I really wish I had started studying computer science earlier in my life. As someone who can be a little ADD at times I always found basic programming to be a little, er, dull at times. While I love building things and programming with a purpose (a proper end in mind), when I was 12 and had nothing more interesting to code than custom configurations for my hacked router firmware (there is a limit to how strong you can make your wireless router signal strength - like -10 dB or so) sitting in front of a computer screen and playing around with aimless code lost its appeal quickly. Besides, Bill Gates and his people had already programmed everything useful and productivity-enhancing, right? (Hint: wrong....this was before Apple's resurgence, facebook, Google becoming not just a search engine, etc.). That terrible lapse in judgment aside, I am now starting to see firsthand the real beauty and potential of our modern methods for organizing data and information.
I took a short break from this project to study for the LSAT yesterday (always a good way to keep your mind fresh) and noted the parallels between the LSAT's logical reasoning and the programming structures that I have been teaching myself. I recently wrapped my head around the linguistic conundrum of the syntax of "UNLESS" and was amused to see a discussion of PowerScores trademarked "Unless Equation." Between these various endeavors I was struck by a thought: I need to use data not just to automate redundant tasks in the lesson planning process, but also to leverage technology and data to enhance the culture of lesson planning.
As I began thinking about how to organize the data behind lessons in a structured and efficient way that melds with my new world of strings, hashes, and arrays, I realized that the data structures that any computer program forces information to conform could have a tremendous positive impact on the way that lessons are planned, organized, indexed, and shared. Oftentimes in education the process of planning a lesson can be a murky endeavor which yields two maladies that stand out to me: firstly, it can take new teachers a long time to master the art of lesson planning without grasping the science of planning and secondly, and most critically, it can be very difficult for teachers to collaborate and share elements in their lesson plans due to the stylistic difference amongst individuals.
Over the last few days I have been trying to distill lesson plans down to their most fundamental elements to fit within the parameters required by the databases that my project will rely on. By forcing myself to think in the realm of data structures, I feel like I now have a stronger grasp than I ever have before of how to plan and breakdown a lesson. Moreover I am very excited about seeing what I can do with that data - right now the possibilities seem limitless. I am having a lot of fun applying my basic coding skills and developing rudimentary algorithms for working with data (I might just be sorting now but it's a start...). I still have much to learn but I am developing the Didactic system from the ground up with data in mind - I think that is where the real magic will happen.
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