Reflect on your participation in the lectures and tutorials in CSC290 so far. Was there a particular activity that was significant? In what ways did you participate or not participate in an activity? In hindsight, is there something you would have done differently for a particular activity? In what ways did a particular activity enhance or detract from your learning? If you have not been participating, what would encourage more participation or engagement from you?
In tutorials and in lectures, I had many opportunities to participate in activities. These opportunities allow me to discuss about my ideas and the topic in more detail. I do not have any particular activity that I think was significant or insignificant. All activities are suppose to encourage students to communicate and build up ideas together. However, I did find some activities more fun than other but in terms of enhancing my learning, all activities have allowed me to benefit by hearing ideas from other people. Although I am not an active participator, I do not neglect of learning from others by listening to others and also think of the topic myself as well. If I feel the need to question an idea or have a question myself, I would discuss it with someone. To illustrate, there was an activity to practice UML Activity Diagram in tutorial. The activity involved in creating a UML activity diagram for a code that test if some number is a prime number. I have participated in creating the diagram and giving feedback about the diagram since I had some doubts in some parts of the diagram. I also learn how others would approach a problem and also learn from our mistakes. From this activity, I learn how to properly make a UML activity diagram and also allows me to practice my weak communication skills. A great approach from any of these activities is to learn from your mistakes, learn the topic in more detail and also to boost your own confidence level. However, on most activities I do not actively participate in giving ideas. I prefer to listen and learn from others. I do not have much confidence in giving ideas since I am not very knowledgeable in many areas of the course. I do not believe there are much methods to make me more active in activities since I believe it is just my own personality to not be very active in discussions unless it is something I am interested. The topic discussed in the course are not very interesting to me but I will still speak out to clarify my questions and doubts.
As a side note, I do enjoy on how the course is being taught. Even though I am constantly scared that I will not do very well in most of my courses, I do not particularly dislike this course. CSC290 is the only course I have been at UTM where I have the opportunities to discuss my ideas more easily and freely. Not only are these activities enhancing my knowledge, the encouragement to interact with others during lecture helps me not be bored of the course. I find that having an active learning teaching style encourage students to be more confident and learn much more effectively. Having students discuss about topics encourages thinking and improve communication skills. Learning how others think can broaden your view and fill up gaps that you have never thought of. To illustrate, when talking about what makes a good group and a good group member, I got to hear what others think and how they would resolve conflicts. These ideas would have been helpful for me to use when I had conflicts with group members. I also notice how students seem to stress equal work, which got me to think if having equal work makes a group successful. It is interesting to see what others think and quite fun to hear debates about these topics.