RESULTS OF FIRST COURSE SURVEY JANUARY 2005
AAP 2460 - WEB PAGE DESIGN AND MAINTENANCE
(Best viewed with a magnifying glass and a large cup of coffee...!)

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READ THIS FIRST - Survey Summary
Tips to help you understand the stats
Overall results at a quick glance
Students' written comments
More on surveys and Greg's methodology
Results of previous course surveys
Back to Greg's Homepage
Back to WebCT

 

READ THIS FIRST - Survey Summary

Thanks to those who participated! 25 out of a possible 27 students (93%) responded.(Sample size is reduced by one to allow for one duplicate survey.) This is an EXCELLENT first result and should be a fair indicator of the class's assessment of the course so far. Overall, there seems to be general satisfaction, BUT.... there is always room for improvement! The "means" in most categories fall in the 1 (strongly agree) - 2 (agree somewhat) range. This was evident in your responses regarding clear expectations and respect for students. BUT...there are some areas where the range is in the 2.5 (neutral) and higher (disagree) range, such as knowing which material is important. These trends are consistent with your written comments. There are some general categories of comments I'll summarize and respond to here. Other comments I've responded to individually below. See them now.

THE COURSE SCHEDULE / TIMING

Several of you indicated concerns about the Tuesday 8:00am class, or the schedule itself. Sorry, but this isn't the College's fault, it is a direct result of my request. What you may not realize is that when I was asked to teach the course, the original timetable conflicted with my personal schedule. Your Dean and College Services accommodated my schedule as best they could. Revising schedules for lab hours is an extremely difficult challenge, but they were able to do it. At one point, I was asked if three lecture hours and three lab hours would suffice. Knowing that this course is a hands-on course, it is very project and task-oriented, and there is a wide range of comfort levels, I decided to go with six hours lab. You can let me know at the end of the course if this was a good decision or not. Or perhaps you can suggest an alternative configuration. You'll have a chance to do this on the final survey and your formal course evaluation.

COURSE FORMAT

Some of you are concerned with the structure (or perceived lack of one) in the course. Yes, the lab sessions themselves are very open-ended (ie: folks can work at their own pace) and I don't take up an hour or two for theory, as I promised at the beginning. What I do is introduce the unit at the beginning of the week, wrap up and review at the end of the week, conduct several "mini-lectures" or demonstrations on the side for those interested, and constantly tour the lab helping folks with problems. (And so does Mike, our end-user support student). And yes, you can complete the review assignments at home using WebCT. In fact, if you have FrontPage at home, (you can use CITRIX if you don't), you could probably complete most of the material on your own. My reasons for doing things this way are simple: if I "lock" everyone into a rigid pattern, it will be frustrating for those who are more comfortable with the material and for those who feel the pace is too fast. As long as everyone stays on track and completes a minimum of one tutorial per week (we are currently on schedule!), they will be in good shape for their final project. Any opportunity students have to work ahead or at their own pace is something I encourage and support. If it wasn't working, or lots of students were falling behind, I'd use a different strategy. So far, so good....BUT....you need to keep me posted of your progress or concerns!

 

As promised, these survey results are now a public document (at my homepage at http://homepages.cambriancollege.ca/gbcooper ). I'll also be notifying your program coordinator and our Dean of the results. I intend to use this data to improve this course and in future classes. Thanks for your participation.........................Greg

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Tips to help you understand the stats:

  • "N=25" refers to the sample size, or the number of students who answered the question(s).
  • The "-" column refers to the number of students who chose to NOT answer that particular question.
  • The "Mean" represents the average response for that question. For example, a mean of "1.5" means the average is somewhere between a "1" (I strongly agree) and a "2" (I agree somewhat).
  • The "SD" or "standard deviation" refers to a measure of how widely dispersed the values are from the average value (the mean) based on our sample, which is relatively small (N=25) It's like a "plus or minus" value that qualifies the range of each mean.

