Online Teacher/Course/Text Evaluation Results
In November, 2023, students were asked to complete an online evaluation for this course. In this form, they indicated how strongly they agreed or disagreed with twenty-three statements, and had the opportunity to submit written comments on six additional questions. Evaluations were performed in-class and submitted anonymously via a web-based evaluation form.
This course uses course materials created by the instructor, presented in class, and available via the course website, with Miller & Ranum's How To Think Like A Computer Scientist textbook available (free online) as a supplement. Daily programming assignments are used as "homework" to develop students' facility both with programming and with the computer science concepts (control structures, data structures, algorithms). programming assignments were evaluated and incorporated into students's grades. By the end of the semester course, 50+ assignments had been collected and evaluated, including simple programming exercises, multi-day projects, and quizzes.
Many thanks to my students for their honest feedback on these forms.
The results of the "multiple-choice" responses are summarized here.
| STATEMENT: | AVERAGE RESPONSE (n=12) 5-Strongly Agree 4-Agree 3-Neutral 2-Disagree 1-Strongly Disagree (Values in parentheses are from previous years) |
| 4. I enjoy taking this class. | 4.58 (4.71, 4.24, 4.63, 4.59) |
| 5. I learn a lot in this class. | 4.08 (4.43, 4.29, 4.75, 4.82) |
| 6. The information in this class will be useful in the future. | 4.17 (4.29, 3.59, 4.25, 4.47) |
| 7. This class is difficult for me. | 2.92 (2.85, 3.24, 3.44, 3.24) |
| 8. This class has a lot of homework. | 2.00 (2.29, 2.82, 2.75, 2.41) |
| 9. I complete homework assignments regularly. | 4.58 (4.07, 4.24, 4.27, 4.41) |
| 10. The textbook in this class is useful to me. | 2.43 (2.83, 2.36, 3.29, 2.85) |
| 11. The teacher in this class is useful to me. | 4.58 (4.85, 4.47, 4.63, 4.88) |
| 12. The teacher demonstrates enthusiasm for the subject. | 4.92 (5.00, 4.88, 4.88, 5.00) |
| 13. The teacher is respectful of students. | 4.75 (4.79, 4.50, 4.44, 4.71) |
| 14. The teacher wants me to succeed. | 4.67 (4.64, 4.41, 4.63, 4.71) |
| 15. The teacher presents course material in a clear, straightforward manner. | 4.00 (4.46, 3.94, 4.25, 4.41) |
| 16. The teacher presents course material using variety of techniques. | 4.17 (3.93, 3.65, 4.25, 4.18) |
| 17. The teacher checks to ensure that students understand the material. | 4.09 (4.33, 3.88, 3.88, 4.25) |
| 18. The teacher is available outside of class for individual help. | 4.55 (4.57, 4.41, 4.44, 4.53) |
| 19. Class time is used effectively. | 4.27 (4.54, 4.29, 4.25, 4.41) |
| 20. Course objectives are clearly stated. | 4.00 (4.43, 4.00, 4.13, 4.41) |
| 21. Grading criteria are clearly communicated. | 3.83 (4.14, 3.88, 3.88, 4.06) |
| 22. Assignments are meaningful and reflect the course objectives. | 4.42 (4.38, 4.29, 4.38, 4.47) |
| 23. The website-based presentations are useful to me outside of class. | 3.38 (4.00, 3.47, 3.92, 4.00) |
| 24. The website-based presentations improve the quality of the teacher's lectures. | 3.63 (4.08, 3.80, 4.19, 4.06) |
| 25. The website-based presentations in class are effective in helping me understand the material. | 4.14 (4.25, 3.77, 4.19, 4.31) |
| 27. For assistance in coursework, students who ask other students for help: | 10/12 |
| 27. For assistance, students who use office hours | 3/12 |
| 27. For assistance, students who email instructor | 3/12 |
| 27. For assistance in coursework, students who search online for help: | 8/12 |
| 27. For assistance, students who refer to textbook | 2/12 |
| 27. For assistance, students who ask a family member | 2/12 |
| 27. For assistance, students who ask a tutor | 0/12 |
Results from the "free response" questions are given here. Not all written comments have been listed, but the comments that are given are representative of what was received.
