Data Nerd & Duolingo
I post this only because I it might be interesting to a few out there.
I'm an engineer by trade so I tend to analyze just about everything that I do. I had been plugging away at the French Tree for a couple months and got tired of trying to approximate my rate of progress and finally decided to get analytical.
I started by making a spreadsheet with all of the sections and the number of lessons. Then in a second column I filled in the lessons that had been completed. This allows me to track my progress and project my completion date as well as mark milestones like 50% complete, 60% complete, etc. I update it as I complete new lessons so that I can see my progress in real time.
Some interesting data has emerged: - Over the last 109 days I've averaged 1.82 new lessons per day - At the current pace I'll complete the tree in about 200 days (or a little over 1/2 a year)
Also, I've noticed that by tracking my progress I'm actually more motivated. Rather than approaching the course with a laissez faire attitude, I'm now more motivated to make consistent progress.
It has also helped me set small goals. For instance getting 10% closer to the end is much easier to attain than completing the whole course I'm now just focused on reaching the 60% completion mark. Once I get there I'll focus on making it to 70%, then 75%, etc...
16 Comments
This is very neat. There's a userscript that'll give a projected end date and percentage completed but it sure doesn't give this much detail. Cool idea, hope it keeps you motivated! :)
I'll have to check out the userscript. I like that with the spreadsheet I can visualize how many lessons to go until I reach the next milestone and then plan accordingly. It requires a little time to set up and maintain but it works for me.
YES! Numbers are your friend. Numbers are everyone's friend.
I do something similar to this, only not in spreadsheet form (yet...?). I use a goal-tracking app on my phone to track when and how quickly I do new lessons as well as set goals to accomplish by x-date.
What I've learned from setting goals, tracking numbers and analyzing everything:
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For my primary (German and French) and secondary (Spanish and Dutch) languages, this has been absurdly motivating. I love giving myself more numbers for doing stuff. However...
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I set small goals for all my tertiary languages as well, the ones I only dabble in and am not really super-motivated about. While this has helped me to not completely ignore them, once I finish up with the languages I really want to do, these side-languages suddenly feel very restrictive. I would rather be doing x but I need to finish y before I can progress, etc. and my motivation plummets. I understand it's completely silly to enforce this on myself as I do, but I still do. I've been told I'm really stubborn like that.
As usual there's an app (script) for that , see userscript. Although it doesn't include all those stats, but it shouldn't be a difficult task to add them.
This is great! Thank you for sharing it. I think I might do one for myself :)
Wish Duolingo gave us a TON more stats (but I'm thankful for the 4 or 5 that they do give)
I love this idea! I wonder what will happen next with this idea and I hope the higher-ups will notice.
Sorry to burst your bubble but this userscript has been made already. But you could design your own userscript, it could be a lot better.
