First Learning Reflection

Motivation

I decided to not have exams in ISAT 420, because I want to create a learning environment that invites doing hard things, like data analysis and analyzing environmental systems in an environment, and experimentation while also acknowledging that students have different backgrounds and technical skill levels coming into this classroom.

Because this is the first time that I am teaching this class, I am also contributing to the environment of experimentation by trying new things.

During the course, we are doing several things simultaneously. Right now we are learning

to use new tools for reproducible research workflows
a new language (python with pandas) to analyze real-world environmental data
to extract information about environmental systems from the data

This is *actually* a lot at the same time.

I am not sure whether you have ever thought about this (or have been told in other classes), but there are two types of assessments that have completely different purposes (see e.g. here):

Formative Assessments:
The goal of formative assessment is to monitor student learning to provide ongoing feedback that can be used by instructors to improve their teaching and by students to improve their learning. More specifically, formative assessments:
- help students identify their strengths and weaknesses and target areas that need work
- help faculty recognize where students are struggling and address problems immediately
Summative Assessments:

The goal of summative assessment is to evaluate student learning at the end of an instructional unit by comparing it against some standard or benchmark.

You have probably noticed that learning reflections fall into the formative assessment category.

This means they work best if you engage them with the appropriate mindset.

One example for this would be what Stanford University Psychologist Carol Dweck has termed the growth mindset.

Reflecting on our learning and how we are doing it - rather than rather than having strictly focusing on specific outcomes - can help us realize the big picture and improve our learning.

I invite you to be honest with yourself and with me.

Approach

You should this as an opportunity for critical reflection on the course, its contents, your learning experience, and the course learning objectives by responding to the prompts mentioned below.

Course learning objectives

Apply principles of open and responsible science to acquire, process, and visualize environmental data
Understand different types of models and environmental data and how they can be used to characterize environmental issues
Interpret environmental data to characterize the causes and effects of environmental problems
Evaluate complex environmental systems using computational tools to
- Understand causes and effects of environmental problems
- Realize limitations of data and models
- Effectively communicate scientific and technological information
Analyze, present, and defend the results and conclusions from projects that involve environmental data from observations and models

Reflection Questions/ Prompts

What were your prior expectations coming into this course?
- Think about expectations on course contents, work style, programming, environmental issues, …
Describe your experience in ISAT 420.
- How did you experience the course contents, work style, …
- What are the struggles?
- Does the course contents connect with your expectations and prior experiences?
What are your major take-aways from ISAT 420 so far?
- Look at the course objectives
- Think about technical skills, data sources, and environmental problems.
Why/ How do you think the things you learned so far matter?
- For your own learning/ future?
- For generally understanding environmental issues?
Based on this learning reflection:
- What course content is still most unclear to you?
- What specific steps could you take to enhance your own learning?
- What specific steps could be taken to improve the learning community?
- What specific steps could I (your instructor) take to enhance your learning?

Submission Procedure

The learning reflection should be shared with me using the private GitHub repository using the tools that we have practiced.

Format: A markdown (*.md) or jupyter notebook (*.ipynb*) file using markdown formatting as needed, including headings, lists, …
Filename: Save the filename as LearningReflection1_<yourname>.md or LearningReflection1_<yourname>.ipynb (Don’t forget the correct file extension).
Location: Create a folder Learning_Reflections in your private repository and add the file.
Use github-desktop to commit and push the file to GitHub.com, so that I can see it.

Evaluation Criteria

I will be using the following rubric for assessment.

Criteria	Unsatisfactory-Beginning	Developing	Accomplished	Exemplary	Total
Content Reflection					50
	Reflection lacks critical thinking. Superficial connections are made with key course concepts and course materials, activities, and/or assignments	Reflection demonstrates limited critical thinking in applying, analyzing, and/or evaluating key course concepts and theories from readings, lectures, media, discussions, activities, and/or assignments Minimal connections made through explanations, inferences, and/or examples.	Reflection demonstrates some degree of critical thinking in applying, analyzing, and/or evaluating key course concepts and theories from readings, lectures, media, discussion activities, and/or assignments. Connections made through explanations, inferences, and/or examples.	Reflection demonstrates a high degree of critical thinking in applying, analyzing, and evaluating key course concepts and theories from readings, lectures, media, discussion activities, and/or assignments. Insightful and relevant connections made through contextual explanations, inferences, and examples.
Personal Growth					30
	Conveys inadequate evidence of reflection on own work in response to the self-assessment questions posed. Personal growth and awareness are not evident and/or demonstrates a neutral experience with negligible personal impact. Lacks enough inferences, examples, personal insights and challenges, and/or future implications are overlooked.	Conveys limited evidence of reflection on own work in response to the self-assessment questions posed. Demonstrates less than adequate personal growth and awareness through few or simplistic inferences made, examples, insights, and/or challenges that are not well developed. Minimal thought of the future implications of current experience.	Conveys evidence of reflection on own work with a personal response to the self-assessment questions posed. Demonstrates satisfactory personal growth and awareness through some inferences made, examples, insights, and challenges. Some thought of the future implications of current experience.	Conveys strong evidence of reflection on own work with a personal response to the self-assessment questions posed. Demonstrates significant personal growth and awareness of deeper meaning through inferences made, examples, well developed insights, and substantial depth in perceptions and challenges. Synthesizes current experience into future implications.
Style, Quality, and Technical.					20
	Poor writing style lacking in standard English, clarity, language used, and/or frequent errors in grammar, punctuation, usage, and spelling. Needs work.	Average and/or casual writing style that is sometimes unclear and/or with some errors in grammar, punctuation, usage, and spelling.	Above average writing style and logically organized using standard English with minor errors in grammar, punctuation, usage, and spelling.	Well-written and clearly organized using standard English, characterized by elements of a strong writing style and basically free from grammar, punctuation, usage, and spelling errors. Technical submission requirements (markdown formatted file uploaded to Github) are met.
				TOTAL POINTS (sum of 4 Criteria)	/100

Rubric by Denise Kreiger, Instructional Design/Technology Services, SC&I, Rutgers, 4/2014