Introduction

Completed

Self-efficacy is crucial to your ability to persist in learning and problem solving in computer science education and the workplace. It can be even more important than your existing skills necessary for completing a task.

Imagine that you're preparing for a coding competition with four of your peers. You've been learning code with them for a few years. Your expertise has grown to the point that you feel confident you'll make it to the finals. You've been practicing with the team regularly, and you also have a guide who's been helping you with programming logic and testing.

Your guide just informed the team that one of the competition requirements is a 10-minute presentation. The team will be judged on their communication skills and how they highlight the benefits and use cases of their code. Some of your teammates have stage fright, and the thought of presenting to a large audience and the judges fills them with anxiety. You're good at public speaking, but you find yourself questioning your ability to help the team put together a winning presentation. You want to use this opportunity to work with your guide to improve your self-efficacy and that of the team.

In this module, you'll learn about the importance of self-efficacy at work and in school. You'll be able to distinguish between self-confidence and self-efficacy and examine the detrimental effects of low self-efficacy. You'll study the factors that affect self-efficacy and learn steps you can take to improve it in a computer science environment.

By the end of this module, you'll be able to identify signs of low self-efficacy in others and use strategies to influence those feelings for the better.

Learning objectives

By the end of this module, you'll be able to:

  • Determine how self-efficacy influences your learning and growth in technology.
  • Distinguish between self-confidence and self-efficacy.
  • Connect self-efficacy to mindset.

Prerequisites

To get the best learning experience from this module, you should have an open mind and a willingness to learn about the expectations and responsibilities of mentorship in a technology workspace.