Utilizing Automated Scaffolding Strategies to Improve Students' Reflections Writing Process.

This study explored the effectiveness of scaffolding in students' reflection writing process. We compared two sections of an introductory computer programming course $(\mathrm{N}=188)$ . In Section 1, students did not receive any scaffolding while generating reflections, whereas, in Section 2, students were scaffolded during the reflection writing process. Student reflections were collected using two versions of the CourseMIRROR application (standard version in Section 1 and adaptive version in Section 2). By using Natural Language Processing (NLP) algorithms, the app calculated a reflection specificity score for each reflection. We conducted an independent sample t-test between the students' reflection specificity scores in these two sections. The results indicated that students using adaptive versions wrote more specific reflections than students using the standard version of the app, suggesting that scaffolding helped students write more specific reflections, which may be helpful in their overall learning outcomes in an introductory computer programming course.