Evaluation Comments

Summary View

What are the major strengths and weaknesses of the instructor?

• Strengths- Fun, good speaker, nice and good at answering questions.Weaknesses - It feels as though we truly learn what we need to know for the assignment the class before it is due.
• strengths are that he is very passionate about the subject but a weakness would be that he is very degrading to his students.
• Professor seems to be knowledgable. He oftentimes said things like, "if you don't understand this, change your major" despite for many students it was the first time learning these concepts and it was among the first classes using Java. While I understand these concepts are essential, this seems harsh when with time and practice, the concepts will get easier. He also said many times we would have everything we needed for the online quizzes and homework, but once you looked at them, the sorts of questions would be the topics we discussed but in formats we have never seen before. I know the concepts, but because I was not sure how to approach questions about them, I did poorly on many quizzes.
• Extremely knowledgeable about the subject and you get to learn so much from him. He does not explain what is required of you too much in the assignments
• The instructor was very clear what this course was about and what you need to out in to succeed but he said under a few circumstances that students should change major instead of telling them that they need to put in more effort.
• It was hard to take notes for the class. Furthermore, I'm a person who needs reference material to complete homework and remind myself of things I missed, something which was absent.
• I think he is very knowledgable about the material, however needs to improve on presenting it. There was not really any notes he would go through, and instead just present a couple concepts that can be easily misconstrued both from the nature of the material and the professors presentation of it. I think engaging with the class more and trying to have them actively figure out a solution or answer questions is important. It clears up much of the information that can be easily misinterpreted due to the nature of the material.
• Strengths - Strict and Harsh on grading allowed me to learn more details I could've missed
• Major strength he is smart in his field. Weakness is he doesn?t know how to teach at all and wasn?t motivating at all
• I think he is very knowledgeable but not engaging
• He fails to properly answer questions and will discourage students often. He weighs quizzes heavily but has admitted to give confusing questions that lead to incorrect answers. He knows the material well but cannot translate it well and uses the student's inability to be a good student as an excuse.

What aspects of this course were most beneficial to you?

• The homework and the ability of the Professor the summarize his points.
• Homework.
• This course forced me to try harder. Of course, I learned many data structures and essential concepts. This course was the first course I thought I might fail, so I had to teach myself the concepts and make sure I knew them because the course material was not sufficient for me at least.
• Assignments and readings
• Every aspect if the class helped because it is the basics of data structures and they were taught in a very clear manner.
• The Google Group was helpful.
• Learning about Data structures
• How to think and work around specific programs and problems
• Getting to understand some java data structures
• Learning to consult outside sources for help such as the internet and other students instead if relying on the teacher or course text.

What suggestions do you have that could help improve the course?

• Perhaps have a little time set aside once a weak to practice writing code on paper.
• Stop telling the students they?re hopeless and should switch their majors if they don?t understand how to do something.
• MAKE THE FUCKING TESTS ON THE COMPUTER
• If I had to take this course again, I would take it with a different professor. I think that that would have greatly improved my experience, as well as the grades of many of the students. About half of our class failed the midterm, and I feel like that cannot be put on the students alone. There was a clear failure to convey all of the information effectively. I think the ways the lecture were structured could have been better, since sometimes they were extremely boring and were not effective in helping the students retain information.
• More explanations of what is expected in the assignments and in general for the course
• More SI sessions should be held because I was not able to attend any because if classes or work and there was never a survey to see what days the students were available to go.
• Aside from things that I would personally prefer, a more organized lecture structure would be nice.
• Engage with the class more. Make them think for themselves in class, and figure out a solution. This will help you understand how the class is interpreting it, and if there is material that many people are getting wrong, then focus in on hammering that concept in through examples and such.
• Don?t take this Professor. Have more explaining and breakdown of material. The content is hard and overwhelming when he can?t teach in good way.
• Take a more encouraging stance and answer questions more straightforward

Do you have comments on the grading procedures and exams?

• Offer a chance to make up some of the later assignments or something. I know that the only assignment I got a bad grade on was one that could not be retried.
• Midterm exam was written which I found to be completely ridiculous since this is a programming class. I understand the reasoning behind this choice but it still feels wrong to write code by hand.
• The quizzes and exams were extremely, exceedingly difficult. I got a 40% on a quiz once, and I know that many students failed many quizzes and the midterm. I felt like the homework was manageable, and I liked how there was many tests on the homework to make sure the programs were running perfectly. Sometimes grading was done quickly, other times it was at least a week before things were graded.
• Quizzes are a bit too hard and you only have one attempt
• They were always graded in a quick and accurate manner.
• No. Other than
• None
• The grading takes long sometimes. The class should be more balanced. Not just weighing with exams because not everyone is good at testing
• Finals and the midterms take too much of the grade

Other comments?

• He's a good teacher, would take again.
• This course was the worst course I think I have ever taken. I will not be taking this professor again if I can help it.
• I really enjoyed the class and it has taught me a lot about CS
• This is the worst taught class ever.
• None
• Worst class ever. Always told us to switch majors if we couldn?t solve equations, even though this is requirement for majors. If it wasn?t required I would never take this course or this professor because he doesn?t know how to teach.