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Overall results at a quick glance:

 

What the letters mean:

I strongly agree I agree somewhat I'm neutral I disagree somewhat I strongly disagree

 

Title N Frequency Mean SD Median Mode
- a b c d e
 1CO course is excellent? 26 0 7 13 6 0 0 1.96 0.72 2.0 2
 1CO expectations are clear 26 0 18 8 0 0 0 1.31 0.47 1.0 1
 1CO explains concepts 26 0 11 11 1 2 1 1.88 1.07 2.0 1,2
 1CO gives overview 26 0 18 5 2 0 1 1.50 0.95 1.0 1
 1CO instructor is knowledgeable 26 0 22 3 1 0 0 1.19 0.49 1.0 1
 1CO learning something 26 0 9 12 5 0 0 1.85 0.73 2.0 2
 2PR classes are not stimulating 26 0 1 5 14 2 4 3.12 1.03 3.0 3
 2PR sense of humor 26 0 16 10 0 0 0 1.38 0.50 1.0 1
 2PR textbook is used 26 0 14 9 1 1 1 1.69 1.01 1.0 1
 2PR use web site 26 0 16 6 3 1 0 1.58 0.86 1.0 1
 2PR web site useful 25 1 9 12 3 1 0 1.84 0.80 2.0 2
 3IN invites feedback 26 0 19 4 3 0 0 1.38 0.70 1.0 1
 3IN marking is fair 24 2 12 10 2 0 0 1.58 0.65 1.5 1
 3IN material returned on time 25 1 11 2 12 0 0 2.04 0.98 2.0 3
 3IN respect for students 26 0 23 3 0 0 0 1.12 0.33 1.0 1
 4OV hard to know what's important 25 1 2 7 7 8 1 2.96 1.06 3.0 4
 4OV not good use of class time 26 0 2 1 2 7 14 4.15 1.22 5.0 5
 5CM deals with disruption 26 0 12 9 4 1 0 1.77 0.86 2.0 1
 5CM helps students succeed 26 0 15 11 0 0 0 1.42 0.50 1.0 1
 5CM instructor is organized 26 0 8 15 2 0 1 1.88 0.86 2.0 2
 6OB learn outcome1 26 0 9 11 5 1 0 1.92 0.84 2.0 2
 6OB learn outcome2 25 1 5 11 4 4 1 2.40 1.12 2.0 2
 6OB learn outcome3 26 0 9 9 4 4 0 2.12 1.07 2.0 1,2
 6OB learn outcome4 25 1 7 13 4 1 0 1.96 0.79 2.0 2
 7LO survey was clear 26 0 15 8 2 0 1 1.62 0.94 1.0 1
               
COLOR CODE         = strong area of satisfaction   = area of concern

 

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Students' written comments:

Question: 8WR one like -

User ID Response
1 putting your ideas into something creative and fun (web page project)
3 The web designing
4 Allow me to work independantly, but I have the oppourtunity to receive help.
5 its very interesting
6 Greg Cooper
7 I LIKE HOW THE INSTRUCTOR IS VERY COMMITED TO THE STUDENT AND THERE WELL BEING. I ALSO LIKE THE FACT THAT WE ARE LEARNING HOW TO USE FRONTPAGE PROPERLY.
10 The final project and amount of time to work on it
11 People who are ahead in the class are given the freedom to work at their pace
12 the freedom to work at your own pace
13 it's a new experience to me and i find it somewhat interesting
14 can leave when/if we are on schedule
15 No comment
16 The online review exercises
17 I learned something new.
18 ...
19 The one thing about this course that I really like is that students have the freedom to work ahead, not a lot of classes at Cambrian have that option.
Encourage the instructors in your other classes to explore this option? It may not be appropriate in some cases, but it seems to be a successful strategy in this course....Greg
20 learning skills that I know I will use in the future
21 the quizzes on WebCT... i have access from home
22 I like that it is informative in the sense that if you have never taken a course like this you can still design a professional looking web page.
23 It is very well organized and easy to follow and you know what has to be done and by when.
24 I enjoy the ability to work individualy or with my peers.
25 Learning how to build a web site.
26 I get to learn how to create a web site and maintain it.
Responses

