>For a long time, ever since I had to teach a group of Masters >students who had paid for their own course and were trying to >convert to computer science to get a job, I haven't believed >that motivation is the major underlying cause of the two-hump >phenomenon. It must be that a proportion of 18-year olds are >unmotivated and don't try, but there are so many who are >desperate to succeed and don't seem to be able to. Perhaps the >week 3 effect will point to a remedy (come on Ron! give us >your data!) but more likely there is a weirdness that we've >hardly begin to understand let alone fix.
Motivation may not be enough : if you simply don't enjoy something, motivation will not always overcome resistance. The fact that they are converting to get a job indicates that they are likely to enjoy other things (what they did in their first degree!!) rather than programming. L. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- PPIG Discuss List (discuss@ppig.org) Discuss admin: http://limitlessmail.net/mailman/listinfo/discuss Announce admin: http://limitlessmail.net/mailman/listinfo/announce PPIG Discuss archive: http://www.mail-archive.com/discuss%40ppig.org/
