# FAC TRACK

The problem is that students go through the course and dont know what they have completed or not.
- this could be for people on the course or for people doing pre-reqs.
- review of how you found the workshops

Research areas
- past surveys from FACs (relevance)

### Monitoring/tracking in other areas

1. Studies about how people learn have shown that when you pay attention to what and how well you are learning, your learning improves. Remembering and applying new knowledge and skills become easier when you keep an eye on your progress while learning something.

[Source URL ](https://www.virtualsalt.com/learn4.html)

2. Four ways to monitor your learning
- Curriculum based monitoring tests
- Observation and interaction
- Frequest Evaluations
- Assessemnt

[Source URL ](https://www.bookwidgets.com/blog/2018/04/how-to-monitor-your-students-learning-progress-bookwidgets-reports)

3. The strategy of tracking student progress on specific learning goals is well supported. When students track their own progress on assessments using graphic displays, the gains are even higher. On average, the practice of having students track their own progress was associated with a 32 percentile point gain in their achievement.

What gives the best Results?
- Address a single goal in all the assessments.
- Use rubrics instead of points

[Source URL ](http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/dec09/vol67/num04/When-Students-Track-Their-Progress.aspx)

4. Student self-monitoring is an effective tool for behavior change. Self-monitoring has two components, measurement and evaluation (Loftin, Gibb, & Skiba, 2005): That is, the student (1) measures and records his or her own behavior (measurement), and then (2) compares that recorded behavior to a pre-determined standard (evaluation)

[Source URL](https://www.interventioncentral.org/self_management_self_monitoring)

5. To support the teaching of an international cohort with diverse educational backgrounds, Dr Sharmina Mawani, from The Institute of Ismaili Studies (IIS), introduced an online Learning Record Sheet (LRS) for completion by students following their weekly lecture. The LRS makes students more aware of their progress in the module, based on the specific criteria that they set for themselves, so their learning becomes a very personal endeavour. This is the first time an online task of this nature had been introduced to the MA on the Secondary Teacher Education Programme.

[Source URL](https://www.ucl.ac.uk/teaching-learning/case-studies/2018/jun/online-formative-assessment-helps-students-track-and-direct-their-own-progress)
- ### E- learning (Martin's Research)
-
- Systems for learning coding online include: **_FreeCodeCamp_**, **_Treehouse_**, and **_Udacity_**
- **Free Code Camp** contains:
- A forum for help and discussion
- A curriculum (small exercises get checked off, usually consecutively, as the user completes)
- News (a blog section)
- **Treehouse** contains:
- Code- along video tutorials
- Downloadable files to work on and complete
- Links to external resources
- Forums for help and advice
- Check off tutorials you have completed, get badges etc. for completing things.
- **[5 research-led ways to make online learning effective](https://elearningindustry.com/online-learning-tips-top-5-research-based)**:
- **Actively involve the learner** (e.g. through forums on CodeWars, etc.) A lot of e- learning platforms are _passive_, students follow code- alongs and video- tutorials, and do not interact with others.
- **Foster collaboration between students** - it is easier for students to identify with their peers than their tutors
- **Recognise cultural differences** - some people may percieve themselves to be less competent, and less likely to enroll on an online course due to their race, religion, or background. Personal statements of students who have gone through a course - their reservations, and changes of heart, can help aid participation from a wider background.
- **Encourage self- governance** - students who set personal goals, even if they don' relate directly to the course materials, tend to be more successful.
- **Use humor strategically** - humour helps us to relax, which can expand our capacity to retain information

- ### Displays / UI
- Simple display of what you have learned (design)
- fit bit
- How do people learn the best from a curriculum?

