Hi Guys,
I’m working through the JavaScript First Steps articles and I’m finding the jump from theory to ‘active learning’ (specify useful array and string methods), a bit of a stretch. I’m going to take a break and come back to it later but I was wondering if anyone else found/is finding this?
Regards,
Jared
@Jared_Cave thanks for speaking up about this Jared — I’m very interested in hearing more specifics about how I could improve the tutorials, from you and anyone else that wants to provide feedback.
Anything I can do to make learning JS easier for everyone is worth looking at.
Hi Chris,
Sorry for the delay. It’s possibly just me but for instance, on the Loops assessment, I have to learn about DOM manipulation to complete it. During ‘Useful string methods’, I was looking at loops. For me, that makes the assessments and active learning harder. I appreciate that this problem is my own but I would find it much easier to learn one thing at a time.
Thanks for the response.
Regards,
Jared
@Jared_Cave thanks a lot for this Jared! I think your feedback here echoes what a lot of people go through when they learn programming — I certainly don’t think it is just your own.
The problem here is one of balance — the language is designed as a complete system, and all the features are designed to be used together. When you only show a single feature, it can’t be made to do anything partularly useful, so you end up with trivial examples that don’t really demonstrate real world usage and therefore aren’t very memorable.
When you use multiple features together, the examples are less trivial and more memorable, but you are stuck with having to learn about multiple concepts at once.
When I have opted to do this in my course, I have tried to make the learning as non-jarring as possible, but I wonder how I can make it even less so? For example, I could include a box somewhere near the top in such cases where I explain what other JS features are used in this article, make it clear what is the central focus is, and reassure people that they don’t need to understand the other stuff right now, it is just there to help with the understanding of the central focus. I could also provide links to a bit more information, or just in-page info about the non-central features.
What do you think about this?
Hi Chris,
Thanks for your response. That makes sense and really, I think I realised that but was perhaps just a little worked up.
In some places, it is very clear what I should expect to understand and in others, it isn’t. The suggestions you’ve made would help. For me, in-page info would be the best solution. I’m still stuck on the loops assessment and after learning a little about DOM manipulation and responding to the first question, I’ve moved on to the second only to find more syntax I’m unfamiliar with. I feel like I’m spending more time researching and learning new syntax than applying the central theory.
Thanks for taking the time to listen to me. It’s reassuring to hear I’m not alone and though I’ve possibly come across as a bit disillusioned, I’m really enjoyed working through your course for the most part!
Regards,
Jared
I don’t blame you at all — learning to code is frustrating when you first start; I remember what it was like only too well. But after a while you start to find things come more easily — you begin to recognise the same patterns over and over again and start to be able to recall what solution is aplicable to what problem. You’ll never remember it all, and will constantly have to keep looking up syntax and methods, but things do get easier, I promise.
In some places, it is very clear what I should expect to understand and in others, it isn’t. The suggestions you’ve made would help. For me, in-page info would be the best solution.
Cool, I’ve made a note of this and will think about trying to add this in future.
Thanks for taking the time to listen to me. It’s reassuring to hear I’m not alone and though I’ve possibly come across as a bit disillusioned, I’m really enjoyed working through your course for the most part!
Cool, I’m glad to hear it. But you should always speak up when something isn’t right — it is really helpful to get some feedback.
Wow, Thank you! I just got more inspired reading this!