Evaluation Comments
Course:Object-Oriented Software Development
            (SE-450-701)

Quarter:Autumn 05/06
Time: Th 17:45 - 21:00
Location: Loop Campus
James Riely PhD

Associate Professor
jriely@cs.depaul.edu
Instructor homepage

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What are the major strengths and weaknesses of the instructor?


1.   Knowledgable and stays excited about the material he presents
2.   Strengths:Upbeat, Makes learning subject matter fun
3.   Nice guy, funny, obviously knowledgable. Problem is that he has a bit of a superiour attitude, which is reflected in his lectures, homoework and exams.
4.   Approachable, knowledgeable, enthusiastic, and interesting.
5.   He is able to explain complex concepts simply and concisely. He has a good sense of humor, is able to keep class momentum moving forward and keep students interested.
6.   He's very good and keeping up communication with students.
7.   Explained material well. Very knowledgeable in subject.
8.   The instructor did a good job of teaching the subject in class. The instructor did a poor job of getting back to students in a timely fashion before the midterm...the availability improved after the midterm. Also, the instructor should mandate a standard final project instead of leaving it open-ended. With the project being open-ended caused a ton of confusion and a lot of re-work.

What aspects of this course were most beneficial to you?


1.   the concepts
4.   Learning UML and patterns and improving my OOD skills.
5.   Homework assignments and the final project have been most beneficial. The layout of material in the class is also beneficial, allowing for many opportunities to practice concepts which were presented in first half of class.
6.   The entire concept of Design Patterns is intriguing and will hopefully prove useful.
7.   This whole course was extremely beneficial to me. My career is pretty much based on this course.
8.   Learning the different design patterns and how to apply them is the benefit I received.
10.   the actual design patterns were extremely important and should be taught sooner.

What do you suggest to improve this course?


4.   This course teaches object, class, and sequence diagramming. Before the class started I was unfamiliar with any of these diagramming techniques. Admittedly during class 1 through 3, I was really confused during the diagramming lectures. I think my issue was that the object and class diagrams look very similar if you are unfamiliar with them and to me there were a lot of details that I wasn’t picking up on – dashed lines vs. solid lines etc. During the high level review for the midterm, Prof. Riely went over the different kinds of diagrams and which arrows/lines/symbols were valid for each diagram and what each meant. After I had the summary, I went back over my notes and things started to click. It would have been helpful for me if I had this summary before we started learning about each kind of diagram. I think it would have made more sense during the lectures. During weeks 1-3 I did try to read some UML books so I could maybe make sense of it on my own but I found inconsistencies between diagramming techniques from one source to the other so that wasn’t too helpful.
6.   I feel that the homework could be tied into the actual course material much better. As is, it feels very detached and doesn't compliment the course that well.
7.   Maybe a little less complicated code examples.
8.   I would suggest a structured final project. Remove the open-ended final project.
10.   have homework questions on UML. Although the teacher says there will be UML questions on the test, the concepts don't really sink in until we actually do homework on it.

Comment on the grading procedures and exams


1.   The exam taken so far was very difficult and I didn't feel it tested my knowledge of the topic by my mastery of the topic which I will admit I didn't have by the midterm.
3.   Exams were much too difficult and contained material much too tangential to core software engineering concepts. My impression is that the instructor spent time wrapping every question on the exam with some sort of complicated algorithm or procedure that was unrelated to the core concepts in the class, just to make things more difficult. I felt that the material in the exam was distantly related to the core concepts of the course.
4.   N/A
6.   The grading procedures were fine. The exams don't even begin to reflect homework assignments, so they're difficult to prepare for properly, with only prior exams and notes to go off of.
7.   Fair
8.   The midterm was much harder than expected. If the instructor comments that the midterm is relatively difficult...I would think he would make it a little easier. We're trying to learn the subject. I felt like I failed when I left the room after the midterm

Other comments?


4.   I loved this class. I learned all that I set out to learn. Prof. Riely is a fabulous teacher. Thanks!
5.   Professor Riely is an excellent instructor.
7.   N/A
8.   I believe the instructor is very knowledgable about the subject. However, he needs to work on mending the readings in with the homework and in-class discussions.Again, I need to stress to have one standard final project subject.
9.   granted the class was large, but it would have been helpful to have some feedback on the final project before the final release was due.