Earlier today I responded to a prospective student who was, amongst other things, seeking advice on strategies for success on a couple of our self-paced programming courses. My response was just a stream of consciousness off the top of my head but I think it might be useful to others. Here, then, with some very light editing to remove references to specific courses, are a few fairly random thoughts on how to succeed on a self-paced online programming course (and, for the most part, other courses) at Athabasca University. In no particular order:
Online learning can be great fun as long as you are aware of the big differences, primarily relating to control and personal agency. Our role is to provide a bit of structure and a supportive environment to enable you to learn, rather than to tell you stuff and make you do things, which can be disconcerting at first if you are used to traditional classroom learning. This puts more pressure on you, and more onus on you to organize and manage your own learning, but don't ever forget that you are not ever really alone - we are here to help.
In summary, I think it really comes down to three big things, all of which are really about motivation, and all of which are quite different when learning online compared to face-to-face:
This advice is by no means comprehensive! If you have other ideas or advice, or things that have worked for you, or things that you disagree with, do feel free to share them in the comments.
I am a full professor and Associate Dean, Learning & Assessment in the School of Computing & Information Systems, and a member of The Technology-Enhanced Knowledge Research Institute at...
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Comments
Great post, Jon. Yes, challenge is necessary for learning and we always worries those students who feel it too difficult. Students can always ask for help but many don't even struggling fruitlessly, and those students are really at the risk of course failure or withdrawal. Maybe some proactive support or help can be considered? Students' learning reflection is a good approach of tracking their own learning, but also can give instructors some clues regarding who are in learning struggle. We probably need to think more of such design features in our courses.
- Hongxin Yan
Hi Jon,
Thank you for posting this response on here. I presume many other students are asking themselves the same question; I was for sure.
I have ran into your other posts here on the Landing page, and I appreciate your time and effort explaining your thoughts.
I will be taking COMP 602 next semester with you. Quite excited to do so.
Cheers,
Viet
Thanks Viet!
My suggestions just scratch the surface. COMP602 is quite different from COMP266, for which I originally wrote this, but there are nonetheless consistent concerns that the courses share. Those central issues of motivation - autonomy, relatedness, and competence - are (I think) the biggest ones, but it's important to remember that motivation is complex, multi-faceted, and situated. i'm a big fan of self-determination theory, on which I based my concluding comments, which (amongst other things) identifies those three aspects as the fundamental prerequisites of intrinsic motivation. However, most of us hit roadblocks now and then, even when we love most of what we are doing, and intrinsic motivation is seldom sustainable all the time. I deeply hate the worst form of extrinsic motivatlon, external regulation (the typical way we teach, that relies on rewards and punishments to push people along), and will do all that I can to limit that in COMP02, but there are forms of internal regulation that, though technically extrinsic, are self-directed, and can really help. See https://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/Motivation_and_emotion/Book/2011/Self-determination_theory for a nice, straightforward overview.
I look forward to greeting you on COMP602!
Jon