This is a complete summmary of the 88 student course evaluations. Italics represent questions appearing on the form.
Please answer the following with selfless, brutal honesty.
| 39 | Never attempted to program one |
| 33 | Written only short programs |
| 16 | Already done quite a bit |
|
7 |
Extremely stimulating |
|
52 |
Interesting |
|
22 |
About average |
|
5 |
Not very interesting |
|
2 |
Mostly an excellent opportunity for sleep |
|
6 |
Among the best courses I've even taken |
|
32 |
More than average (for PGSS) |
|
43 |
About average (for PGSS) |
|
5 |
Less than average (for PGSS) |
|
0 |
I learned almost nothing. |
The following are averaged on a five-point scale from 1 to 5, for both `helpfulness' and `interestingness'.
|
aspect |
help |
int |
|
assignments |
4.06 |
3.62 |
|
lecture |
3.21 |
2.97 |
|
textbook |
3.91 |
3.27 |
|
Web page |
3.77 |
3.50 |
|
cluster help |
4.36 |
|
|
other TA help |
4.11 |
None
Lectures - I never came out fully understanding what was going on. I always had to figure it out on my own or with the help of a TA.
lecture - more ideas, fewer examples (examples can be written in books and understood fine, concepts are harder).
Assignments - maybe more specific directions; like in Go Fish, some people had no idea how to start.
Recursion - go over more slowly to help non-programmers.
You could also assign pages to read in the textbook so that the students are somewhat prepared and not as clueless.
lecture - but only because it is difficult without a computer.
lecture - make it a little more interesting.
I really did enjoy the theory part. I didn't get that at my school.
Lecture - It's kinda hard to understand what's going on. I don't know how you could change it.
The assignments (programming) were so long. I realize that you can't change them, but maybe you could do a few short programs instead of one long one.
The assignments could be more shorter programs, than one long program.
lecture, at times the ``intuitive'' stuff was really confusing.
I can't think of anything that needs an extreme amount of work. Sometimes I felt the lectures moved too quickly, especially concerning recursion.
In class, I don't understand most of the material CBurch tries to teach us. Maybe it's just because I'm a beginner at comp sci but he doesn't explain things as well as his book does. His materials were challenging + stimulating.
making classtime more interesting.
This course is pretty much planned out great already... I wouldn't change anything... at least I can't think of anything to change right now.
I don't feel that any of the require improvement. They met my needs on all levels, so to speak (the wrong idea should *not* be gotten).
Slow down a bit during lecture, and maybe use a few more examples.
I found the textbook hard to read and follow at times, but that is probably just my utter lack of computer skills.
All good
Well, I suppose it would be cool if the web page had some helpful hints. I think it was great how CBurch himself could always be found. Oh, maybe in lectures you could cite specific pages in the book to find help.
Lecture... I don't think that some of our questions were addressed well because it seemed as if CBurch forgot that some people had never programmed before. some explanations left me more confused.
lectures, im sorry to say but cburch needs to learn some presentation skills. Be happy :-).
More in-class discussion of programming assignments.
The lecture was very hard to follow.
the lecture - I already knew the concepts, but I didn't know C++ syntax. Maybe you could spend a day going over how to write things in C++.
The lecture examples didn't always help (either didn't apply or didn't show how to use it in a real setting).
The lecture should be more structured and more centered toward some of the programming. Just change it by trying to let some of the programming material sink into the student's mind.
The lecture was not always very clear. For example, I had a hard time understanding recursion in class, but when I read the book, it made a lot more sense. Maybe the lecture on recursion would be better if we had more examples of it.
The lecture. It is hard to understand concepts.
The lectures weren't optimal, but the nature of CS dictates that it should be taught at a computer instead of in a lecture hall, so there is not much you can do to improve.
The lectures just reiterate what's written in the text. So I think other examples than those found in the text should be used in class. The greater number + variety of programs we see, the more helpful.
The lectures because they were ran really fast + it was sometimes hard to follow.
