These task-specific activity reports serve several purposes. They allow you (and me) to see how much time you are spending on this class. Some classes require a little outside-class activity and some require a lot. The expectation or average is about 2 hours outside of class per week for each hour of credit per week and majors courses typically expect more than that (so perhaps 4-6 hours for this 2-credit course, minor course). If class work is getting done satisfactorily and students are not being substantially overworked, things are good. If neither of those is true, there is a problem and this may help me see the problem. The most important purpose of the TARR submissions is that they encourage reflection on what was learned during the prescribed acitivty.
After the initial (code.org) activity, you may work with a partner. If you work in partnership, each partner should fill out their report individually having no discussion about report specifics with the partner. Partners will need to include a partnership report in addition to the reflection.
A submission is expected from each student for each assignment—code.org, eight a number of Scratch programming tasks, two robot assignments, one Logo assignment, and the project assignment. Non-project assignments should be submitted before class time on the days when sharing about the assignments occurs (usually a Tuesday)., 1-3 robot programming assignments, and 1-3 Logo programming tasks. After completing the programming tasks you should prepare and submit a report.
Please keep track of your outside-of-class activity that relates directly to this class. I suggest you start your report with a brief overview of what you did and indicate the time spent on the programming task, including the class time use on the activity. You should address as much of the following as makes sense to you: what you did/included in your program, difficulties you had, your reaction, etc.—"facts" about the experience. You are also to provide your reflection on your experience with the programming task, e.g., analysis of the experience and conclusions about it and rationales for the conclusions. Reflection cues could include:
Note that merely answering the above questions is not reflection. Reflection involves activity such as connecting to personal experience; considering consequences, asking "what if ...?"; placing experience in a larger context; analogizing (and explaining the analogy); explicating your feelings/reaction and attempting to understand them/it; etc. You might examine Reflection (a .pdf from Queen Margaret University's effective learning service) to get some additional sense of reflection and its utility.
Cues for the first/code.org activity will likely focus on identifying coding elements and thinking skills related to programing, what you had trouble with, and what you think you learned.
Your reflection is not meant to be a burden and you need not write a lot but it should let me know what you learned, realized, etc. The TARR should contain/address:
The reflection cues provided above should give you some idea of what to address here. You can certainly include reflection on other aspects of your learning and future teaching on your part and learning on your students part.
You may discuss your report with classmates with the understanding that you do so for the improvement of your work and theirs. Duplicate or nearly duplicate work is not to be submitted. If you worked with a partner do not share or discuss your "report" with the partner. You can interact with them, just avoid sharing specific report material.
To submit your report prepare an e-mail message. The message should:
Those working with a partner also need to include information about how the partnership worked for the week. You have already described what you did, just add your perception of what your partner did, how well it went, what percentage of the work each person did, and whether you wish to continue the partnership. Note that it is not necessarily easy to divide work evenly. The percentages should be ball park figures, e.g., 50/50, 60/40, etc. Be aware that typing and running the code could be offset by a partner who is actively involved in deciding the code to be used, watching for incorrect block choice or placement, etc.
Grading is mostly a matter of did you do as directed in a conscientious manner. If it appears you did everything requested, the information is neatly formatted, and the information provided seemed reflective/thoughtful (not just going through the motions), you should receive an A. If there were a few slight departures from specifications you should a lesser grade. More departures, even lower grades. Late submissions will receive a deduction commensurate with the lateness. Reports that seem superfical will receive at most a C. The syllabus provides additional information about grading.
Students always ask "How many pages?" and I always reply "As many as it takes to provide a good answer." I usually add a range, in this case, if you submit only a few (1-3) short paragraphs, you probably are not including enough and if you use much more than a (single-spaced) page or so you may be overthinking it, rambling, duplicating, etc.