“I will teach you to love and suffer”, or the IT Crib
Having graduated eight years ago from St. Petersburg Bonch (he is also the University of Telecommunications), I had no idea that I would be teaching myself. Nevertheless, my restless, and quite, perhaps, not tech-narian soul, led me to the position of teacher in a rather large - Petersburg office - engaged in the development of a wide variety of software for mobile operators. My more than five-year career path in it ends, and without delay, I decided to give some simple tips that, I dare to hope, will make life easier for those who need to pass on their precious knowledge through official or other need. They contain a few basic things related to learning, which now seem obvious to me, but at the dawn of teaching activities were new. Let's go, in fact, to the advice.
1. Always explain to the
According to the experience of the trainings conducted and passed by me: the correctly conveyed message “why” allows us to increase the return from the student at times. And, for example, an initially pofigistic-minded person, sent by the chief just for show, is quite fond of the process, up to the generation of new ideas.
For this case, I have a small illustration of life.
When I was a technical development engineer (even before teaching. And do not ask what this post means - I still have no intelligible explanation) my immediate superior decided to dedicate me to the mystery of working with databases. To do this, he opened some unpretentious web-face, containing a tablet with some data, and said: "Here is the data." Then he opened some kind of interface, and said: "If you type here the select star as an asterisk from the semicolon, then you will get the same data." After completing this action, I actually got the data. On this training is over. Tasks associated with the use of this knowledge, not received. And only two years later, after taking courses in SQL, I realized what it was. But the feeling of perplexity that covered me after this amazingly informative explanation I will always remember. So clarifying the context and giving an understanding of the basic idea is a must-have thing for successful learning.
')
The meaning of this paragraph echoes the well-known expression "One fool can ask so many questions that hundreds of wise men will not answer them." If at the beginning of my teaching I perceived for granted that I needed to answer all the questions I received, after some time (mainly due to the advice of my more experienced colleagues) I removed a significant part of the questions, either explicitly or covertly with the set counter: “And for what purpose do you Are you interested? " Also, something will be revealed later in the course, something does not apply to the subject, and so on. As a result, the bottom line is really important, which can expand the competence of the teacher himself, thanks to the question who looked at the subject from a different point of view.
In this case, an expert means a professional who can speak with such professionals in the usual jargon, but at the same time able to explain complex things without the use of specific terminology even to the amateur. I myself have repeatedly been in similar situations, because In addition to the training, I regularly had newcomers without much experience in the required field, who, without using the bird language, had to explain things that were rather difficult. Well, it is obvious that you should not show your superiority to students, scattering obscure terms - this is absolutely not going to benefit the process. I basically follow the rule: “The simpler, the better, but not simpler than necessary.”
Direct connection with paragraph 2. But if it was about the necessary minimum of information, then it would be about sufficient. Due to the specifics of the field of teaching and a fair amount of data, an attempt to “embrace the immense” can lead to littering of consciousness and difficulty in the further use of data. In some of our decisions, the settings went to thousands — naturally, as part of the training, it was simply impossible to explain them all, and it is not necessary, by and large. Again, referring to the second point: with a sufficient understanding of the general ideology and basic processes, the student will be able to self-educate and find the information he needs to solve emerging specific tasks.
Trite, but without this in any way. In order to learn how to do something, you need to do it. And it is best to do it during training, where your shoals will not lead to disastrous consequences. Already mentioned by me, the immediate superior once before his business trip gave me a tsiskovsky router of epic proportions and told me to adjust it to a certain abstract task in which the word "loop" appeared. Concluding this wish in the tradition of "Gentlemen of Fortune": "I will come and check it out." And I honestly tried to set it up: I tasted a bunch of manuals, pretty hung out on thematic forums, carefully studied the configs on the router. But due to the fact that before that I knew very little about the route, and it was also IMPORTANT! - did not clarify the problem statement, I did not execute it. It was a shame. Nevertheless, the skills for a practical decision thanks to this, I pumped very seriously.
For now.
If someone has questions on the topic - I will answer with pleasure. Constructive criticism is welcome.
