Motivation and Learning
Motivation is the drive behind the actions people do. It gives a reason or a push to do new things or keep going. The skill in constantly being able to learn new things comes from a boost of motivation from previous success on other skills. I however believe that motivation is the initial drive to start learning, however, perseverance is the force to keep things constantly going.
There is also the idea that people often quit when they can not do something well. This is mostly what society believes and not entirely true. It is completely okay to learning a new hobby and skill and not become a professional at it. It is okay to be a average joe and still maintain interest in that certain hobby. It is about the little joys in life that keep the world running. The ultimate force to move the world is the constant motivation from billions of people on the planet which create new uncertain miracles and realities.
Enough of my random typing on my keyboard. Let’s get back onto topic. I will start by answering the following question: share a story about how you overcame a learning challenge. Why was it a challenge? What strategies did you use? Use the language you learned in this unit.
I have always wanted to learn how to ride a motorcycle. It was one of the cooler sports and at the same time costlier as well. I had immense interest in it but completely zero experience. I did not know where to start, I had no mentors or peers that knew motorcycling to ask, and last but not least I was completely horrified of how dangerous it is. BUT I was motivated to learn. The more I knew nothing of it the more I was motivated and pushed to achieve it. I finished my knowledge test then signed up and finished a safety and maneuvering course. I took to craigslist and bought my dream bike in the dream color for a price that was completely within my budget plus change! I rode it everyday it was not raining and slowly improved my skills. But it was a long journey from taking three tests, buying proper gear, buying a motorcycle for the first time, taking it home, and to get on the rode while feeling immense danger all around. However I still managed. How? The gradual increase in skill drives motivation which helps drive perseverance which results in a loop all while feeling happy about it.
References:
Motivation and Learning – EDCI 335 (edtechuvic.ca)
Self-Introduction
It has been a journey for me and I am now on my final year in uVic! I wanted to first introduce myself, my name is Zi Wang and I am originally from China. I major in Economics. Some of my hobbies are learning to code during my free time because it’s like learning a new language. During the winter time I love to go snowboarding. While during summer I love to ride my motorcycle. I like to learn new hobbies every one to two years to increase my social circle and to make new friends that share the same interests.
Open Pedadogies
Open Pedadogies, or known as learning by becoming the person who creates the information by using constructivist, collaborative, integrative, reflective and inquiry based learning immensely helps with programmers learning to code. One prime example is Hackathons where many individuals come together, separated into groups and given a couple of days to try and write code to perform a specific task or to fix a problem. How does this help? Teams construct the code by putting their knowledge into a working essay in programming language. This is followed by integrating what they know and putting it all together. The next step is error handling where the fix the problems that might have risen from writing the code incorrectly. To continue, the team asks themselves have they successfully fixed the problem?
I believe that open pedadogies, simply put is to learning by teaching or by doing. Practice makes perfect. This is exactly what programmers are told to do in order to be very efficient and handy in writing code. I think we will be talking about this instructional approach in our Learning Resource assignment as it aligns with how programmers are taught to learn and how programmers learn efficiently.
Pod 6 Peer Review
Pod 6 did a surprising job of presenting their Learning Resource as a blog which is so different than using a PPT or Word document. The organization of all the contents into each page is also very clean and nice. The cosmetics of the blog is very appealing with mostly red theme which is the lucky color for Chinese culture. The readability of the blog is very nice because of the big font size and proper indentations instead of clustering all paragraphs together. The whole blog is very interactive with the use of quizzes and videos to go more in depth of the topics at hand.
Review for What is the origin of traditional Chinese festivals? page:
The organization of the information on the Chinese festivals and culture followed by a video is very easy to follow. It is also very impressive to properly design a assignment with a very detailed rubric and steps on how to get it done. Everything is really easy to follow because of its content being organized properly and having little to no cluster of words. However, one idea would be to write some of the Chinese festivals and history instead of just asking the watch the video. The text leads to the video amazingly, however, the text does not express any content displayed in the videos.
Review for Why is understanding the festival’s background necessary for cultural understanding? page:
This page is a lot different than the one prior. It has detailed description in text of the content in the video and explains very clearly the festival’s background, and cultural understanding. It even has detailed examples like “For example, the Chinese Qingming Festival is to commemorate dead relatives, while the Mid-Autumn Festival is to miss distant relatives and friends. Although their main purpose is to miss and remember, but the cultural background and meaning behind them are different” (Pod 6). I really enjoyed reading this page because it teaches a lot and displays the main point while being a relatively short read. The assignment was also a smart choice to assess the knowledge that students have. However, one small place for improvement could be having the assignment a little more detailed similar to the rest of the page.