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### Assumptions List (to question...)
- Members of FAC cohort want to complete all workshops and challenges throughtout their time on the course.
- They prioritise finishing workshops over working on personal projects in their free time
- They learn in a better, more structured way when working through workshops
- They prefer to base their education around the FAC curriculum over any other system
- A coding logbook is required to give a clearer indication of completeness than Github can
- They would find it useful to share logbooks, and view other cohort members notes(to review)
- This system will only be useful for students of FAC and maybe future students
- We only need to ask students of FAC for their opinions on the system, and what it should include

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### Hannah's Reaserch

- Jerry Seinfeld popularised the techniqe **"Don't Break the Chain."** This is the idea of ticking things off on a calendar as you go along. Consecutive ticks create a 'chain' and creates pressure in the learner 'not to break the chain'. In other words the more consecutive days someone commits to something the less likely they are to skip a day. This is a techniqe that is used by many websites including github.
- https://lifehacker.com/5886128/how-seinfelds-productivity-secret-fixed-my-procrastination-problem
- https://www.forbes.com/sites/laurencebradford/2018/02/10/5-ways-to-stay-on-track-as-you-learn-to-code-in-2018/#5d2ae7e436a7

- **High Expectations** – Motivation or Pressure - Debate
- high expectations are good
- Calvin Lloyd: ‘Nobody rises to low expectations’
- Geoff Masters: 'Success in most fields of endeavour depends on an ability to visualise success.'
- Pressure isn’t necessarily bad – it can enhance motivation, concentration and enjoyment. That feeling of stress that often accompanies a pressure situation can help keep you on your toes, ready to rise to a challenge.’

- high expectations are bad
- if there are high expectations it can lead teachers (or in our case the students themselves) to push the students in a certain direction without space for thinking what they are good at or developing other skills.
- high expectations have been shown to have a positive effect on self-esteem and achievement, they need to be matched with support, resilience and the strategies to attain the end goal. (can our app give the support, resilience etc).
- ‘reasonable expectations can be a positive pressure in your life, [but] too much pressure can cause you to burn out.’

source: https://www.is.vic.edu.au/news/dialogue/all-posts/high-expectations-motivation-or-pressure

This is a **large company** who have made an **open source** company wide (200 employees) **skill tracker**. https://www.netguru.com/blog/track-skills-200-people-working-netguru

- Tracking learning makes it easier to manage it. This can be seen in the need for companies to manage thier employees skills as well as parents wanting to be kept up to date with their childrens ability. In the case of FAC Tracker this would allow us (the individual learner) to manage our own learning.
- source: https://bulletjournal.com/blogs/bulletjournalist/how-effective-is-bullet-journaling-for-project-managers

**Habits and Routine** are pretty core to learning for everyone.
- source: https://www.developgoodhabits.com/self-education/

- Habit tracking website: https://habitica.com/

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### Charmaine's research

What do people find useful when learning?

https://www.cultofpedagogy.com/learning-strategies/

combining words with visuals. Have information accompanied with some kind of visual. Include diagramming, sketching, and creating graphic organizers.

create concrete examples to explain abstract ideas.

Common knowledge tells us that to learn a skill, we should practice it over and over again. While repetition is vital, research says we will actually learn that skill more effectively if we mix our practice of it with other skills. This is known as interleaving.

Students should ask themselves open-ended questions about the material, answer in as much detail as possible, then check the materials to make sure their understanding is correct.

Practice bringing information to mind without the help of materials.

Space out your studying over time.

#### The muddiest point technique
The muddiest point technique involves asking students to write notes on the most unclear or most confusing element of a given homework assignment, lecture, or class discussion.

five monitoring techniques that enhances learning.
https://blog.learningsciences.com/2017/12/01/five-monitoring-techniques-that-deepen-student-learning/

Professor Geoff Masters says it’s important that students have an understanding of what’s expected of them, that they’re involved in the process of setting goals for their own learning and that they have the opportunity to monitor the progress that they’re making in their learning.

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### Principles

- Don't work on your own if you can help it but if you want to work at home:
- Talk about it first.
- Backdrive someone through.
- Catch up at the end of the day and in the morning.
- Chunk work to manage commits.
- Push at the end of the day.
- White boarding iteratively
- this helps people like Martin understand plain English with diagrams and the like