My programming skills have definitely improved in terms of better understanding of what does what. I wouldn’t say that I’m great at it because there are still multiple occasions where I get lost and would take a lot of time for me to understand what is happening. However, working on assignment 1, especially working with the CSS style sheet, gave a good refresher from what I learned from ICS101 and is an essential steppingstone. Compared to the amount of knowledge I knew before coming to this class, there is a lot more about programming that I know now.
Being enthusiastic about programming can sometimes be difficult when I don’t understand what’s going on. It can easily take a lot of time and it can get frustrating when spending a lot of time but end up not succeeding, making it feel like time was wasted. But that’s just part of learning, and when I do start understanding how something works, I become more enthusiastic in actually doing the work in programming. Programming is like another language; when learning a new language there are always times when you are super excited when you are understating how a grammar pattern works, in this case understanding how a line or lines of code(s) work. But also feeling less enthusiastic about the things that we don’t understand.
I still can’t complete WODs completely, 100% completion, without the screencast because there is always something that I miss or don’t know. Even if I know what I’m doing for the part of the WOD, there are parts that I either don’t know what to do at all or just misunderstand the instructions that lead me to do something else that’s not the right way to do it (i.e., not succeed in my WOD for my first attempt). I use the screencast to help me learn what to do for the parts that I get stuck on and it’s always nice to have it there for those who want to check their work even if the WOD is supposedly “easy.”
The labs definitely did help me in trying to understand the readings. Although that’s the case, I wish there was more explanation for each step or new line of code, especially code that we copy and paste, that is done in the Lab so that it connects more to the reading done before class. This is because if we do a lab putting all the code together with not as much explanation, it can easily become difficult to understand which code does what. Despite reading the reading beforehand, it won’t easily sink into my brain unless it is mentioned and explained once again.
Despite wanting to move on to the next stage of programming (i.e., building small web applications), I don’t feel like I am ready to move forward just yet. There are still some things that I think I would never think of doing myself and would probably need assistance from someone to be able to fully complete the task in hand. Doing Assignment 1 made me realize this because there things that I simply wouldn’t have known about if I didn’t get help. Of course, my goal is to be able to do as much things independently, but collaboration with fellow classmates because we can share valuable knowledge that we know that another person may not know about.
I learned a good amount in class so far throughout the semester and that’s a great accomplishment in my book. I think one of the ways the class could do to improve my learning is similar to what I mentioned previously regarding how labs are run in the class. Talk less about theory in the beginning and show more of the application, or in other words incorporate the theory and/or explanation as we go through each step that we do in labs so that it’s more connected together. In addition, we could possibly wrap everything up with an explanation at the end of the lab instead of before starting the lab. Lastly, I think focusing on learning how to do things one or two ways will also be better than being given the option to do things in many possibilities. This can potentially limit how much we learn but will give a better grasp on that one or two ways that we are taught.
Something that works well with my learning in this class is WODs. Even though I would usually need to look at the screencast to check for some things that I’m unsure of, it actually helps me understand how things relate to one another. Although writing the code yourself to get an end result is its main purpose, I think seeing the full code and the end result together somehow helps my brain piece things better. Having a screencast available for each WOD is helpful for students who learn like me. I wouldn’t say I’m not learning anything by watching the screencast instead of trying to everything on my own because it helps me learn as I go.