The lectures often didn't have to do with our assignments and we went too fast through some concepts like recursion.
The lectures were hard to follow sometimes, but I think it was b/c everyone was looking at one screen + couldn't try things out for themselves. I don't know how to fix that.
Instruction needs improvement. The class was very hard to follow and way above my head. Slower pace would be better.
Some of the lectures when everyone was all together were confusing. I really did not understand the lecture on the internet.
If one thing were to be changed, I would have to say that more visuals should be used during the lecture. When the computer screen was pictures on the white projection screen, the lecture's content & purpose made much more sense.
The only one according to the chart is the TA Help + that can't be changed. I simply didn't as TA's for help because you were there + my group was there.
I really didn't have any problems with any but if I had to choose one I would say that I needed more cluster help, even though the TA's did a great job. Maybe get a fourth TA.
The self-study section should have been extended w/opt to come back for 1 or 2 lectures.
We should have more hands-on comp work.
Lecture. Sometimes I just lost you. I'm glad I know basics of programming, but the method + math behind it is way over my head, and it will probably always be.
No specific improvement come to mind.
I suppose the assignments could always be more fun and interesting.
The textbook was only helpful for programming reference. And the Web page to send in assignments, etc. Perhaps make the programming help more detailed.
The textbook should be revise so that it is more readable and better to understand.
The textbook is excellent! It is very easy to understand and I used constantly as a reference while programming.
The Go Fish assignment was very difficult. After reading the directions, I was still not sure what I had to do and what was taken care of by FishNet. Also - it was a very long program for over parent's weekend.
The textbook, although not interesting, is factual.
The textbook: The examples start out very difficult, there is very little progression from the basic examples to the complex.
Keep that ``more assignments'' idea to yourself.
Cburch is cool.
Maybe the lectures would become more interesting if you used PowerPoint for the presentations... if you do that, though, try to still incorporate Alice, Bob, Eve, Krunch, and Spot into the class.
Self-study: The problems got to the point of being extremely difficult, even for veteran programmers. Maybe the self-study could involve written study - not just programming. The difficulty of the self-study made many lose interest.
During the lecture, I think many times you assumed a lot of us knew more than we really did. Some key details would be left our, making me think this was *way* over my head. but when I talked to the TA's, it made much more sense because they would just assume/know that I knew nothing. Does this make sense? I guess I'm just saying be more clear and to illustrate the program instead of just showing the code and talking through it.
Some things (Big O, recursion) still confuse the bijisus out of me. I don't know if there would be any ways to have more time spent on these.
I think that we have to actually be in the computer lab and try out the things you talk about for ourselves. At least from the standpoint of a person w/ next to nil experience w/ computers. As always, there should be more examples.
I think the lecture sessions could have been made more interesting with real-world applications, not necessarily just number-crunching.
I think the lectures about programming could have used computers instead of an overhead. The clusters should be used in class.
I think the lectures could be improved somewhat - though I could usually follow the book, I got lost in lecture quite a few times.
I think there should be required reading before each class so kids stand a chance of understanding the lecture.
I think the lectures could use some work. Sometimes when CBurch would ask if there were any questions and no one would answer it was because they didn't even understand what he was saying enough to be able to ask a question.
I think the lectures are part of the CS course because there are kids of all different CS backgrounds in class. Self-study is a good way to start to alleviate the problem. Maybe handing out little *completely* optional problems each day would be a good way to help the completely inexperienced CS students.
I think the lectures really confused me. I think it would have helped if I had looked at the next day's notes and concepts the night before - I would have learned more easily.
I think on the whole all were good. I can't say much about the book since I never really used it.
I think the lectures need to be more interesting because I tended to fall asleep in every one of them. Draw more cartoons!
I think that the lectures could be most improved. My suggestion would be to include as many examples of everything as possible. For those of us w/ little CS background the examples are often easier to follow than technical descriptions of the procedure.
I think you could use the lectures either to expand on material in the text book or just to start with the textbook and take the lecture in a different direction. In some way try to differentiate the lectures from reading the text.
