It has been
some time since I last wrote and my blog on my code-learning process which
actually reveals my laziness and lack of progress. I have never been an ideal
self-learner as I need some external drive that guide me through my studies or
simply push me in.
Self-regulated learning is very challenging
in terms of motivation and organization. It is quite easy to procrastinate
since there is no one to monitor you and it is really easy to get lost in what
you have to study. That's why, with an attempt to go back into my intense
coding studies I tried to find myself a source of motivation, something that
would trigger me; so I googled :). I searched for "how to reinforce
motivation", "motivation in self-learning", "motivation in
learning coding" and many others. I have come across with a great many
articles; here is the one I loved pointing out to every single question I had
in my mind (but could not name) :"8 barriers to overcome when learning tocode" (I had already hit 6 barriers out of 8 so yes speak to me baby). It
was perfectly clear for this newbie code-learner. Here are the two barriers I
identified myself mostly with:
5. You don’t know how to approach a task
In the end of my motivation quest, I have come up with two major problems that hinder my coding:
1. I do not have a project that would motivate me in terms of production
2. I could not learn the theory well.
For the former issue, I believe I have some more steps ahead so that I can transform my coding experience into a project. So, let that hang on there a little longer. The latter issue, however; seemed to me much more important and urgent as it was clearly sabotaging my learning.
So I decided to improve my learning; if you remember from my earlier posts on coding I was using two different websites (codecademy and datacamp). Inevitably, I found myself sticking to one of them (and the Oscar goes to codecademy!!) but despite its easy instructions and user-friendly system the fact that it could not provide me with the contextual basis worried me. As I thought this might be the core problem why I cannot have a solid understanding of coding and why everything seems to be floating in the air. So, I decided to get some supplementary aid; and I found some MIT lectures online. As I checked the online database one of them, Introduction to Computer Science and Programming, attracted me most as it claimed to have focused on Python and I said why not.
As I checked the info on the course, I saw that the subject claims to be aimed at students with little or no programming experience (that's me, that's me! hello!). It is made up of lecture videos by Professor John Guttag (received a bachelor's degree in English from Brown University in 1971, and a master's degree in applied mathematics from Brown in 1972; BA in humanities?! He can actually understand me!), you can also access a bunch of other resources (handouts, slides, code files and even unit quizzes for self-assessment). From what I have seen so far, is designed to provide students with an understanding of computation in solving problems.
My first impression on the Professor; I really like him, I would like to be there in his class. I loved his style both in lecturing and forming his lectures and assessment procedures.
Let's see if this step will take me any further in my studies :).
BONUS: Someone more advanced (already producing something real) in coding might enjoy this article for a motivation boost: "Bored Programming? How to Stay Motivated.
