E7: Reflective Analysis of my ITM 352 Experience

By the date and time indicated on the Schedule page, write a technical essay (blog entry) that summarizes your experiences reflecting on your experience ITM 352.

When providing answers to the following items, be as specific as possible. Avoid vague answers like “I learned a lot” and “ChatGPT did all the work”. However, be as concise as possible.

Overview: As a student of ITM 352, you have embarked on a unique journey unlike any other in your academic career. This course adopts an athletic approach to learning programming, emphasizing the development of skills through practice, much like training in sports, self-reflection though writing about your experiences, and experiencing the grand challenges of information systems development by building an original non-trivial web application. Your experience in this course, therefore, offers a rich context for reflection on both personal growth and skill acquisition.

This reflective essay will not only help you articulate your learning experiences but also aid in consolidating your knowledge and skills gained from ITM 352. It will serve as a valuable document reflecting your educational growth and readiness for future challenges in the field of information systems.

Assignment: Write an essay that reflects on your personal learning experience in ITM 352. Your essay should explore the challenges you faced, the skills you developed, and how the pedagogical approach of the course (inverted classroom and athletic software engineering) contributed to or hindered your learning process. Additionally, reflect on the future implications of the skills acquired in this course and how you envision applying them in your professional life.

To help you be more specific in your reflections, here is a list of elements in ITM 352:

• JSON
• web-based platform used for version control and collaboration on software development projects (GitHub)
• HTML
• CSS
• Operating system shell (Bash, Powershell, zsh)
• Professional portfolio
• Basic programming in Javascipt
• DOM
• HTTP
• Client-Server (web application)
• Cloud computing (Google Cloud Platform)
• Testing
• Deployment of systems
• Node.js
• WODs
• Screencasting
• IDEs (VSCode)
• Web application development

Copy the outline of questions below and put your responses below them:

1. Course Goals ITM 352 has the following goals:
   • Acquiring basic programming skills in an IT context
   • Understanding why MIS people need basic programming skills and knowledge
   • Gaining hands-on experience in developing software applications
   • Experiencing first-hand MIS problems and solutions
   • Experiencing and understanding first-hand project management, working in teams, software development issues
   • Gaining confidence in addressing MIS problems
     For each of the above goals, explain what stands out in your class experience that indicates you have met that goal. You do not need to be comprehensive but do be specific. You should make each goal a sub-section.
     Here is an example of what you might write:
     
     1.3 Gaining hands-on experience in developing software applications
     Assignment 2 was where really felt I was getting hands-on experience in developing software applications. Here I felt as if the training wheels came off and I could not simply copy some code from a lab or from ChatGPT. In particular, to get the product quantities a user selected through the login and registration to the invoice helped me understand the basic software development process of first thinking though what is wanted, then deciding how to do it, and only after this writing the code to do it. Writing my comments first help organize and focus this process.*
     
2. Course Elements and Personal Engagement
   • What did you learn from creating a professional portfolio and using it in ITM 352?
   • What did you gain from doing the WODs?
   • Were the quizzes helpful in preparing you for the labs?
   • What did you learn from doing the labs?
   • What did you learn from doing the essays?
   • What did you learn from doing Assignment 1 and Assignment 2?
3. Challenges and Achievements
   • Detail the specific challenges you encountered during the course, such as understanding new programming concepts, completing WODs, web application development assignments.
   • Explain how you overcame these challenges and the strategies that helped you succeed.
   • Highlight any particular achievements or milestones in the course that were significant to you.
4. Skill Development and Application
   • Reflect on the three skill levels outlined in the course (syntactic, algorithmic, application) and discuss your progression through these levels.
   • Describe how the hands-on experience with web-based e-service applications enhanced your understanding and confidence in handling MIS issues.
5. Use of AI (e.g. ChatGBT)
   • Discuss how use of AI enhanced your learning and productivity. Give specific examples of how you used AI effectively.
   • Discuss how use of AI inhibited your learning or and productivity. Give specific examples of how you used AI ineffectively.
6. Future Implications and Professional Growth
   • Explore how the skills and knowledge gained from ITM 352 can be applied in your future academic and professional endeavors.
   • Discuss the potential impacts these skills will have on your career, especially in terms of understanding and addressing MIS problems.
   • Reflect on the overall value of the course in your educational journey and future career.

Use the same blog as you did in E1. When you complete your blog entry submit the link to Laulima as you did in E1.