Post-semester thoughts on new CS222 achievements: incentivize good behavior

Since the semester ended and I wrote up my thoughts on Spring's CS222 course, I have had a few passing ideas about how I could use the achievement system to reward virtuous behavior. These can all be categorized as things that I think students should be doing, but evidence (and my memory of being a student) tells me that they are not doing. The main idea here is to give students credit for deploying the techniques that are taught in class but that are not otherwise directly assessed. The names and descriptions are unedited drafts, but they are enough for me to leave a mark for future self next time I teach the course.

• First Responder: Consider the instructor's feedback given to you on the first iteration of the final project. Pick a part of it that you do not understand after having discussed it with your team and respond to it, by either emailing or meeting with the instructor. Once you have resolved the feedback, write a paragraph or two to share the experience with your classmates.*
• Code Reviewer: Conduct a formal code review of your project following the format introduced in class. Submit a summary of who took which roles, when and where the review was conducted, the checklist you used, and the resulting artifacts such as a list of potential defects.
• Yes, I Am a Model: Do a CRC analysis of your final project at the beginning of the second or third iteration. Compare and contrast this against the initial one developed for the first iteration.

I would be remiss not to acknowledge a perennial difference of opinion that my respected colleague David Largent and I have had about a particular CS222 achievement: his Re-reader achievement, which a student can earn by re-reading a portion of the textbook after it was already assigned. I've pushed back against this, arguing that of course the students have to be going back to the textbook in order to succeed. Dave's point, I think, has been that the system can incentivize the behaviors we want of them. So, ... thanks, David—I'll probably add that one next time, too.

I'm not assigned to teach CS222 in the Fall, so now I just need to remember to read my blog next time I am assigned it.

* Note that this achievement makes it clear that not all the feedback given on an assignment is of the same grain. Some of it will be small and actionable; some of it will push students to having to learn new things that are specific to their project or their implementation.