" Thanks to those who participated.
33 out of a
possible 54 students (by this point in the semester) responded (approx.
61%). Overall, feedback was positive in most categories: content, presentation, student attention, interaction,
information, work overload, class management. In course outcomes, feedback was
mixed, but that is to be expected only one month into the course. It was
interesting to note the strong favorable responses on the questions dealing
with giving an overview, inviting feedback, and respect. This is high praise for an instructor!
Your written comments
demonstrate some insightful observations about the course content, resources,
my teaching methods. Although they are not all positive, they are certainly
constructive. Several suggestions have already been implemented, and I will be
interested in subsequent feedback to see if you agree. I have added some
comments to your written remarks below.
Thanks
for your efforts. These surveys not only
help me become a better instructor, they benefit you too! You have been an active
participant in improving your learning environment and this will give you food for thought
in future courses and me in the second programming course
STY1215. As promised, these survey results are now a public
document (linked from 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 in future classes (hopefully, ones with you!) and I'll encourage
future STY1101 professors to take a look when planning this
course."..........................Greg
"N=33" 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=33 It's like a "plus or minus"
value that qualifies the range of each mean.
The
"median" is the "midpoint" between the highest and lowest value of the
responses. (1,2,3,4, or 5 corresponding to a,b,c,d or e)
The
"mode" is the most frequent value or values of the response (a,b,c,d, or e)
that we have a very laid back
environment while still getting the work done in an efficient manner. I also
like that he takes the one hour time frame to get the lecturing out of the
way so that we have the two hour time frame to finish all of our work.
2
the techer
4
Plenty of time in class to
complete assignments.
5
The way Greg has opened the
study review questions for tests. Awesome, wish all classes would do this.
Awesome. Hats off Greg.
6
lots to learn
7
I enjoy programming which makes
this course rather fun for myself.
8
There is certainly far more than
one thing I like with regards to this course. However, if one thing should
be mentioned, it is not the course material itself; rather, the instructor
teaching it. I say this because it is never is a question of relevancy with
course material. However, the success in any given course is usually
determined by the effectiveness/relationships of the instructor and
student(s) With that said, the greatest thing regarding this course is by
far the instructor.
10
Greg is funny and makes the
material interesting.
11
Hands-on
12
I like the that we are half way
through the material at less than one third of the way through the year. We're on track and
we'll complete everything on schedule...Greg
13
Is that when we go in, we know
what we are going to do. Everything is layed out and if we have any
questions it can be answer right away.
14
The seemingly endless time i get
to work on a computer! I never get this much computer time at home!
15
Being able to learn new things.
16
This is the only class in first
semester SOTY(CPPG) that I feel really represents the career path I want to
take.
17
It is a very relaxed atmosphere
to learn in.
18
the labs, hands on
19
Doing the VB labs
20
how everybody helps one another
to fix a problem or how the students interact with one another
21
Lab time.
22
It's easy, and it's on the
second floor.
24
learning how makinb programs
relates to real life situations is the key thing I found interesting about
this course
25
relaxed, very easy going.
26
- One on One Help.
28
Its fun and surely not boring,
also that Greg knows the subject very well and does a good job of
explaining.
29
The textbook seems like it could
be very helpful if it had the in-class explination to back it up.
30
It does help introduce students
to how they can solve programming errors before "throwing them" into coding
31
its visual part...where i can
see the results as i am working on the code
32
I like is the program and the
way it is similar to many other programs like Flash
One thing I dislike about this course:
1
learning the programming
language, but there's no changing that haha.
2
the early mornings
4
An extra hour of class a
week in this course would help.
5
timeframe as with all
others, being a mature student.
6
Tests at the same time
7
So far it seems rather dull,
working straight out of a book, although it could be because I've worked
with this stuff in the past.
8
Question 29's limit to one
thing.
10
The material isn't moving
forward quite fast enough for my liking.
11
12
The nature of the learning
offers a specific challenge to programming classes. It is very difficult
to "help" someone who has a bug in their program without saying do it
over, so for that reason I believe the biggest problem is the lack of
actual help one can get during the coding process. Good point. I hope the "De-bugging"
exercises and "Team De-Bugging" lab helped....Greg
13
I do not like some of the
ways that the Quiz and Test questions are written. I agree - that's why I
encourage students to "flag" the bogus questions so I can fix them - to
everyone's benefit!....Greg
14
. . . is there really
anything to not like?!
15
The setup of Visual Basic
Studio.... ie. Student version is not on every computer, becomes
confusing because there is more options in the Pro Version. etc.
16
N/A
17
I just dislike programming
overall. I have no specific dislike for the course itself.
18
theory lectures
21
Theory class.
22
It's long and boring.
24
Nothing
25
too much content to cover
within the 1 hour class on Wednesday.
26
Greg Cooper! haha joke haha
I would have to say that this program should have had more guidance and
demonstration. In other words, we were given are book and play with a
program we never worked with.
28
there is way to much
terminology, and i cant understand everything at once, my vocabulary is
really off.
29
Very little time and
attention is given to the actual explination of programming and coding.
Too much time is spent on confusing, unrelated examples which serve to
distract from the lesson.
