Learning Tips

Web Foundations is an online course. This means that while you will have one live class every week, you will be directing your learning during most of the program.

However, learning online doesn’t mean learning alone. We believe that you will get the most out of the program if you:

Learn from your peers
Ask for help when you need it

Alumni Advice

Here’s a clip from Alexis, a Try Kibo alumni, on how to succeed in the program:

Don’t give up, and if you’re having a problem, don’t be afraid to speak up.

You can also check out the YouTube Playlist with more student stories and advice from alumni.

Since the start of Try Kibo in August 2021, almost 200 students have participated in at least one of our courses. And the most common feedback they mention is the value of learning from other students in the program.

Here are some words of wisdom from previous Try Kibo students:

I loved the sense of community and connection that Discord provided. I found it easier asking for help when I got stuck from my squad members and the other classmates

Discord helped a lot, before i asked a question i found that someone else already had. Most of the questions i had were already answered in the threads.

Working as a group always helps to solve issues quicker.

Discord helped me know that I was not the only one struggling with that assignment. And when people asked questions, I kinda took a piece of their assignment that I did not understand and that they did really well.

Sometimes I don’t even know I’m having certain issues until someone else asks

Community Rules and Tips

Kibo is a learning community. Since lots of other students have the same goals and go through the same challenges as you, it helps everyone to learn together because:

You can see things from different points of view
Life happens and the motivation can weaken. Having a group of peers to support your learning can help you power through, even when times get hard.
There is always someone available to help, but this is only useful if you ask.

Here are some tips and rules for making the most of the Kibo learning community:

Be involved. Participate in discussions, find time to work with other students.
Share your knowledge. If you think you have got a concept mastered, or are good at a specific skill, offer to help someone else.
Celebrate creativity. When you make a cool project, share it with the group! If someone else shares a great project, celebrate them!
If you need help or have a question, just ask. Other students might help you, or they might have the same issue that you do. Asking for help helps everyone. Remember that there are no “dumb” or “useless” questions.

🆘 Ask for Help

Learning should not be a solitary pursuit. If you have trouble understanding the concepts, can't find the assignment details, or have issues with one of the program tools, we expect you to reach out for help!

Here are more quotes from past students:

The office hours were very helpful in helping me to get me one on one helping my assignments.

It was easy to share images/screenshots when we needed help. When someone had a question, it was so easy to just send a screenshot or image of what they are doing wrong.

I wonder why I didn't attend more office hours sooner.

What I found valuable was the fact that I was not going to be judged for asking questions, no matter how "Useless" it sounds.

How should you ask for help?

When you need to ask the community or Kibo team for help, be sure to ask a good question.

Some students send messages like "I need help". Unfortunately, this message does not have the information needed for someone to help.

❌ Don’t Write:

“need help”
“I’m stuck on problem 3”
“Can anyone help?”
“Hi”

✅ Do Write:

“I’m working on solving problem three, and getting this error when I run my code: [screenshot]. Can anyone help explain this error? I don’t get it.”
“I’m trying to print all the values in this list for my project, but it keeps saying NameError: name ‘item’ is not defined. Here's a screenshot of my code. I tried changing the list, but that didn't work."

When writing a message to ask for help, be sure to include the following information:

Details of your goal. "I am trying to [goal]."
Details of what you have tried so far. "I have tried [details of how you have tried to solve the problem already]."
Any helpful context. “Here’s a screenshot of my code."
Specific ask. "Can you help me [specific ask]"

Screenshots

It’s often helpful to include a screenshot with your question. Here’s how:

Windows: press the Windows key + Print Screen key
- the screenshot will be saved to the Pictures > Screenshots folder
- alternatively: press the Windows key + Shift + S to open the snipping tool
Mac: press the Command key + Shift key + 4
- it will save to your desktop, and show as a thumbnail

Learning mindset

Learning programming is challenging!

We’ve collected skills, tips, and mindsets that helped students get the most from the program. We hope that they help you too.

🌱 Growth Mindset

In this class and beyond, we hope you use the following methods mentioned in the video to improve your learning

Maintaining a growth mindset
Using and refining a process
Seeking advice and feedback from peers and teachers
Doing challenging things

🐛 Debugging Mindset

What we see as a good program with a small bug, the child sees as “wrong”, “bad”, “a mistake”. School teaches that errors are bad; the last thing one wants to do is to pore over them, dwell on them, or think about them. The child is glad to take advantage of a computer’s ability to erase it all without any trace for anyone to see.

The debugging philosophy suggests an opposite attitude. Errors benefit us because they lead us to study what happened, to understand what went wrong, and, through understanding, to fix it.

Seymour Papert, Mindstorms

When you see errors in your code, how do you feel?

When you see an error message, or your website doesn’t look the way it should, or your program isn’t doing what you want, it’s natural to feel scared, stressed, or frustrated.

However, errors don’t mean your program is bad. They definitely don’t mean you are a bad programmer. Debugging is the process of making programs better. Learning to code means running into lots of bugs.

Our version of the Growth Mindset is the Debugging Mindset.

You will run into lots of errors.
When you do, treat each one as a chance to learn.
Bugs and errors are normal. Everyone learning to program creates lots of buggy programs — then debugs them. You will too.

Try Kibo: Web Foundations