how to fail part1! or, hopefully, not! lynda thomas ltt:aber.ac.uk

How to fail part1!

Or, hopefully, not!

Lynda Thomas

ltt:aber.ac.uk

Why Now?

You have found your rooms and lectures

You have been here long enough to have some idea of ‘University Learning’ as opposed to ‘School Learning’.

We want to warn you of some things that you might not know

First, your timetable

Most of you have a 55/65 split in terms of credits

Each 10 credits is supposed to take about 100 hours – that is 40 hours a week for 15 weeks

So, we are expecting you to do work outside what is assessed

Now, the rules

Hand out the student handbook Also available at:http://www.aber.ac.uk/~dcswww/Dept/Teaching/Handbook/

It has lots of information about things and people you should know

Marks – 40% is a pass

Your marks will be on your student record

You must pass 100 of 120 credits If not you can do up to 60 credits of

resits in August, or repeat the year If you fail more than 60 credits you must

repeat the year.

Resits

Happen in August – we do not know the exact date until the University tells us

They cost money unless you have an approved ‘special circumstance’

If you are ill for a significant period of time, get a special circumstances form and hand it in with evidence at reception. (No guarantees)

What if I fail the resits?

You can repeat the year (once) Unless something changes you will fail

again – so you have to consider this carefully

We harass you a lot with special tutorials, attendance requirements, etc.

So, OK then how do I fail? Don’t read your email – some of you already doing this

(there are several clients available)

Don’t manage your time – is a job in a bar a good plan?

Don’t attend lectures – what could you possibly learn?

Leave assignments until last minute – soon enough

Don’t hand in an assignment - so, it is only worth 30%

I hate module XXXX or Lecturer YYYY, I will just ignore them and maybe they will go away

Don’t do more than the minimum – programming especially takes practice

Don’t ask for help!

OK, I’m scared, How do I PASS? Read email Attend everything, pay attention, bring a pen Look stuff up asap Make friends in computer science Get a mentor through Signpost if you are shy Ask for help – lecturers, your tutor, advisory,

your CS friends Do a bit extra on the pracs Start your assignments on time ……..

Reflect on your learning – what helps you?– Start a study group?– Read over the slides/notes etc. from last time so you

are ready for lectures?– Print the notes before the lecture – maybe?– Bring a pen and write on them (even doodles may

help some people). Draw pictures?– ……

Practice Programming – 10,000 hours? Enjoy yourself too! Computing should be fun

Attendance correlates with performance!Not many

people here!

Lectures Attended

Mar

ks

…and makes you happy Students who get limited contact time with university staff are

less likely to enjoy the student experience – and those who don’t work hard enough don’t have a good time either.

A survey of more than 15,000 full-time UK undergraduates by Higher Education Policy Institute (Hepi) and the Higher Education Academy (HEA), found that:

– on average students spent more time studying independently than they did with teaching staff, leaving some feeling unsatisfied with their experience of university.

– Those with fewer contact hours felt more strongly that they weren’t getting value for money and were more likely to have chosen another course if they could have had their time again,

– for the 12% of students who weren’t satisfied, the main reason given was that they did not work hard enough.

A personal interest in learning: as a Welsh Learner and a parent Dw I wedi bod yn dysgu ers talwm! Having more time and less pressure I

have tried to see what helps me I find that I write notes (even though I

often don’t look at them later). That’s OK

I became interested in how different people learn differently.

The rest of these slides are some suggestions

about learning computing See ‘LearningComputing pages

www.learningcomputing.org

I may go through the web page or do the slides. Whichever I do why don’t you do the other

on your own!

Learning On Your Own

Self-directed Learning

The Computing industry needs independent learners Some of you already do it The subject changes Employers need it We will give you at least one

assignment to ‘make’ you

Learning with confidence

Growth mindset

C. S. Dweck. Self-Theories: Their Role in Motivation, Personality and Development. Taylor & Francis, 1999

Students carry two types of views on ability/intelligence:Fixed Mindset View – This view (those who are called “Entity theorists”) treats intelligence as fixed and stable.  These students have a high desire to prove themselves to others; to be seen as smart and avoid looking unintelligent.Growth Mindset View– This view treats intelligence as malleable, fluid, and changeable.  These students see satisfaction coming from the process of learning and often see opportunities to get better.  They do not focus on what the outcome will say about them, but what they can attain from taking part.