I think this aspect has improved - let me
know on the next survey...Greg
30
It teaches a very poorly
structured programming language and I find it harder to grasp concepts
in VB than other languages, also, there should not be such a
concentration on quiz and test questions based on the IDE - That has
nothing to do with programming concepts or Problem solving concepts The assessment will
gradually include practical syntax, de-bugging, predict output,
etc.....Greg
31
nothing
32
The quizes are the most
challenging and sometimes worded in a way where there are knots in a
question and it makes reviewing of the quiz meaningless.
33
i don't really understand
visual basic. we haven't gone over it thoroughly enough for me to
comprehend exactly what its expecting of me
One thing that would
improve this course:
1
nothing. Just pure and
simply nothing.
2
nothing really
4
Don't know
5
nothing, awesome.
6
More hands on projects and
less lecturing
7
The creative aspect of the
course, it's harder to learn something when the answers in front of you
and you just fill in the blanks.
8
As VB is an introduction to
programming, which this course is, nothing in addition is required.
10
Nothing. It'd delivered
well.
11
12
I believe an extra hour
added to this class would be extreamly beneficial for not only the
teaching meathod, but also the students who learn at a slower pace.
Having a whole extra hour to explain/digest that weeks tutorial before
having to do it themselves.
14
I wouldn't. This course is
perfect as is.
15
More time to complete
tutorials and more hands-on help.
16
The hands on programming and
problem solving theory are broken up too much. Assuming at least half of
the students have no prior knowledge of programming, spending a good
chunk of the beginning of the course hammering the students with pure
theory might be a better way to ensure their success with the hands on
programming aspect. This has the disadvantage of making the course too
boring for some, so it's a matter of weighing the pros and cons of the
course restructure.
Good comment - I'm including more syntax
examples as we go - but there's still room for improvement....Greg
17
I do not know.
21
Programming requires hands
on work. I have learned many other programming languages. Every time I
learned one, while not self-teaching myself, I was taught by actually
programming and using code. I know Visual Basic is different, because it
uses interactive objects, but in any programming language, the only
thing that should be orally discussed by the teacher is how to compose
effective programs, using complex math formulas (perhaps an introduction
to binary/hexidecimal, and code functions. Other than those things,
learning a programming code should be using the program to actually
program.. Instead of learning how programs work.. we should program
as-well-as learning how programs work. Another good comment -
there is room for improvement, but I also am trying to stick to the
"game plan", which includes programming/problem solving/logic theory.
I'm still working on this...Greg
22
Your teaching methods. I've already made
some changes - improvements I hope....Greg
24
My understanding of the
course material
25
slow down concepts on
Wednesday for the class.
26
!!!Nothing!!!!
28
wont use so much
terminology.
29
More focus on actual coding.
Using programming as the examples instead of unrelated topics to vaguely
relate to programming.
30
I think if another language
such as Java or C++ was introduced in the first semester, It would
better help students understand coding (those languages do have better
structures).
31
there should be more
practical demonstrations
32
Help remove the knots in the
quizes and make them follow what is said in the book.
33
making sure the students
understand before moving foreward
I have an additional comment:
1
You need to join the
Darkside of WebCT. We have maple cookies. I AM the Darth Webber, Over Lord and Master of
the dark side of WebCT. Join me (heavy breathing here) and vanquish the
non-coders from our Galaxy. Feel the force within you that makes your
code strong and worthy of a VB Master. Oh...and bring some of those
maple cookies, too...DW
4
Great job Greg! Keep it up!
5
I really wish that all
professors would adopt the web ct tool as Greg has. It does nothing more
than make us the best we can be. Thanks Greg.
6
overall satisfied with
course
7
no comment
8
Excellent professor.
10
I have no additional
comments.
11
12
I believe this course should
have been split up somewhat like our English Classes (1710, 1551), have
the two (or three hour, as i propose) Visual basic class. and have a 1
hour Problem solving theory class. Otherwise the teaching meathod is
sound and I understand the difficulty having the class cut from 5 hours.
Secondly, I realise its a survery, but the 5 point agrees system is
somewhat archaic no?
13
This is one of my favorite
courses due to that I can do my work and listen at the same time. It
helps me alot to understand what the teacher is talking about when I'm
doing the work at the same time.
14
N/A
16
Great survey. I'm confident
that I'm getting my money's worth in this course.
17
No I do not!
21
!
22
You talk too much. It's
boring. You spend far too much time going off on tangents. The majority
of us in the class would prefer if you assigned us the work and left us
to it. If something comes up, take a moment to explain it, otherwise,
just let us do our thing and show you the work as we go. I assume the "tangents"
you refer to is the theory component of the course?...Greg
24
n/a
25
good job so far !
26
THE REVIEW QUIZ 1 - 8 WASN'T
POSTED UP TO THE NIGHT OF THE QUIZ,..........ok sure there was other
classes that had the test before that but how come we get screwed
over....the quiz should be reposted for the ones that had the quiz the
next morning thank you. For Futur Advice Thanks! Since then, you
folks have reminded me - I think we've got this working now!....Greg
29
Far too much digression. I
feel like I'm on my own learning how to use Visual Basic, which as I
understand, is our foundation for programming for the rest of the
course. This leaves me worried about my success in the program in the
years to come. Let me know if
any improvements have occurred since this survey...Greg