I think more explanation of the homework and maybe at a slower pace.
I think the lecture could be more coherent - I sometimes have trouble following what is going on.
I think that the lectures could use more work; despite my interest in the topics being covered, I still managed to nod off every so often. I don't know how to improve it, but...
I think it would be useful if the TAs had more instructional sessions for extra help in the dorms.
I think all of these aspects were extremely useful and helpful. If I had to choose one, I guess I would choose the textbook because I tried to learn about big O-bounds in there and I couldn't understand it.
I think they were all good. I don't know what I would change, maybe just a little more time spent on some of the more challenging material and maybe a little time on how to do web pages.
I think the course is adequate if not better and the course is generally very good.
I thought all the aspects worked well. The only reason I didn't find the textbook as useful only because I usually didn't need it with the lecture notes. When I needed more examples, I went to the book. All of the aspects seemed to compliment each other.
I thought the assignments were very interesting, but somewhat strange. The lectures could benefit from more class involvement (ok, so they would be seminars not lectures).
At times the lecture confused the issue more than clarified it. Much of the reason I was successful in the class was from Lab. This is not a blanket statement by any means, but refers to isolated incidents.
I want to say more help for beginners, but then I think that you did all that you could w/ the first introduction to programming and the cluster help. I don't know. I guess it's always frustrating when you're starting out.
Lectures went really fast.
I would have like to have seen a stronger correlation between homework and lecture.
I would alter the lecture portion. I think it is difficult to understand some programming concepts in one sitting, so perhaps a review every few days.
It would be really nice if during the lecture we could practice what you are showing us. Maybe we could have the class in Baker computer lab.
Obviously, you are an intelligent computer programmer who has understood computers and programming from the start. However, throughout the course, I never felt as though you could relate to any of us who hadn't seen this material before. The biggest call for improvement is in the area of the lectures. During your cryptogram lecture, I read the material in the book beforehand, and then when I heard you answering one of the student's questions, I thought of more than one way to say what you were trying to say more understandably. When you give examples with programs you've written, don't expect that we'll catch on immediately to what the *program* is trying to do, let alone the concept you're trying to convey.
perhaps you could add stick figures to your webpage to make it more interesting!
Again, on a five-point scale:
|
difficult |
interesting |
|
|
Pseudocode, Checkbook |
3.17 |
2.63 |
|
Crypto, Game, Panthers |
3.26 |
3.66 |
|
Sierpinski, Big-O, Go Fish |
4.04 |
3.76 |
|
topic |
difficult |
interesting |
|
programming |
2.97 |
3.16 |
|
self-study |
3.67 |
3.42 |
|
game playing |
3.09 |
3.45 |
|
Internet |
3.28 |
3.71 |
|
cryptography |
2.99 |
3.64 |
|
big-O |
3.79 |
2.57 |
|
algorithms |
3.52 |
2.94 |
Programming - step by step. Less Internet.
Programming - more assignments at lower levels slowly building to higher levels.
More - dynamic programming, divide + conquer, internet + security. Less, but more effective big-O.
More - Internet
More - Internet, C++. Less - Big-O, pseudocode
crypto - more - definitely. Sacrifice algorithmic methods for this. (Sorry, I know it hurts you to hear that. :-) or :)
Recursion & Internet more. Basics less.
programming ;less AI, internet stuff.
Maybe a little less so we'd know exactly what the right method was (to use) for each program.
AI a lot more, Algorithms a lot less.
Maybe a more comprehensive overview of html language.
``methods'' were kinda slow and hard to understand - are they necessary in the curriculum?
More about using C++.
More AI
The algorithm methods could have used a little more time. The game playing, while interesting, didn't seem to connect to the rest of the material well.
The amount covered was fine.
More Big-O and methods. More programming examples.
In CS lab and team project they claimed I needed no previous experience and that I would be able to do lab + project from what I learned in the CS core. That was a lie. I'm lost in lab and project. Maybe try to collaborate that a little better.
