This semester I am glad to participate in the Python Open Lab of the digital center. Staying with students just reminds of myself. When I learned my first programming language, I had a lot of struggle and made tons of mistakes. As a result, I get much experience and I am really happy to share them with others.

Python is one of the programming languages I ever learned and it is the most concise one. With Python, many complicated things can be simplified. For most students who join our open lab, Python is the first advanced programming language they learn. This is great because Python can help students learn the basic programming skills and data structures without spending much time on irrelevant details. It helps students focus on their task and gives them the confidence to explore the unknown world.

I started with the basic ideas of types and operations in Python and introduced data structures like list, dictionary later. Other topics such as function, conditional statement and FileIO are also taught. I found that the sequence of materials can be organized better. And more examples could be shown for students to have a better understanding of the materials.

During the teaching, I learned a lot too. I began to see things from a different perspective. Although I have knowledge about programming languages, it still takes great efforts to spread the ideas to students and support them. The most important thing I learned is I need to focus on the big picture and skip the specific tricks to help students have a complete view of the materials. This is where I need to improve myself.

Kang