| 28. List a few of your favorite things about this class. |
Some of my favorite things about this class are working on projects in code with a group of friends so it is easier and more fun as I enjoy collaborating with other kids in my class. I enjoy creating my own programs and improving my skills I am starting to really enjoy computer science and I love the way this class is run with the small individual programs I can use and test to demonstrate my knowledge. I like how interactive the class is. I enjoy learning how to code different programs, and I like learning new coding skills. I really like the coding bat activities. I love how Mr.White teaches a concept and we immediately do a code that utilizes that concept while it is still fresh in our heads. 1. I love how the class is mostly independent work with very few lectures and some group work/review of concepts. // 2. I like how we start working on a new program almost every class and how we're always utilizing new concepts. Completing more extensive projects, which I find both challenging and interesting. I equally enjoy listening to your "coding" music, Mr. White! I like the atmosphere of the class because you are very friendly and helpful, creating an environment where learning is fun. The atmosphere in this class is very lively. I love solving the complex coding problems in addition to the casual and collaborative classroom environment. I enjoy the pacing of Introduction to Computer Science, it is easily manageable and presents the work |
| 29. Which achievements in here are you most proud of for the year-to-date? |
I think the biggest achievement this year is the ability to write code. At the beginning of the year, I didn't know If writing code was something I was capable of doing and now that I have been in this class, I am proud to say that I am now able to write lines of code. The recent secret code. I made my own version but had to change it to fit the limits, but it turned out really well and I added a lot of detail. I think craps.py was my achievement I am most proud of because I wrote it wrong and still got it right. Even though I could have done it an easier way, I was able to demonstrate my knowledge of conditionals and write a long code. I am most proud of learning how to code and building up to a bit of complexity. Before taking the class, I didn't know how to code, but I am proud that I am now able to. I am really proud of the few projects I have completed without any help(by help I mean from students, teacher doing it on the board, etc. I'm proud that I now know how to cod in python, before this class I had no idea how to code and now I can say I can create basic python programs. I'm proud of the detail I included in my secret_code project and my number guessing game, and I am most proud of secret_code. I'm most proud of succeeding in programming functions, a specific element of this class I initially struggled with. It was especially rewarding because I had worked hard to overcome my difficulty. I am proud of the major projects that challenged me to grow but were still possible and very rewarding when completed. I am happy that I stepped out of my comfort zone and tried a class that I felt uncomfortable/risky. Now I can tell my friends that I know how to code lol I am most proud of my work on projects like the number guessing game and the secret cipher code. I'm proud of my ability to incorporate a variety of topics, like if elif else statements, loops, lists, and strings. I find learning Python code to program and complete assignments gratifying since I have no previous experience with Computer Science. |
| 30. List a few of your least favorite things about this class. |
I think not having specific assignments on my poly since that is where I always check my homework. Sometimes I just don't know If we have work to complete. Limitations. Sometimes I just want to try new things and go and improve my work, but the limitations to the code make it so I feel I am just relearning some things. I like most about this class but I think the one thing that I dislike is the lack of assignments up on My Poly. I don't have a least favorite part of the class, I really enjoy how the class is run. Sometimes I wish we had more time to work things out ourselves before we worked through a program as a class; other than that, I like everything about the class. Sometimes the class seems to go a little off track, and while I've been using the materials section to get further information, additional structure to the way the class is run could be helpful. There aren't many negative things in this class. The most negative thing is the neutral confusion around the textbook, which we haven't used much and has been pretty ambiguous, but this hasn't been a problem at all. Additionally, a small number of assignments could be clearer in terms of instructions. I dislike virtually nothing about this class, except for Mr. Whites's presentation pace. |
| 31. What has been most difficult or challenging for you up to this point? What strategies have you considered for meeting those challenges? |
I think that the most difficult or challenging thing for me is applying things I just learned to assignments immediently. I think It just takes longer for me to grasp the idea of somethings. Nothing has really been challenging yet I think my biggest challenge was the homework at the beginning of the year because I didn't know how to use the website. What has been most difficult is learning new skills because I am more of a beginner, and it's somewhat difficult to learn when a lot of my classmates already know the topics. I find it hard to follow the program on the board for assignments as I feel like I'm not really learning or thinking while copying down those codes onto my own VS code program. Being able to do some of the more challenging programs on my own is a bit hard. I've tried meeting with Mr.White, asking a friend, or googling sample programs to help me. I don't think anything has been particularly challenging for me, however I would say it feels a bit slow at times but only because I know many of the things we're learning. Programming larger projects, such as coin_flipper.py, has been the most challenging up to this point. I've considered meeting with you, Mr. White, to get additional help. Comp sci is all about programming but it's hard to use all the information we learned in the program because I tend to get confused sometimes on how to write the program. It isn't just this class but in many of my classes I'm hesitant to ask for help because I find it awkward and I think that's something I can work on. Something that's also challenging is I sometimes have a hard time focusing in class from staying up all night studying. The most challenging thing for me so far has been the projects, but they have also been the most fun. When code gets to a certain complexity, all the interacting parts can become quite disorienting to work through. When I encounter these situations, I usually take a break to regroup my thoughts and take a couple of breaths. Having limited experience with large code, these projects are the most challenging for me, so I've met with Mr. White to get help. |
| 32. Suggest some improvements to make the class better. |
I think that some improvements that could be made are just having all assignments shown on mypoly so I don't miss anything. Nothing I think this class is great except for that slight homework tweak, so if that could be more sustainable I would love this class even more. I would want to go deeper into the basics topics. I think the course curriculum should be more structured and organized as sometimes introducing a new concept is hard to grasp without looking at the notes on the website afterward. I think that the teacher could've done a better job teaching the concepts by explaining them first for a while and then moving on to actually utilizing them in programs as jumping straight to writing programs when you are first introduced to the topic. I think we can try to use the textbook more as just another mode of delivering the concept. No comments! An improvement that might make this class better is explaining ahead of time what the class schedule will look like for the next few days. I've also been using the materials section of different units on Crashwhite to complete homework assignments, and it would be great for you to reference those a bit more during class as well. Just the homework thing. I always check MyPoly for homework, so I didn't see the MIT bus assignment. Thanks! Including additional group projects may improve this class as it promotes student collaboration, e |
| 33. Other comments? |
So far, I am greatly enjoying this class and I think that I have learned so many things that I previously didn't know. Overall, I am really enjoying this course as computer science is a brand new thing to me and the fact that I get to write all of these programs is really rewarding. I just wish that I get the chance to learn the skills and concepts in a more in-depth way and get more independent in terms of thinking my way through the codes myself. Thanks for this class so far, Mr. White! |