Learning is a complex and multilayered process. At Turing College, we try to make it as effective as possible. We introduce you to principles which will tremendously impact your long term learning success.
We really urge you to implement these in your learning activities.
Desirable difficulty
Or how difficult is it to learn exactly what you need to become a pro
The term desirable difficulty applies to learning tasks that require a considerable but desirable amount of effort. In such instances, by applying such effort, the student will be able to substantively improve their long-term performance. It is also described as a learning level that can be achieved through a sequence of learning tasks and feedback that lead to enhanced learning and transfer.[1]
What you want is to make it easy to make it hard
“We’re very good, humans are, at trying to do the least amount of work that we have to in order to accomplish a task” - L. Richland, professor of learning at the University of Chicago.
In traditional learning institutions, it is common for students to cheat. Cheating is, after all, the easiest to secure success in an education system where the ultimate goal is to achieve a good grade. At Turing College, the ultimate goal of learning is your long-term success. To accomplish this, we ask students to shift their thinking about learning 180 degrees by integrating desirable difficulties into their daily learning. Desirable difficulties are obstacles that make learning more challenging, slower, and more frustrating in the short term, but better in the long term. Meanwhile, the practice of providing excessive hints or clues may bolster immediate performance but they will definitely undermine progress in the long run.
This concept may sound a little abstract so let's explore it in more practical forms below:
Generation effect
Hypercorrection effect
Why is excessive hint-giving not good for learning?
At Turing College, struggle is real, and really, really useful for your long-term success.
Spaced repetition
This is an evidence-based learning technique that proves that repeating and revising already learned knowledge regularly over a set period of time greatly enhances long term memory retrieval. The use of spaced repetition has been scientifically proven to increase the rate of learning. [4] To put it in one sentence, if you revise the information you already know regularly over a specific period of time, you will retain that knowledge longer. .
Spaced repetition for long-term memory
Why is it important?
Asking & getting & providing help
Asking & getting & providing help is the foundation of the TC education model. We see this as a very natural form of human time trade-in ideal learning system.
You ask for help, you get help.
You get help, you provide help.
This organic cycle of interactions creates balanced learning at Turing College. We had even made a step forward by creating an economy of points in peer-assignments.
Bear in mind that your performance when it comes to asking, getting, providing help will be reflected on our hiring platform. Being helpful increases the chances of successful employment (employers have told us they value this trait even more than some technical skills). To sum up, making a proactive contribution to the building of a support rich learning environment will improve your experience and will help you to create meaningful relationships at Turing College. But before you can progress further, you first need to understand how to make your first step - you need to be able to ask for help. Once you’ve conquered this, your next steps will come naturally.
Asking for help
Meaningful relationships
Peer-to-peer(P2P) learning
P2P learning is the practice of solving complex challenges with another person. Turing College's remote-first learning environment means that P2P learning is a vital experience for each learner. Learning how to work through complex problems with other people is also, of course, a major skill that will prove transferrable to the workplace. Take a look at both the pros and cons of P2P learning.
Pros & cons of P2P learning
Being aware of both the pros and cons of P2P learning will allow you to identify how to use it effectively. P2P programming can be one of the best learning experiences at Turing College!
Start with “why”
“He who has a why can endure any how.”- Friederick Nietzsche
Maslow’s Pyramid of needs is the first step to understanding your “why”. The American psychologist Abraham Maslow introduced this 5-level model in the 1950s, and it still remains one of the most precise and simplest models for understanding human needs. He “stated that individuals must satisfy lower level deficit needs before progressing on to meet higher level growth needs.“[5] There may be several motivations and “whys” - some stronger than others - so make sure that you reflect on which ones are important for you personally and can be fulfilled by participation at Turing College.
Knowing your “why” is an important first step in figuring out how to achieve your goals and create an enjoyable living.
Everyone Has a Why
To Get a Better Job
Which aspects of a better job are the most crucial to you?
These are just some question ideas. Your “why” might not be any of these things. But, hopefully, this will give you some inspiration for discovering what motivates you.
Preparing your environment physically and virtually
In theory, you could be working on the technical curriculum you are expected to learn anytime, anywhere. You could take your laptop on a hiking trip in the mountains and study while you’re scaling the peaks. Some people can work that way fine. But others need to have a set and well-established environment in order to maintain their focus.
General tips for setting up a productive environment
Relearning how to learn
When the going gets tough, it’s common for learners to ask us to loosen some of the requirements. Or sometimes they want us to just do anything to make what they’re learning a little easier. But most of the time this approach is not the solution;
What you actually need is more practice.
Resources:
[1] Derks, Daantje; Bakker, Arnold (2013). The Psychology of Digital Media at Work. East Sussex: Psychology Press. p. 125. ISBN 9781848720749.
[2]Jacoby, L.L. (1978). "On interpreting the effects of repetition: Solving a problem versus remembering a solution" (PDF).
[3] David Epstein, Range: How generalists triumph in a specialized world (2019)
[4] Smolen, Paul; Zhang, Yili; Byrne, John H. (January 25, 2016). "The right time to learn: mechanisms and optimization of spaced learning". Nature