Self-paced learning @TC

What is it & why self-paced learning?

At Turing College, self-paced learning means that learners can dictate the pace that they progress through projects. As each learner brings their own individual background and experience, we expect that different learners will need a different amount of time to master each topic and we structure our teaching model accordingly. Self-paced learning not only gives learners with differing levels of experience and knowledge a chance to attend our courses but also helps them to cultivate a mindset where they are conscious and responsible for their own progress. As learning is a life-long process for any successful professional, the ability to individualize and manage your own progress lies at the heart of what we want to teach at Turing College.

Self-paced learning does not mean, however, that learners have the opportunity to spend less than the pre-set time on their course week per week. There are expectations that will need to be met. Regular attendance and work are key - research has shown that this is one of the best predictors of success when it comes to finishing courses. If you notice that you are struggling to put in the required hours, get in touch with our Community Team as soon as possible. It is our common goal to keep you motivated throughout the course. After all, it’s in everyone's best interest that you learn effectively, graduate on time and then get an amazing job. So be confident that if there are any difficulties, we will work together with you to find solutions.

Finally, it is important to understand that learning in a self-paced environment is not something that most people are naturally good at. You should see it as a skill that you will be improving throughout the whole course (and afterward as well). Even the best of us have moments where we succumb to procrastination, laziness, or lack of motivation. Such struggles should not be seen as something to be ashamed of or something to hide - instead, we sincerely encourage you to view it as a challenge that we can work together to overcome.

Minimal attendance requirements

The expected minimum hours per week are:

20 hours/week for part-time studies

40 hours/week for full-time studies

We take Lithuanian public holidays off, during which our staff might not be available to help you and during which our regular meetings & events will not happen either. We also do not require you to study during these days, so the expected weekly hours will be reduced on certain weeks. You can find the list of holidays (marked in pink) here: https://www.kalendorius.today/nedarbo-dienos/2021

How are attendance and progression tracked?

Even though our studies are remote-first, there are multiple activities throughout the day that help us and you track if you’re putting in the required effort each day.

The most important of these activities are:

Daily stand-ups. In these short meetings, each learner shares what they’ve worked on yesterday and what their focus for the current day will be. More info about daily stand-ups here.
Quizzes on the Turing Platform. These are for self-evaluation only and you won’t be required to attain a particular score to progress to the main project.
1-1 meetings with JTLs, STLs, and Turing Staff.
Submitting your projects. This is the main work that you will be submitting and which will require the most time. Making commits often is a good way to track your progress as well as to organise your work.
Attending peer reviews. Our system tracks how much time you spend on these. Keep in mind that peer reviews are an important part of the learning process, and not just a criteria you need to meet for grading.
Attending Personal Development Program workshops. As non-technical skills are just as important as technical skills, we view the amount of time you invest into the Personal Development Program as crucial. We encourage you to attend all the workshops/seminars (we will choose convenient, high-productivity hours to ensure these are useful) and spend the suggested time on weekly activities which will then be regularly discussed with the Community and Education teams.
Helping others via zoom calls or in discord voice channels. A strong partnership between learners is extremely encouraged, as this will allow you not only to get/give help now, but form useful connections that you will be able to use throughout your career. If during a standup you see that there’s a co-learner that needs help with something that you are already comfortable with - offer to jump on a call after the meeting and help them with whatever they are struggling with.
Being active on Stack Overflow and Discord. The ability to collaborate effectively is one of the skills most sought-after by employers. That’s why this will be something that we’ll be tracking closely so that we can promote you to the fullest with our hiring partners. Being able to present evidence of your ability to be a great team player, will definitely improve your chances of getting hired! This is also a good way of becoming qualified to become a JTL.

If our team notices that there’s a lack of activity from your end, we will try to be proactive and get in touch with you to know if there are any issues that we can help with.

How to do self-paced learning efficiently?

Our Personal Development Program will focus on introducing and practicing various strategies to help you learn as efficiently as possible. But before you get started on the Personal Development Program activities, here are some tips on how you can optimize your learning process:

Make learning a regular habit. You can achieve this by creating a schedule for yourself. As Turing College has no lectures, and only a few fixed-time meetings, you can create a personal learning schedule that works for you. While building a schedule that works best for you is part of the Personal Development Program too, we recommend that you begin putting together your schedule before this. You can find our suggested schedules here although keep in mind that you will most likely need to modify it slightly based on the exact times of your team’s stand-ups.
Use a problem-solving framework. Having a structure for solving problems is a great way to build confidence within yourself that no matter what issues arise, you will be able to find a solution. If you haven’t already, you should experiment with several frameworks to find which works for you best. This will save you a massive amount of time, as you will have relatively clear steps that you can follow even in the most complicated situations. Here is a suggested framework that you can try.
Be competitive with yourself, not others. This means that you should judge the present effectiveness of your learning against your past progress and not against the progress of others. Using the progress of others to evaluate your speed of progress can be useful, but it should be done carefully. A good example of how to use the progress of others is the following: you can use your regular communication with your peers to give you a better understanding of what the average depth of knowledge for each topic should be. For example, if you are digging deeper into a topic than your peers, you should be aware of this. This will help you to make a more informed decision on how much time you want to spend on it. However, if someone is moving faster through the curriculum than you, it is not necessarily because you are doing something wrong. You could be performing fantastically when your starting point is taken into account. To sum up, don’t get stuck in unproductive comparisons - in Turing College your peers are your friends, not enemies and your main competitor is yourself.

What do I do if I'm really good and easily understand the content?

If you are finding a particular topic easy, you should make a decision on how to approach it. There are two things you can do:

Move through the course quicker after you’ve done what's expected on that topic. This will allow you to finish the full course faster if that is your goal.
Spend more time on that topic by delving deeper into it. You can explore different connected topics (feel free to ask STL’s for guidance here), work on the project more so that you discover more than what the main requirements ask for, and help other learners who might be struggling with that topic (this is also a great way to learn - both the topic and your leadership skills). Also, if you discover interesting topics this way, let us know! We are constantly striving to improve our curriculum and would be very interested to hear what drives your curiosity and excitement to learn more. Helping us to shape our course is a great way to show initiative - a trait that is valued by employees. All of this will allow you to graduate Turing College with more knowledge, which in turn will put you in a better position to get a higher paying role afterward.

What do I do if I seem to be struggling to keep up with the suggested pace?

If you feel that you are struggling with the course and not progressing at the pace that you want to, here’s some guidance you can follow:

Check if there are no pre-course topics that are holding you back. You can find the pre-course topics here;
Ask others for help;
Mention this in the standup - this will also enable others to help you better;
Arrange a 1-1 meeting with the Community Team to discuss if there are any factors outside of the actual curriculum that could be preventing you from progressing at the pace you expect;
If you believe the course content is lacking and that this is what is holding you back, contact the Head of Education. Honest, timely feedback is one of our core values, so we will be grateful to hear your thoughts.

Our 5-step intervention system

Our goal is always to help you to manage your learning and the requirements of our courses, and we will do our best to avoid situations where we need to step in. However, there may be circumstances where we need to intervene to ensure a learner remains on track and does not negatively impact the learning of others.

In cases where a learner is not meeting our minimum requirements in terms of participation and behavior, we have a 5-step intervention system in place. This system allows us to identify problems early and hopefully resolve them. A learner can receive 3 warnings throughout the whole course. In the worst-case scenario, the last warning may lead to consequences: changes in the learner’s contract, payment type, loss of employment guarantee, or a learner’s removal from our course, but this is very much a last resort.

More detailed information about intervention system is documented here: 5-step intervention systemUNDEFINED

Learner's Guide 2024