UPD (thx to volum_separatum ): “Encourage (or even force) students to ask as specific questions as possible. First, it saves the student from having to read the student's mind, re-read the program in search of an error (if there are problems with the program), indulge in detailed explanations from the very beginning. Secondly, if a student tries to concretize a question, it is quite likely that he will not have to ask him either - he will come up with a solution, or understand where to look for an answer. Yes, and quite specific question and answer more pleasant and easier. "
1. Always explain to the experimental student why he needs all this.
According to the experience of the trainings conducted and passed by me: the correctly conveyed message “why” allows us to increase the return from the student at times. And, for example, an initially pofigistic-minded person, sent by the chief just for show, is quite fond of the process, up to the generation of new ideas.
2. Do not be lazy to give introductory and necessary basic explanations.
For this case, I have a small illustration of life.
When I was a technical development engineer (even before teaching. And do not ask what this post means - I still have no intelligible explanation) my immediate superior decided to dedicate me to the mystery of working with databases. To do this, he opened some unpretentious web-face, containing a tablet with some data, and said: "Here is the data." Then he opened some kind of interface, and said: "If you type here the select star as an asterisk from the semicolon, then you will get the same data." After completing this action, I actually got the data. On this training is over. Tasks associated with the use of this knowledge, not received. And only two years later, after taking courses in SQL, I realized what it was. But the feeling of perplexity that covered me after this amazingly informative explanation I will always remember. So clarifying the context and giving an understanding of the basic idea is a must-have thing for successful learning.
')
3. Filter students' questions
The meaning of this paragraph echoes the well-known expression "One fool can ask so many questions that hundreds of wise men will not answer them." If at the beginning of my teaching I perceived for granted that I needed to answer all the questions I received, after some time (mainly due to the advice of my more experienced colleagues) I removed a significant part of the questions, either explicitly or covertly with the set counter: “And for what purpose do you Are you interested? " Also, something will be revealed later in the course, something does not apply to the subject, and so on. As a result, the bottom line is really important, which can expand the competence of the teacher himself, thanks to the question who looked at the subject from a different point of view.
4. Don't forget to be an expert.
In this case, an expert means a professional who can speak with such professionals in the usual jargon, but at the same time able to explain complex things without the use of specific terminology even to the amateur. I myself have repeatedly been in similar situations, because In addition to the training, I regularly had newcomers without much experience in the required field, who, without using the bird language, had to explain things that were rather difficult. Well, it is obvious that you should not show your superiority to students, scattering obscure terms - this is absolutely not going to benefit the process. I basically follow the rule: “The simpler, the better, but not simpler than necessary.”
5. Avoid excessive detailing.
Direct connection with paragraph 2. But if it was about the necessary minimum of information, then it would be about sufficient. Due to the specifics of the field of teaching and a fair amount of data, an attempt to “embrace the immense” can lead to littering of consciousness and difficulty in the further use of data. In some of our decisions, the settings went to thousands — naturally, as part of the training, it was simply impossible to explain them all, and it is not necessary, by and large. Again, referring to the second point: with a sufficient understanding of the general ideology and basic processes, the student will be able to self-educate and find the information he needs to solve emerging specific tasks.
6. Give maximum practice
Trite, but without this in any way. In order to learn how to do something, you need to do it. And it is best to do it during training, where your shoals will not lead to disastrous consequences. Already mentioned by me, the immediate superior once before his business trip gave me a tsiskovsky router of epic proportions and told me to adjust it to a certain abstract task in which the word "loop" appeared. Concluding this wish in the tradition of "Gentlemen of Fortune": "I will come and check it out." And I honestly tried to set it up: I tasted a bunch of manuals, pretty hung out on thematic forums, carefully studied the configs on the router. But due to the fact that before that I knew very little about the route, and it was also IMPORTANT! - did not clarify the problem statement, I did not execute it. It was a shame. Nevertheless, the skills for a practical decision thanks to this, I pumped very seriously.
For now.
If someone has questions on the topic - I will answer with pleasure. Constructive criticism is welcome.
UPD (thx to volum_separatum ): “Encourage (or even force) students to ask as specific questions as possible. First, it saves the student from having to read the student's mind, re-read the program in search of an error (if there are problems with the program), indulge in detailed explanations from the very beginning. Secondly, if a student tries to concretize a question, it is quite likely that he will not have to ask him either - he will come up with a solution, or understand where to look for an answer. Yes, and quite specific question and answer more pleasant and easier. "
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/138530/
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