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Question: 8WR one dislike -

User ID Response
1 8:30 classes...3 hour labs when you can do most of the work at home, the course COULD be completed in ONE month instead of two
4 I would rather have a class designated for theory
See my comment above....Greg
5 nothing so far
6 I know that Mike is there to help and I am greatful for that (he's pretty cute) but, sometimes it take s awhile before Mr. Cooper comes over to answer a question.
7 NO COMMENT
10 The amount of review questions
11

on the online quizes there is no room for error on typed answers, meaning if you misspell a question, or do not type it exactly as it is in the book then the answer will be wrong
Yes, tutorial #2 had problems with the short answer questions being too specific. I have made adjustments on this assignment and removed these types of questions from future assignments....Greg
12 not being able to do my project on just a general idea
13 the one hour class on tues. its our only class of the day
See my comment above....Greg
14 if you don't know about much abiout the stuff thought you are going to be behind and lost
15 no comment
16 It's not moving along as quick as I would like
17 There was disruption sometimes when the teacher was talking.
I agree. I hope I am dealing with this better now. Am I?....Greg
18 ...
19 I dislike the one hour classes because by the time you actually get to start your work, class is over. I think that the Tuesday one hour class should be an optional lab.
See my comment above....Greg
20 I am not shure yet it is too soon
21 the lab times
23 The fact that our web site project is worth half our grade.
This is not an issue I can deal with once the course has started. You might want this item brought up during the formal course evaluation. What would you suggest?......Greg
24 I find the Text too vague.
25 The fact that I had no prior experience in web design and we were just thriwn into it.
This is the assumption I made at the beginning of the course. I hope that you are making good progress now. Are you?....Greg
26 Our one hour class.
Responses
 

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Question: 8WR one improvement -

Responses

User ID Response
1 less in-lab classes
See my comment above....Greg
4 Give the instructor a bit of a break. He has to work with different levels of ability, with little time to focus on each. Make more class time for this in the schedule.
See my comment above....Greg
5 get better at making web pages
6 Are we suppose to have all chapters done before MArch, because at the rate of the class, I don't think that is going to happen.
Actually, we are right on schedule - we will be finished tutorial #6 and one week will remain to complete your final web project....Greg
7 NO COMMENT
10 Less review questions
11 everything is fine
12 nothing
13 i don't know
14 not much
15 no comment
16 Make sure that every week a tutorial is completed
That is my goal. So far, this seems to be the case as of the end of tutorial #4....Greg
17 I don't know
18 ...
19 One thing that I would improve in this course is the structure, meaning, the entire class time is generally free time to do whatever needs to be done. There are not a lot of lectures and honestly, I am able to complete my on-line tests at home. The only advantage for me to come to class is the ability to use FrontPage, because I do not have the program at home.
See my comment above....Greg
20 instructions in class
21 no real answers... nothing to change
23 The grading scheme. I don't think our project should be worth as much as it is and I also think we should be graded on the tutorials.
See my earlier comment, and yes, you are being graded on the tutorials weekly....Greg
24 I would enjoy more theory and practical at the begining, and then use my skills i have learned later in the course.
25 An introductory cource in another semester.
You need to let your program coordinator know, and include this suggestion in your formal course evaluation....Greg
26 Time schedule

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Question: 8WR additional comment

Responses

User ID Response
1 I like the review questions on WebCT and the other useful course links...they're very helpful and convenient
4 I find Greg a very reasonable, friendly and outgoing instructor, who shows that he wants results from his students. He motivates people very well, and challenges them to use their ablilities.
5 no comment
6 Have a great weekend.
7 NO COMMENT
10 This may be coming up later, but I would like to know how to get your webpage online.
Yes, this is the subject of the last tutorial, but it refers to publishing to the FrontPage server at the college (your "Student Webpages" server). If you are referring to to do this outside of the college (webhosting, file transfer, domain name registration), I would be happy to present a short tutorial in class, similar to the mini-lectures/demos I do now.....Greg
11 nope
12
13 keep up the good work
14 nothing
15 no comment
16 Nope
17 Greg was a great teacher and was respectful to the students.
18 ...
19 I have enjoyed working and learning the process of making web pages, I hope to use this skill in the future.
20 When I ask a question the teacher sometimes doesn't answer my question and gets off topic
Oops! I try not to go off topic and I always end a question with: "Did I answer your question?" Let me know when I don't....Greg
21 It's a good course in general. I like it a lot beause I get to do the quizzes```` at home.
23 When someone asks a question the teacher shouldn't use as much computer language. This is confusing and time consuming.
24 I find the instructer very reasonable. He shows that his best interest is to have his students achieve their best. He pushes them to make decisions using their own knowledge.
25 I am having fun. Thanks Greg!!! And Mike!!!!
26 Have a great day!!!!!!!!

 

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