Things teachers and fellow learners have done that have motivated me to learn
I feel that as I student I have had two kinds of things taught to me: 1) things that I was really enthusiastic about and wanted to learn; and 2) things that I really had no interest in but generally was better off knowing than not. I exclude the third category of things that I had no interest in that were also useless to know as this is just a case of bad teaching programme development.
In the generic, from my experience it has been the ability of the teacher to communicate their enthusiasm for the subject that has been an inspiring driving force behind my learning. For things I was enthusiastic about, the task was of course easier, and so a simple shared enthusiasm was often enough to motivate me.
For topics I had less interest in, a little more than just the enthusiasm was necessary. The key was often to demonstrate the practical utility of learning the subject before delving into the theory. An espousal of the utility — matched with the difference it would make to my practice and future learning — always helped me to push through the more difficult parts of a course when I would otherwise give up.
Things teachers have done that have demotivated me
I feel a list of things is appropriate here:
- Long expositions of theoretical concepts without example or real-world grounding
- Unreasonable assumptions of prior knowledge
- Assumptions of comfort with certain software environments
- An inability to match the pace of the the course/lecture to the actual speed at which the students are (or aren’t) grasping the concepts
- I was taught C++ theoretically in a lecture theatre, with lab sessions later for practical experimentation. I believe it would have been better for these sessions to be combined as I don’t see anything useful in so explicitly separating the theory and practice for a subject like this.
- No use of slides when teaching (I was taught computer graphics by oral communication alone…)
Can these things be done online?
-
Enthusiasm is much harder to convey online. I think it is very difficult to identify with a teacher and their love of the subject when it comes through a web browser. Not impossible though.
-
It is also less easy for the material to adjust itself or be re-explained to deal with the students it is intended for.
-
I actually think pretty much all of the bad things I have experienced can be done online. Often the lack of ‘personalisation’ of a course is a problem (necessary when you have 50 students) but this only gets worse as you make the material for a more and more generic audience. I am (I believe) a very good one on one teacher, but I get worse the larger the group I teach and I believe this is because I can no longer understand and respond to the needs of the specific students.