I don't feel like I have any real understanding of how the Internet/mail works. I also wish we could have spent more time on the basics of programming.
I don't really know...
I don't really remember the lectures. I learned the most when I had to do the homework + had to teach myself what I slept through (w/ the help of the TAs)
I enjoyed actual programming the most - and that's when I learned the most. Maybe include more programming in the HW and less of the written portion (the Hickory Dickory Dock, tic-tac-toe, etc were pretty unnecessary).
I enjoyed covering the real world applications.
Exactly how the Internet works could have been covered more. Maybe more lecturing on C++ syntax.
More internet. Less recursion.
More methods. Make the self-study more flexible.
Cover more of the possibilities of programming and actual technology.
Programming more, Big-O methods less.
Self-study more, algorithms more.
? oh, I don't know.
More on the actual writing of programs, less internet/Go Fish.
Less on the exact workings of the internet.
More on algorithmic design, complex things like P=NP, etc. I would have liked more on cryptography & the Internet.
Game playing more. Internet less.
More practice at programming. Not necessarily more topics and concepts, but more practice.
More programming details, more recursion, more little stick figures. Less network/internet stuff. [maybe a little more cryptography, too - it's really interesting.]
More programming. More explanation of internet. Less big-O.
More programming.
I really liked the cryptography part. I wish we had more of that on the assignments.
I really don't have the programming background to say what would be most useful.
Get rid of Big-O. Learning the workings of a computer might have been interesting.
QBASIC rocks! (sorry) Big-O + alg. methods - I didn't understand them.
I still don't feel competent @ calculating Big Os - I would have liked to have spent more time on cryptography.
How the internet works (more). Big-O (less)
how the Internet works
I think topic distribution was ok.
I think all the material was important; the class material covered was a good amount. I wish programming had been covered a little more, if anything.
I think a good amount of material was covered.
I think I would have liked to cover how the Internet works a little more (like web pages & email).
I think how everything worked out was good. Concepts like recursion and the big O were hard to understand.
I thought game-playing was interesting. Cryptography could have been better... I didn't really get much out of it. The Internet is a good topic but the layers (IP, Internet, etc) and other things said about it wasn't too interesting.
More time to understand computer programming and less on things like the internet + cryptography (I enjoyed them but I wish we spent more time programming so I could get a better understanding)
like to cover internet stuff more.
More topics, but less about the BigO.
it was different, but the fast pace is what gov. school is all about. perfect.
More ways of programming for similar problems.
More applications of programming in class.
I would of liked if Big-O and cryptography be covered more. It seems like one day is not enough to learn about these two important aspects of CS.
I would have liked to spend more time on cryptography + recursion. I think that there was a little too much overlap with math on the game playing.
I would have liked to spend more time on programming in general.
It would have been neat to cover more stuff on algorithms.
I would have liked to have covered everything more slowly.
I would have liked to have covered more cryptography, less big-O.
I would like to have covered AI and internet more and pseudocode less.
I would have liked to continue programming instead of doing some of the stuff like game playing.
I would like to have mastered programming more. Go slower and cover less.
It would have been really interesting to have spent more time studying algorithms for various problems.
I would have liked to learn web page design / html, but I guess that's not what the course is about. I would've liked to have spent less time on cryptography and big-O notation.
I would like to have covered more on the real-life applications, and what sort of jobs people in computer science have.
The internet stuff was too fast. I got lost, and it wasn't all that interesting.
I would have liked to cover more about the Internet; not just what it does, but also how it works.
Less cryptography would have been nice.
I would like to have covered the conditions under which one would use the C++ loops.
I would have liked to do some artificial intelligence algorithms, or more interesting and useful algorithms in general. I don't think O() was worth the amount of time we spent on it.
I would have liked to cover more simple programming in order to get a handle on that. 1 simple program was not enough.
I would have liked to explore the Internet a little more. You seemed to rush through it.
I would have liked more general programming and less focus on the internet.
I would have liked to spend more time on programming to become more proficient, and less on algorithms. I didn't find the algorithm stuff too useful and I didn't know how I could apply it yet. More AI, too.
