Block 160: Course Retrospective & Next Steps
Reflect on 16 weeks of learning and plan your continued growth.
Concepts
- Self-assessment across all 14 library topics
- Identifying strongest and weakest areas
- Planning a learning path forward
- Portfolio building and open-source contribution
Code Examples
See exercise below.
Exercise
Complete a self-assessment matrix: rate yourself (1–5) on every library covered. Identify your top 3 strengths and top 3 gaps. Write a 'Learning Roadmap': the 3 most important things you'll learn next, with specific resources and a timeline. Bonus: Push your capstone project to GitHub with a complete README. This is your portfolio piece.
Homework
Final reflection: Write 5 'letters to your Week 1 self' — advice you wish you'd had at the beginning. Share them with future students. Appendix: Reusable Jupyter Notebook Template Copy this template for every 30-minute block. Replace the bracketed placeholders with the specific week, day, block number, and topic. Notebook Cell Layout # [WkX-DayY-BlockZ] Topic: <Short title here> ## 1. Objective - What will I learn or practice in this 30-minute block? - Link to weekly theme: e.g., Week 3 – Pandas basics ## 2. Setup ```python import numpy as np # if needed import pandas as pd # if needed import matplotlib.pyplot as plt # if needed # %matplotlib inline ``` ## 3. Warm-up / Recap (5 minutes) Briefly restate one concept from the previous block. ## 4. Main Concept / Example (10–15 minutes) ### 4.1 Concept Summary - Key concept in 1–3 bullet points - Key methods/functions: method1, method2, method3 ### 4.2 Code Examples ```python # Example 1: <short description> # TODO: Write code here # Example 2: <short description> # TODO: Write code here ``` ## 5. Exercise(s) (10–15 minutes) **Exercise 1** Description: <What to implement> TODOs: - [ ] Step 1: ... - [ ] Step 2: ... - [ ] Step 3: ... ```python # Your solution here ``` ## 6. Quick Check / Self-Evaluation - [ ] I can explain what <concept> does in my own words - [ ] I can use <method1> and <method2> without looking at docs - [ ] I ran all cells and got expected outputs ## 7. Notes and Questions New things I learned: ... Things I found confusing: ... Questions to revisit next block: ...