Have students do self-evaluation journaling at different stages during the course, for example:
- first week of course
- after unit 2
- after unit 4
- and last week of course.
On Journal Writing days, teachers can omit bell work, and provide students with 10 minutes to do their writing.
| Duration | Description |
|---|---|
| 2 minutes | Welcome, attendance, (omit bell work), announcements |
| 10 minutes | Journal Writing Time |
| 38 minutes | A shortened regular class |
| 5 minutes | Debrief and wrap-up |
- Students should have individual notebooks, a registered blog space, or worksheet handout to journal with.
- Teachers can provide a list of guidance questions (see below), or a survey that contains these questions.
You may come to this course with stereotypes and myths about your abilities with computer science. By keeping a learning journal we will be using self-evaluation and self-reflection to help build your confidence. We will be reflecting on:
- what skills you currently have.
- what skills you gained over time.
- what you are capable of learning.
- what your interests might be.
- and what you would like to learn in the future
It's ok not to know everything. There is always something new to learn. Just take one step at a time.
- Introduce students to the idea of a learning journal.
- Create a schedule of when, or how frequently, students are to write in their Journal.
Teacher should writes their own response to the prompts and share them with students. Peer feedback is a powerful tool to use for this entries. When doing this make sure to go over how to give feedback with the students. Here are some sentence starters to help guide through giving feedback to guide students.
- One thing I liked was…
- One thing I would change was…
- I’d like to know about ….
- What tools and technologies have you used before?
- On a scale of 1-5, how confident are you with them (5 being super-confident)
- What do you look forward to learning in this course?
- What are your worries and concerns about this course?
- other thoughts or comments.
- List the technical skills have you gained since the last time you wrote in your journal.
- What other skills have you gained? For example: creating a plan, drawing a graphic design, giving a presentation.
- What would you like more time working on to learn more?
- Looking at the new skills you have gained, or practiced, how do you feel about it?
- What did you like best about the course so far?
- What other skills would you really like to learn?
- What do you think we can do to improve the course?
- other thoughts or comments.
- If you were to give advice to a new student who will start the course, what would it be?
- Was learning new skills easier, or harder than you thought? Explain.
- What are your project or design interests?
- Would skills would you like to learn next?
- What future jobs might use these skills?
- other thoughts or comments.
Like learning any new skill, or language, it takes time to learn. In computer programming, it's normal for a section of code to not work the first time.
Here are some things to think about during your journey through computer science:
-
If something doesn't work, don't be discouraged! It's part of the process. In fact, even experienced programmers spend a lot of time finding errors in their design and code. It's like detective work. This is when you can practice critical thinking steps of breaking down the problem, isolating the error, analyzing the values of variables. It can be frustrating but it's fun and rewarding when you resolve the error.
-
Don't be afraid to ask for help. Professional developers consult focus groups online to ask questions, and share solutions. One popular developer community is Stack overflow
- At the end of the course, ask each students to share a few key points with the class. They can refer to their final entry page in their Journal.
- This is an excellent oppotunity to share these stories to build community in your school and help to encourage more students to join the class.
Let's celebrate your learning journey! Don't let stereotypes, myths, or negative messages affect your motivation to learn technology. Whether it's coding, creative user-centered design, project management and everything in between. Don't just be technology consumers, be equipped to create and build your own uses for technology. The essentials skills you learn in this course will empower you to use technology in meaningful ways for a better future.
- This exercise could also be conducted in the form of a series of online surveys. The survey should allow for written responses, so that students are free to enter their own thoughts. Though remember that it's important that they reflect on this at the end of the course in order to build their confidence.