I would have liked to have learned more programming basics and syntax. I would also have liked to learn more networking stuff.
I would have liked to have spent more time on learning AI and The Internet.
I would have liked to cover recursion and arrays more and the Big-O less.
I would have liked to cover more recursion.
I would have liked to delve deeper into the seas of recursion and complex functions in programming.
There was perhaps a bit too much time spent on cryptography and the Internet, which, although it is relevant, is not to me all that interesting.
It would have been nice to do more with cryptography and less with Big-O.
I would have liked to gone over Game Playing more in class so the homework assignment would be more manageable. I realize that we did cover it, I just didn't get it. Finding Big-O still doesn't make sense to me.
I would have changed very little for this 4-week course. I am not that interested in BIG O, but I see why it has to be covered.
I would have liked to have covered more programming techniques.
I would have liked to have covered the harder information, such as recursion and some more internet things would be nice to cover more. I don't think anything needs to be covered less.
I wouldn't have spent so much time on games and methods.
I would rather focus on learning a variety of programming techniques.
I would've valued more time on programming functions. Somehow that all went over my head. I thought too much time was spent on cryptography. That just doesn't intrigue me at all.
Maybe you could have a lecture on the hardware of computers; I know that's more EE than CS, but I think it would make a good addition to the course.
Perhaps a quick history of computing. Advancement of languages and power.
Make a unique ``cburch'' go fish character!!
How about other topics like data compression.
Also, include more really tough optional problems.
Do a more exotic programming language next year.
More mathematical proofs.
Talk about complexity.
Cburch and most TA's were very helpful. Sometimes things were a bit frustrating, but all in all I thoroughly enjoyed this course. I think maybe I would like to major in CS.
The bio system of the TAs explaining hard topics would probably be very helpful.
The book saved my life.
For CBurch personally - you were mine and many other students' favorite instructor. It was great how you tried to spend time w/ us at Fluted, lectures, and other activities. Your efforts in personal help in the clusters also did not go unnoticed. Thanks for you help.
I'd like to know what sort of careers are available to a computer scientist.
Thanks
Yeah CBurch!
The characters (stick figures) were entertaining!
The class is very hard for beginners to follow. Make it easier for next year.
The cluster help was great, I was never afraid someone wouldn't be able to answer my help or fix my program. I liked the ``nifty stick figures.''
Good course for a basic intro to C++. Now I can at least program some useful applications. Very very useful.
Great course - good job helping me learn C++ having never used it before.
Great course overall.
I am grateful to have this textbook for my reference. You are a great teacher one on one and to the class. The stick figures were indeed nifty!
some CS core classes could be in a computer cluster for hands on practice
You're darn good at teaching, and you're obviously very dedicated to your work and to the students. There's not a whole lot about your course that needs work, and what there is is what I can't think of. Among the top 3 classes at PGSS. Keep up the great work, and good luck with your postdoctoral work.
(the word ``work'' was used four times in the above paragraph.)
Kirk did a good job of breaking up the computer lab programs into bite-size chunks. Perhaps that could have been done with our homework programs. I'm sure it would make it less frustrating for the inexperienced programmers.
I enjoyed the class. I thought I was going to hate it because of my lack of experience, but I really did learn alot and ended up liking it.
I enjoyed the class a lot, because I had never been introduced to computer science before. My interest was peaked by the new challenging problems that I had never seen before.
Don't ever change.
In the beginning it would have been helpful if you just spent a little more time on the basics of programming. I remember when I sat down to do the first programming assignment, it was trial + error. I had to figure out what was going on by experimenting + getting a lot of help from Rob. It was just the basic, trivial stuff that gave me problems.
I feel like I learned a lot from this course, especially since I don't have any experience in this. The TA's were *extremely* helpful throughout the course and the book was also useful. The teacher seemed really prepared for class and I liked the illustrations on the transparencies!
I found this class to be difficult - probably b/c the only programming experience I had was in BASIC.