True Confession Time: I used to be a fixed mindset person

Search for:Graphic by Nigel Holmes – Stanford alumni association

link

Learning your way

Learning Styles

Learning Styles

Various approaches: left/right brain, Meyers Briggs, Kolb Learning styles, Felder-Silverman model of preferred leaning style.

Colleagues and I discovered:

That our students had different learning styles – surprise, surprise!

General research shows that if you reflect on your own learning you do better.

Felder-Silverman Learning Style

This identifies what is easy for the student. Felder believes that students need to improve other styles of learning too – you need to get better at all.

Remember this is what you may find easiest – it isn’t actually a test with right and wrong answers.

It may not actually describe you take it all with a pinch of salt

Try it for yourself

Felder Learning Style

http://www4.ncsu.edu/unity/lockers/users/f/felder/public/ILSdir/styles.htm

(we’ll do a short version in the lecture)

Active Reflective

Active: try things out, work with others Reflective: think things through, work

alone

When I am learning something new, it helps me to  (a) talk about it.  (b) think about it.

Sensing Intuitive

Sensing: concrete, practical, facts, procedures

Intuitive: conceptual, innovative, theories and meanings

I find it easier  (a) to learn facts.  (b) to learn concepts.

Visual Verbal

Visual: pictures, diagrams, flow-charts Verbal: written or spoken explanations

In a book with lots of pictures and charts, I am likely to  (a) look over the pictures and charts carefully.  (b) focus on the written text.

Global Sequential

Global: holistic, learn in large leaps Sequential: incremental, orderly steps

I learn  (a) at a fairly regular pace. If I study hard, I'll "get it."  (b) in fits and starts. I'll be totally confused and then suddenly it all "clicks."

Inductive Deductive

Inductive: the specific to the general Deductive: general to specific

Felder believes that undergraduate education should always be inductive

What Kind of Instruction do Universities usually offer?

The kind at which most of your lecturers have been successful– Reflective (work alone), – Intuitive (theories and meanings), – Verbal (not visual), – Sequential (linear not global), – Deductive (general to specific)

Classic University Learning

Lectures (no slides) Reading many books to construct your

own knowledge Exams (sometimes completely ‘new’

ways of thinking about the material).

Times have changed (somewhat)

Lectures with slides or printed notes Have one or more textbooks that you

can use for reference Practical assignments as well as exams

But is there is still an element of this? So, how do YOU work with it?

Recommendations

Give students a wide range of opportunities for learning

Especially students who prefer

active, sensing, visual, global

Examples

Active: group work, experiment Sensing: practical, not much ambiguity Visual: diagrams Global: beware of getting bogged down

in detail, or depressed about lack of progress

How to make learning better for yourself – after all it is up to you! Active: try things out, work with others, write Reflective: think things through, work alone Sensing: concrete, practical, facts, procedures Intuitive: conceptual, innovative, theories Visual: pictures, diagrams, flow-charts Verbal: written or spoken explanations Global: holistic, learn in large leaps Sequential: incremental, orderly steps Inductive: the specific to the general Deductive: general to specific

Learning Thresholds

Threshold Concepts

These are concepts that are

Troublesome Irreversible Integrative And maybe other things ….

They take you over a threshold, See the web site for an interesting

‘linguistic’ example

So…..

Enough of all this theory ….

But what does it suggest?

How can you get the best marks possible? Some basic things: Print the notes before the lecture - maybe Bring a pen and write on them (even doodles may help

some people). Draw pictures. Look up material ASAP that you don’t understand. Talk to others (teach someone!) Ask questions (outside lecture if you are shy) Pin the lecturer down to be practical Do a ‘bit more’ on the pracs. Don’t just go through

motions – practice practice practice Ask yourself ‘what is this module about?’ (global) At the end of every lecture have a plan for what to ‘do’

with the information and ideas