BISM7255
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BISM7255 Business Information Systems Analysis and Design
INDIVIDUAL ASSIGNMENT - WEIGHTING: 25%
Reflective Journal on Work-Integrated Learning (WIL) Blended Learning
Lectures with the Low-Code Platform Mendix
Assignment task
Starting in the Teaching Week after the break, the learning and teaching in BISM7255 will be in
Blended Learning Mode with a particular focus on the no-code/ low-code application Mendix. This the
core part of the Work-Integrated Learning (WIL) and is accompanied by a number of surveys on
learning progress. To have a final assessment of the student’s learning, a reflective journal about the
low-code business application (app) is to be created, which corresponds with the app. It is the final
assessment piece for the course.
Students are expected to write in their reflective journal about their significant Mendix learning
experiences. This means they should reflect on the content, meaning, and value of the experience in
learning coding and app development. It is important in the reflection to personally assess how the
learning improves their future careers and career prospects(e.g., as a Business Analyst, Product Owner).
This discussion should address whether and how the learning experience positions them better in the
job market. Finally, the journal should end with a critical account of the learning choice made (i.e., the
learning style/ approach the student chose to learn coding and app development in the context of the
WIL blended learning mode), and an evaluation of how that learning choice affected their overall
learning of the Mendix app development.
To better appreciate this assignment, it needs to be clear what a reflective journal is and how it is used
for teaching and learning purposes. Based on the article by Plack et al. (2005) (p. 200), a reflection is
defined “as the process of examining an experience” undertaken as “an internal process that helps the
individual refine his or her understanding of an experience”. An expected and desired outcome of the
reflection is that “it may lead to changes in the individual’s perspective”. Ultimately, reflections “result
in new insights and deeper understandings of [a person’s] experiences” … and … “through this
analytical process that the reflective [person] … develops a change in perspective”.
The Queensland Curriculum & Assessment Authority explains that reflective journaling helps students
achieve core skills of learning. In general, a learning journal can document a variety of information,
ideas, thoughts, learning strategies, and working processes, and should contain decisions made and
reasons or justifications for these decisions. Because the learning journal is reflective, it informs further
learning or future experiences. It enables students to identify their growth throughout a subject or
experience, and set goals, and develop metacognitive skills.
It is recommended to structure, with the relevant headings, the journal into the following four sections:
- Purpose
In your own words, describe how the reflection on the WIL Blended Learning lectures on Mendix can
help you learn better. - Significant Learning Experiences
In your own words, present learning experiences and reflect on their meaning. The learning experiences
must relate to different knowledge, skills, and capabilities. This means each learning experience must
be a unique learning event – not learning the same but more of it. It also must be a specific moment in
time, not referring to an ongoing process of learning.
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In this section, the student also needs to master the articulation of a reflection, not a description. A
reflection shall be a critical and reflective engagement about the Mendix learning experiences and their
meaning for the student.
The described learning experiences need to match the Mendix app submitted. This means that the
description needs to be an authentic account of the learning in the course. For example, it cannot be that
a student reflects on the app development and elaborates how s/he created microflows, but the student’s
app does not have a microflow. Inconsistencies like this will be reflected in reduced marks. - Implications for Career
In your own words, think ahead of your future workplace, the job you want to do, the company you
want to work for, and reflect on how the Blended Learning lectures helped, prepared, and advanced you
in this regard. - Assessment of Learning Choice
In your own words, assess your choices in preparation, engagement, own contributions for the Blended
Learning lectures on Mendix. It can include a personal reflection on things that worked for you and
things you would do differently considering the unique nature of Blended Learning and the creation of
an app.
It is expected that the reflective journal will be around 750 words to present the learning and impact
reflections. However, the word limit is not considered as a specific criterion in the marking. This means
that an assignment with only 500 words, but written concisely and focused tightly on the reflections
and insights made, might be of better quality than a longer journal. Hence, students should dedicate
time for revising and improving the writing to clearly achieve a reflection, not a simple reporting of
past experiences.
Hints: We found that longer texts are not better assignments. A longer journal means that the student
includes a lot of descriptions. Yet, the assignment asks you to reflect. Reflections are shorter because
they articulate your own awareness of how you think. Markers do not want to read ‘what’ you did in
WIL but ‘why’ you did it and ‘how’ you achieved it.
Analysing and understanding yourself better through the reflections will make you a better learner for
the ‘next’ innovation.
Layout
The assignment must have a cover pages with the title of the assignment, student name and ID.
Use the following format & presentation: - Times New Roman
- Size 12 font
- 1.5 line spacing
- Left aligned
- Normal margins (2.54 cm)
- Number all pages
Students must have four headings as outlined earlier to indicate the different sections of their reflection,
such as 1) Purpose, 2) Significant Learning Experiences, 3) Implications for Career, 4) Assessment of
Learning Choice.
Important note: All points or aspects of the layout not specified above are left to the student’s
judgment to ensure the professional presentation of the reflective journal.
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Submission Format and Process
The assignment must be submitted electronically via turn-it-in through the Online Submission Folder
on the course Blackboard site. Files submitted as email attachments will not be accepted.
