Today, we ended the class a little bit earlier than scheduled due to some circumstances. Actually, the class I got assigned to is a mix of students from 4 different classes namely the ICP, U1, U2 and U3. Students from U1 needed to leave 20 minutes earlier, as such, I have to call it a day. I have been informed of that even before the class started so it’s not surprising to me. But do you know what’s surprising to me?
What surprising to me is my students’ reaction when I made an announcement that the class has to end. Non-U1 students were not exactly happy to learn about that. They complained like “nooooo…” or something like that in English. But again, we should not leave anyone behind, so it has to be ended.
I am not sure what that translate to, but it seems they really like this class. Their eyes has always been wide open since day 1. They raised their hand to ask whenever they’re a bit lost instead of having a “meh… whatever it doesn’t matter to me” attitude. And imagine when 2 or 3—sometimes even 5—students doing that at the same time. Indeed, the class can be busy. Extremely busy. But it was fun!
Their enthusiasm is just impossible to ignore.
For instance, today’s material was about variable and it was quite a challenging concept for most. We learned about how to name a variable, its purpose, how we can assign data to it, how they can be used in various different scenarios, and so on and so forth. Even if all of the concept is in Indonesian, when I asked the whole class if this is difficult, some shouted “no” affirmatively while the others would say like “yeah it’s fairly difficult than the previous topic.”
But, even at that challenging topic, no student was afraid to ask me. It’s that level of enthusiasm. But, I guess, that was also the moment when I see it for myself that it’s not easy to judge a student’s interest in a given topic. For example, a student being quiet in the class than their peers doesn’t mean he/she is not interested in the subject as much as a louder student is. It happened over and over and over again that this quiet student always raised their hand to ask me, wanting me to remove their doubt as soon as they have one.
All of them are, so far, that enthusiastic.
Their eyes has always been wide open since day 1.
I noticed that, the class would be extremely quiet whenever I presented something new. To reinforce what I said, I’d ask them to type some code from the slide. Then, they will ask me more questions. Some students may then run into problems, and those students won’t hesitate to ask me too. That’s the class normal cycle and pace.
My benchmark is, if students shout “aaaaaaah……. right!” then I know they were in a eureka! moment. Listening to that eureka made me so happy.
Ultimately. For me, I hope when they think of what they want to be in the future, and they see software engineering, they can gauge what it is about. At least, they can say: “oh! software engineering! I did that when I was much younger. It’s not that hard and it was fun. It challenged my way of thinking. It’s a doable field for me. I wanted to be one!”
Or, even if they say: “it is not for me!” it’s totally fine. At least they are far better-informed of what they want to be, what the field is like, and so on. Not everyone has to be a software engineer. Although, I did say that in the future, almost everything we do in life can hardly be separated from the use of technology.
As much as I can’t wait to get my own “aaaaah… I see” moments when I study on-campus, I will without doubt feel a little bit sad to no longer be able to see those students of mine. Or by indirectly put this program on hold for awhile. But, I will work harder to ensure that this program doesn’t stand still even if I will have to go to Harvard to study on-campus. Even if I am not in Indonesia for yet another time, Indonesians students must be able to study computer science and software engineering whenever wherever with or without me.