Review for How would modernization impact the way Chinese people celebrate the traditional festival? page:
I really enjoyed reading about the modernization of Chinese traditions. The example of using WeChat App and the red envelopes instead of what is normally tradition to do it in person was right on point! The modernization of Chinese tradition is very effectively explained in this page with images that help explain it more clearly. Another great detail is the use of a quiz maker to make a real quiz for users to have a interaction to explain their knowledge on the topic. One place for improvement would be to consider splitting the two big paragraphs in half to improve readability. Otherwise it was a awesome read.
Review for What are the differences between Chinese traditional festivals and foreign festivals? page:
The context explains efficiently the details as a compare and contrast of Chinese traditional festivals as opposed to foreign festivals. The use of text, images, and videos help engrave the idea deeper into the reader. A little thing that can be considered would be to space out the text more as the paragraphs are a little lengthy. However, the proper use of citing quotes and references help make the context on this page really detailed.
Review for What are the differences in food during the festive season in different regions of China? page:
I liked the details in describing the zong zi, and mooncakes that are eating during the festive season. It is very well written that describes it to readers who can have little to no experience with Chinese culture and still be able to understand it. A small problem that can be addressed is for the very lengthy paragraph to be split into two-three paragraphs to make it more readable. Otherwise very good read. The assignment is also not as detailed as the other assignments making it a little vague. But the use of images, text, and videos in each slide helps readers a lot.
Pod 6 I really enjoyed reading your assignment it was a wonderful read! Thank you.
References:
- What is the origin of traditional Chinese festivals? (2022). Retrieved from https://edci335a02pod6.opened.ca/what-is-the-origin-of-traditional-chinese-festivals/
BLOG 3
Choose one (or more) of your planned learning activities from your Blueprint and identify any barriers for student success. How can you alter or adjust your current plan to reduce those barriers?
All students and learners have different learning styles and preferences. No one learns exactly the same. That being said our learning resource will consist of videos and text to both present the material for those that are visually impaired and those that have hearing impairment. We at first wanted to use only around 3 videos to present half the class material while the rest is by text (which requires a lot more reading). However, with dyslexia and visual impairment problems possibly existing for students we are able to add more videos to the resource to aid with easing the absorption of class material via video. Our self-paced course also gives learners a slower paced schedule which will let them have more time going through the material in the case that some learners absorb or consume information slower.
With that being said, more slides will be added to the learning resource powerpoint while we edit and make the font bigger and more easy to read. In addition, we will have a linking table of contents to move between the materials with ease instead of scrolling through each page slowly trying to find the material. This will help learners save some time and have a bigger peace of mind while learning Python. One big positive benefit that comes from coding is to save time and be efficient and we will be trying to do that with our learning resource when we present it to our learners.
Blog 4
The following video which is Python for Beginners is a video to teach step by step the first steps on writing Python code.
What kind of interaction would the video require from your students? Does it force them to respond in some way (inherent)?
It requires learners to follow the video with a code editor application and to write the code as the video progresses. This is because the easiest way to learn coding is by doing. The repetition in writing code is the main process in which it is engraved in your head and you remember it for years to come.
In what way are they likely to respond to the video on their own, e.g. make notes, do an activity, think about the topic (learner-generated)?
It is very possible for the learners to take their own notes because of the amount of material that exists in the video. There are so much different syntaxes and codes similar to that of words in English that notes must be taken in order to do well in improving coding.
How will you address any potential barriers for your learners in the use of this video to ensure an inclusive design?
The potential barriers for learners watching the video would be those who have hearing impairment because it is easy to copy what the video is doing, but in understanding what they are doing while doing it is the most important step there is.
How would students get feedback on the activity that you set? What medium or technology would they and/or you use for getting and giving feedback on their activity?
The students get feedback from writing their Python code is when they run the code and it does a simple task. It is the reward at the end of the work that makes coding so much fun. As they improve their skills the simple task becomes more complicated and requires more attention to detail.
Learn Python Programming Masterclass | Udemy
