From this module, I learned what Computational Thinking is and how it can be used in both my study and daily life as it is not only just for computer scientists, but for everyone. Meanwhile, I learned some fundamental elements of programming, such as HTML and CSS.
It is important to me because I have never learned anything about computer science before. When I try to solve simple problems by coding, I always find it hard in the beginning. But by learning Computational Thinking, I began to analyze the questions first, then break them down to smaller and easier parts and solved them one by one. For example, when I watched a video about introducing CT on Coursera, the author asked the question ‘How do you make a cup of tea?’. At first, I was confused as it sounded like a very simple question, to just pour water into a cup and add some tea. But if you think of it in computational way, there are four basic steps; we need to find a cup first and boil the water, then put some tea into the cup, and then pour the boiled water into the cup. Some problems can be simplified into smaller parts. Furthermore, Computational Thinking helps me understand more about how computers work and would benefit my further study.
For the rest of my course, I need to learn different programming languages such as JavaScript and Python. There are some differences between them but when we use them to solve problems, it is necessary for us to analyze the issues in a logical way. Computing is a new field for me, and so sometimes I have difficulties in the learning process. This is as the course is not only about coding, but also about how to write essays, reports and so on. The introduction to programming, HTML and CSS helped me build a framework when thinking of programming. When I was learning about Python and JavaScript, the variables, conditions, iteration, along with other things I learned from this module, helped me understand the programming languages quicker. Also, I started to try to solve a problem in different ways, there may be many solutions to one problem, when I found one, I would continue to look for a better and easier one to solve the issue. During this module, I tried to build a simple website by using HTML and CSS. While doing that, I understood that computers just do what you tell them, they cannot figure out the problems by themselves. Therefore, I need to analyze the questions step by step and then give instructions to computers to execute them. The aforementioned impacts my learning for the rest of the course as I am now able to approach problems with different solutions and methods.