The TAs were so helpful with the assignments - which was great.
Overall, the class was an experience.
More guided programming. Possibly have lectures in the lab.
I have to admit, CS does fascinate me, but I think that if the material is covered a bit more in focus, then it can be really fascinating, and almost never frustrating.
Maybe having a couple of programming lessons in the first few days of PGSS. The lectures were harder to understand having no programming background.
I honestly can't think of any more suggestions. The course was very enjoyable and I learned a lot of new things. It truly sparked my interest in comp. sci. and I'm even considering going home and learning more C++.
cburch... I love the *HATS*!
I didn't learn anything from the lectures. It was difficult to follow what you were trying to do. I think its b/c you are at a level so high above us as far as programming goes.
Your login name is awesome.
The internet seems more immediately applicable. I would have liked to learn more about creating web pages, doing things on the web, and what all is on it.
It is hard to understanding what you are talking about sometimes when you lecture.
Cburch is awesome! He was extremely helpful and was always in the cluster.
Although it's probably not possible, teach in a programming language that is less syntax-intensive. Although I know C++ somewhat I think working with maybe Q-basic or another language may be easier for people who have little or no programming experience. I got the impression that the course was intended to emphasize concepts, so a lack of knowledge of the language shouldn't matter. Maybe give students an option of different languages to choose from.
Great Job CBurch! I really learned a lot about CS, and I really appreciate all of the time you put in to help my team and I during programming assignments.
I just want to say that this was both an informative and enjoyable class. I feel much more confident with C++ and I also feel that the programming has sharpened my problem solving skills.
I like the Hanoi demonstration with the books.
I liked it a lot and I learned a lot. I feel that I now have a very good background that will help me learn more programming easily. CBurch is the man. He is awesome. Thanks a lot, CBurch!
I liked the course a lot. I had never thought about recursion before and that was interesting, and I liked knowing how the various protocols worked.
I love the hat! The coterie of stick figures really helped me understand (and they were funny, too). Please give Alice hair because now she looks a bit confused. Can I send Spot e-mail whenever I want? Does anyone else have e-mail?
It might be a good idea to cut out some of the complex examples that are hard to understand. If it is too difficult to grasp in a few minutes, then the examples is only frustrating the situation.
Otherwise, everything else was fine, and I don't see anything that needs to be changed.
Suggestions: More time on programming. Keep smiling. Always eat your carrots. Never start your own forest preserve, and if you must, buy more trees.
Cburch, you were the greatest teacher ever.
Wearing of hat in cluster, maybe a million dollar tattoo??
Overall it was a very good class. One of the few that taught me something new and interesting.
Instead of taking random questions during class, maybe you could have a Q&A session in the last 10 minutes.
OVERALL, I really learned a lot from this course.
Some parts of your course I have seen before so it wasn't that interesting. You really should have sowed down the last couple lectures. Don't worry, CBurch, we still love you.
Easy w/ the slides! You look so tense.
The programs that we wrote were pretty interesting.
I think you are hot! i love your white hat!
I really liked the transparencies you used, and the ever-present cast of characters (Eve, krunch, spot, etc.) I think that made things more interesting/fun. The textbook was also an extremely helpful tool! But I think it could be more explicit about Big-O. I read that section over a number of times and still didn't feel like I really understood. I came in expecting to drop this course - but I found it to be a lot more interesting than I expected - I was exposed to many new things.
I really liked the web page + its format. It made everything really easy. The overheads always looked really nice.
I really enjoyed this class. This and CS lab have kind-of made me think and reconsider what I want to do with my life. I had a lot of fun programming, even though we would have trouble with silly mistakes and be in a cluster for a few hours. This class was my 2nd favorite class out of all my core classes and electives and lab and team project.
CBurch rules. His quirky lectures are fun to listen to, although the material often lacked.
It seemed like you didn't expect us to understand some of the stuff you said. Teach us things we can understand. Overall, I enjoyed the class and learned a lot.
