This was a very fun course to teach! I love teaching first year students, especially students just learning about computers. The class size was about 40 students, but often only 50-60% attended mostly due to the early class time (8:30 a.m.) and that several thought the course was "easy marks." Well, the course was not "free marks", but if the students did their work, they were very successful regardless of their background with computers.
Unlike previous offerings where only Microsoft Office was taught, the goal was to give students a broader instruction to Computer Science while they are learning the productivity tools. Students did some basic programming in HTML and JavaScript. Many students really liked the HTML, although the JavaScript was a little harder as it is exposes some of the initial difficult issues with programming. By the end of the course, some students "got" the programming, but just as many were happy to never see it again! We also covered computer organization, data representation, spreadsheets, databases, and some security. The textbook was very good, but most students just used the notes.
Student performance was good for a large, introduction class. The excellent classroom with two projectors greatly aided the delivery, and as always, we stopped to do questions in class to help re-enforce the material. I had a lot of good experiences with students, although also some bad ones related to academic dishonesty. Overall, an excellent, fun course that I look forward to teaching in the future (especially now that all the preparation is completed)!
The course involved lab assignments on the computers, two midterm exams, and a final exam.
The class was at an awful time of 8:30-9:30 a.m. Mondays/Wednesdays/Fridays in Science 333. The poor time resulted in significantly below average attendance (less than 50% some days). Students were led by a TA in 2 hour labs at various times.
Of the 38 registered students who started the course, 30 (79%) received a D or higher and 27 (71%) received a C- or higher. The average GPA was 2.34 or a C+. Charts showing the mark breakdown are below. The breakdown shows a bi-modal distribution. Students who attended class and did the work did really well. Students who did not found the course much harder than it is.
Although the instructor rating of 4.47 was good, the course rating of 3.84 was disappointing. This is due to a number of factors. Although the presentation was good, I was too aggressive in some areas. Although programming should be kept, it must be re-evaluated how much programming they should be exposed to. Several students complained that very basic computing skills were not covered in lecture. This was true, and although the labs covered some, it must be stated more clearly up-front. A general theme of the comments is that the labs were very good and sparked some interest even if they were a lot of work. HTML was well-received. Better labs are needed for the programming and better ways to motivate it. Inspiring interest will always be a challenge for this course because it is considered "an easy science credit". The way it was delivered was harder than usual which may have surprised some. Overall, a good initial offering with room for improvement.
Home Page
Go Back