Using reflective blogs for pedagogical feedback in CS1

The use of weekly, reflective student blogs can be one method for collecting ongoing feedback about a CS1 course. Reflective blogs permit a continuous feedback loop that can be used for both formative and summative assessment of pedagogical innovations. This paper reports on a two-year qualitative study involving the use of reflective blogging in six sections of two CS1-style courses. Reflective blogs were used as a low stakes, non-intimidating vehicle whereby concerns, requests, and other course-related issues could be voiced by students. The resultant blog posts were used as an assessment and feedback mechanism for a parallel pedagogical transformation of the participating courses. This study demonstrates that reflective student blogs in CS1 can be a useful tool for instructional planning. However, faculty must be careful to avoid reactionary changes which move the course away from predefined learning outcomes.