COSC 122 Computer Fluency

Fall (Winter Term 1) 2011 - University of British Columbia Okanagan

Overview

The sixth offering of COSC 122 was a major success. The course content is very exciting to students with a variety of backgrounds and gives the opportunity to be creative and understand how everyday technology works.

This course goes beyond Microsoft Office and teaches about computer hardware, some programming, and other topics in a broader instruction to Computer Science. Students did some basic programming in HTML and JavaScript. Many students really liked the HTML. The JavaScript was a little harder as it is exposes some of the difficult issues with programming.

On-line Resources

• Syllabus

Student Performance

Of the 101 registered students who started the course, 91 (90%) received a D or higher and 87 (86%) received a C- or higher. The average GPA was 2.91 or a B-. Charts showing the mark breakdown are below. More students stayed engaged and were able to pass the course. The number of over 90% students was very high.

Comments

The instructor rating was 4.76, a very high level. The course rating was 4.52. The course remains moderately challenging (3.69). I continue to emphasize programming as "creative problem solving". Many students, especially arts majors, appreciate the creativity even though it may be challenging at first.

The labs were very good with excellent TAs. Some labs are easy (Lab 1, Word, PowerPoint) and other labs (programming labs 6-8) are considerably harder and the TAs cannot keep up with the questions.

The course will always be challenging to teach as it is considered an "easy science credit". However, there is no reason that it cannot be inspirational, fun, and allow students to learn a lot about technology that will be extremely valuable to them. The goal for this course is to grow it considerably so more students have the opportunity to truly understand the technology they use everyday.

Strengths of the Course

• "Ramon is insanely good at explaining things, as well as making them easy to understand. That is why literally anybody can take the course, and why there is a diverse population of different ages in this class. The labs are also pretty fun, not going to lie. There was always someone who was willing to help, whether it was Ramon or a TA."
  


• "The interaction in class helped me understand the material. The fact that a teacher enjoys teaching and allows everyone to contribute is great."
  


• "Prof cared how the students did & made that apparent. Clear instructions on the best way to study for the midterms. Straightforward teaching style, also went quick through the easy parts & slow through the more difficult material. The "asides" were usually interesting."
  

Weakness of the Course

• "Sometimes labs are so full that it is hard to get help from the TA, but most of the time it was alright."
  


• "Maybe more practice problems/steps how to do them for students having problem with Javascript. Provide links to websites that can help teach."
  


• "Some of the labs were much too long, considering first year labs are normally scheduled as taking at most 3 hours per week. It was really difficult to get the labs in on time, especially with a full course load. "
  

Most Enjoyable Part of the Course

• "The clicker questions kept me engaged in learning and the teacher had people talking about the answers which helped too."
  


• "Learning new things and making stuff happen during labs."
  


• "THE HALLOWEEN COSTUME. Ok, and learning programming."
  


• "I enjoy the fact that I'm learning practical information that I can directly apply to things that I do everyday. This is the first university course that I have taken that is useful to my life now and that makes me feel smart. Dr. Lawrence is no doubt my favorite professor. This class made me decide to change my major to COSC."
  


• "I enjoyed the fact that, unlike most courses, much of the content learned is actually applicable."
  


• "Computer Fluency is something I knew nothing about. However, leaving this course I am now so proud of the knowledge I've gained on the subject. Not only knowledge, I've acquired a love for the subject!! I know for a fact too, that without Dr. Lawrence my love for this course wouldn't be half as much, nor would how much I learned be nearly as close to what it is."
  


• "I enjoyed getting chocolate bars when I was hungover, and I enjoyed the programming."