The self-study is too hard for the ``in-betweeners,'' those who have the basics, but are not yet really skilled.
The Panther program was not too hard, but it would have been nice to know when we were correct.
The programming problems seemed to be a bit hard for those w/o programming experience.
Soccer video is good.
The self-study was too hard. I only finished 2 of the problems. Make the self-study programs more basic while still covering the topics.
you should dance for us
watch out for the cords
Although some students may have been capable of getting to the self-study projects, students weren't able to because of the constraints. The projects look extremely interesting, but I can't see how there would be enough students capable enough to make it worth offering them. Perhaps it would be possible if you reduced the basic assignments.
I still don't get recursion and programming to well.
I think you should take the lecture down a knot. Everyone was lost in class but felt afraid to ask ?'s in fear of looking stupid. You are obviously *very* good at programming but you must realize, we know *nothing*. It takes a while for us to understand.
I still like the idea of having practice problems each day. That would really have helped me troubleshoot each topic.
Programming still is like a foreign language but at least now I can pick out phrase. The self-study made me feel more comfortable in the class because I knew that I wasn't the only one who had never seen C++ before. The pictures on the overhead + your characters are cool.
I still don't see any good application in big-O. Frankly, I don't see anything I would want to use it for. The Sierpinski Gasket wasn't interesting either. Go-Fish was fun. The panther thing was interesting. I didn't enjoy the cryptogram either. I believe a flowchart would be better than pseudocode. The recursion was interesting.
Everyone was very nice and helpful.
Never stop wearing cool hats.
More stuff on fractals would be interesting.
I suggest that one-day topics be eliminated. Spending one day discussing something does nothing good. If you want to introduce a new concept, spend at least two entire lectures on it.
The textbook is a great resource.
For the assignment over parent's weekend, it would be nice to extend the due date to Tuesday.
From the self-study perspective, I would have enjoyed the course more if I could have spent more time working on the projects + less on the prefix calculator. Also, I think it would be better to get through the programming lecture faster by assigning readings or something similar. It would be good only to have lectures on things *no one* has seen.
Wear the hat during lectures!
I think this was a good introductory course, but because I already had some programming experience, it was kind of repetitive.
I think the book is excellent.
I think it was a really good idea to have the self-study track. It gave the more experienced programmers more stimulating work and didn't force the less experienced programmers to try to keep pace with them. The wide variation of experience almost necessitates the self-study track.
I think more people should have taken advantage of the online lecture notes, but they never realized they were in existence. I also think students should have been encouraged to look ahead to the next day's material.
I think I wrote enough on the 1st page. It's unfair for you to say that other people can teach this better than you. Need more time.
I thought the programming assignments were very good. Having TA cluster hours was a great idea. The textbook was one of the best I've every seen, very easy to use. I loved the ``Nifty Stick Figures''.
Your transparencies are awesome...
recursion was somewhat confusing, but our second coverage of the topic helped a lot.
Thanks cburch!
It was really nice to have the advanced programmers working by themselves at the beginning, it made it easier for us to ask questions + learn the basic stuff.
The assignments were good, it was very satisfying to complete them. It is also very useful to be able to work in groups, that is essential for the assignments.
This was my favorite class here. You already have it fine-tuned. Don't make any drastic changes. I would like, possibly, to go into computer science but don't know what kind of jobs there are in that field. You might cover that in next year's course.
TA's were helpful many times. I suggest my Go Fish program should win. I think one should have the option of self-study for the entire course, for many of us did not even start the projects.
I would really have lied to be able to program during class. I know this may not be possible, but I think it could help a lot.
I love cburch!
Uh... yeah... ok.... sure. :-)
WE LOVE YOU CBURCH!
CBurch, you are so cute! CBurch, tu eres muy dulce!
Maybe you could divide the class into 3 parts that meet at different times. One for those w/ considerable experience, one for those who have programmed before, and one for those who just suck at this stuff. It's not that I'm lazy, but with no knack for CS I feel like I'm in a jungle of computer jargon. Help! I really want to know how it works.