Currently, I am teaching programming on weekends. With my years of industry experience, I understand the significance of hands-on coding experience. However, I am facing the challenge of motivating students to take on and complete assignments, regardless of correctness. My goal is to ensure they engage in practical coding after covering the theoretical aspects in class.
I have tried several approaches, but the results have been not that good:
1. Explaining the importance of assignments and motivating students to attempt them.
2. Ask for assignment updates regularly.
3. Introducing a reward for assignment completion; for instance, offering a gift to those who attempt all the assignments.
During my research on the topic, I came across the book "Why Don't Students Like to Go to School?" In that, the author suggests that the difficulty level of assignments should be just right—not too easy, not too hard. However, in my classes, students seem reluctant to attempt even simple problems. When I ask, they often respond with, "Sorry, I am not able to find time for it."
I would appreciate any suggestions for a more effective solution to this issue.
It wasn’t programming but… For one of my courses that required me to use a lot of statistics (which is not my forte as someone who struggles with dyscalculia) I had to complete little bits at a time which then came together to complete one whole (basic level) statistical data analysis… and the beauty of it was that as I completed each component I started to understand actually why the statistics were important instead of viewing them as rather abstract numbers that previously meant nothing to me.