Most people go to university with an attitude that "It will teach me how to program", they get there and, what do you know? Almost everything is taught in such a boring manner that it all feels utterly useless and you just remain (yes, passively) 3 years or more so you can pass all the classes.
Nobody can ever teach you something
Read this a few more times and drill it into your head. If the teacher is entertaining and the subject looks useful you start learning but when the teacher is as monotone as Microsoft Sam or the subject looks completely useless what do you do?
Should you blame the teacher, faculty, university and everything in between that you are not being taught properly OR take matters into your own hands and start learning because nobody can ever teach you something?
You are the one making the effort of paying attention and processing the information you are being given. Yes, you are the one learning it's just that, sometimes it doesn't feel like effort on our part.
Be it from a teacher, from a book or from a YouTube video understand that you are always the one responsible for paying close attention and it mostly depends on you for learning something.
Of course, if the teacher spouts nonsense related to the subject get another source of information or if the subject looks useless analyze it closely, it might not be as useless as it sounds. It all depends on you!
Top comments (3)
While I agree with you that self motivation is a big part of it, the right teaching strategy definitely matters in what is learnt. I dont know much about how universities teach CS but as a CS teacher for 14 years I can safely say my story is different. Students I have worked with not only have grown into mature developers but also have inspired several others like them to take an interest in computer science. A teacher's job is not to collect information and stuff it into student's minds. That almost never works. But if the teacher is able to create a sense of wonder, ignite an interest and allow kids to pursue it in their own ways, a lot of productive teaching/learning can happen.
This applies to any subject.
Great explanation and I agree completely! If you can light that curiosity candle in your students, ask the right questions to guide them to the answer rather than just giving the answer out is what makes a good teacher.
Many of the teachers I encountered in CS degrees were just like an information store, not much more and this resulted in most students only asking the teacher for questions without trying to figure it out for themselves (some did not even know how to use Google to solve some simple issues in their code).
Teaching outside Romania looks very different from what you and I are used to.
But the gist of it is true: learning falls first and foremost on the student.