Format: Word File ----- NO PDFs
ALSO – Students need to submit their Mendix App created as part of the WIL project.
Name of the app: Student ID (8 digits) and first and last name. No spaces, use underscore. For example,
“44191384_Michael_Smith” and also see screenshot below. Facilitators will help you with naming the
app in the seminar.
To submit your app you need to add a marker as your team member:
1) Go to the Mendix platform
2) Go to Developer Portal and select on the left side COLLABORATE there select Team
3) Now you can invite team members. Click on the blue button that says “Invite member" (see 1st
screenshot)
4) A new screen opens with the title: “Invite Users to [name of the app] App”
5) Enter the email address of [email protected]... into the entry field where
promoted
6) Click “Add to List”
7) Select the role for the marker as “Business Engineer” (2nd screenshot)
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8) Follow all the steps (3rd screenshot) until the invitation is sent and a confirmation is displayed that
the invitation has been sent
Submission Date
Submission date: 27 May 2022 at 2pm
The assignment will remain open for late submission, but late submission penalties will apply in
accordance with the electronic course profile. If a student has not submitted the Mendix App then the
submission is considered “incomplete” and late submission penalties will apply.
References
Margaret Plack, Maryanne Driscoll, Sylvene Blissett, Raymond Mckenna, Thomas P Plack (2005) A
method for assessing reflective journal writing: Journal of Allied Health 34(4):199-208.
Materials provided by the Queensland Curriculum & Assessment Authority; http://www.qcaa.qld.edu.au/
Matook, Sabine, Wang, Yazhu Maggie, Koeppel, Nuria and Guerin, Simon (2021). Experiential
learning in Work-Integrated Learning (WIL) projects for metacognition: Integrating theory with
practice. Australasian Conference on Information Systems (ACIS), Virtual, 6-10 December 2021.
Marking Process with a focus on the Mendix App
The marking of the app is based on the implementation of the client's requirements of the app.
Throughout the semester, these requirements are elicited and clarified. Because each student is part of a
development team and each development team has a dedicated teacher, an ongoing understanding of
how the student progresses with the low-code development is achieved. Furthermore, students will be
given the opportunity to showcase their apps during the seminar time in Week 12 or Week 13.
Because the reflection essay is about past experiences, students who did not experience the entire lowcode
learning are not able to write their reflective essay. Thus, we expect that each student develops a
unique app from a Blank app or tailored another app template so that it works in Mendix Studio (publish
the app) and addresses the client’s requirements.
Students who do not have an app or did not submit an app are given the opportunity to create their app
and are required to submit their app as part of the assignment’s submission process. When the app does
not implement the requirements (data model, advanced GUI features, workflows) students are given the
opportunities to include them and resubmit their app.
Until the requirements of the clients are satisfactorily included in the Mendix low-code app, late
submission penalties apply.
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MARKING RUBRIC – Total 25 marks
Criteria Fail Meets Expectations Very Good
Mendix Learning
Experiences
What significant
learning experiences
did I encounter during
the WIL Mendix
Blended Learning
lectures?
No or poor
description of
learning experiences.
No or poor
understanding what
an experience is.
Zero-One mark
Descriptive presentation
of la earning experience.
Learning experiences
relate to the same form
of learning.
Two-Three marks
Reflective
presentation of two
learning experiences.
Learning experiences
relate to different
forms of learning.
Four-Five marks
Meaning of the
learning experiences
Why was each learning
experience so
important for my
learning?
No or poor
reflection learning
experiences.
Zero-One mark
Simplistic (no or limited
critical and reflective
engagement) description
of what the learning
experiences meant for
the student.
Two-Three marks
Critical and reflective
engagement with the
meaning of each of
the learning
experiences.
Four-Five marks
Consideration of
future career impacts
How and why is the
learning valuable for
my future career?
No or poor
consideration of
future career
impacts.
Zero-One mark
Simplistic (not critical
or not reflective)
considerations on future
career impacts had the
learning.
Two-Three marks
Critical and reflective
considerations on
future career impacts
having had the
learning.
Four-Five marks
Reflections on
learning choice
What was the impact of
my learning choice
(your approach/ style)
upon my learning of
Mendix app
development?
No or poor
reflections on the
students learning
choice.
Zero-One mark
Simplistic (not selfcritical)
reflections on
the learning choice
made regarding the
blended learning in
general.
Poor link back to the
learning experiences.
Two-Three marks
Self-critical dialogue
on the learning choice
made regarding the
blended learning in
general.
Clear and logic link
back to the learning
experiences.
Four-Five marks
Layout, structure,
grammar
Does my reflective
journal clearly and
error-free communicate
my reflections on the
Mendix learning
experience?
Many errors that
make the writing
confusing and hard
to read.
Document is not
structured with
headings.
Zero-One mark
Writing has several
errors in punctuation,
spelling, or grammar.
Some structure is
recognizable, but some
headings are missing.
Two-Three marks
With some exceptions,
punctuation, spelling,
and grammar are
correct.
Document is well
structured.
Four-Five marks