Online Teacher/Course/Text Evaluation Results
In March, 2024, I asked students to complete an online evaluation form 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.
Many thanks to my students for their honest feedback on these forms.
The results of the "multiple-choice" responses are summarized here. Values in parentheses, where presented, indicate averages from the previous year.
| STATEMENT: | AVERAGE RESPONSE n=13 (n=15, n=5, n=8, n=5, n=13, n=9) 5-Strongly Agree 4-Agree 3-Neutral 2-Disagree 1-Strongly Disagree |
| 4. I enjoy taking this class. | 4.58 (4.53, 5.00, 4.88, 4.80, 4.67, 4.67) |
| 5. I learn a lot in this class. | 4.67 (4.47, 4.60, 4.88, 4.80, 4.20, 4.33) |
| 6. The information in this class will be useful in the future. | 4.33 (4.47, 4.80, 4.75, 5.00, 4.20, 4.56) |
| 7. This class is difficult for me. | 3.42 (3.07, 3.40, 3.25, 3.20, 3.25, 3.00) |
| 8. This class has a lot of homework. | 2.55 (2.73, 2.80, 2.5, 3.00, 2.40, 2.33) |
| 9. I complete homework assignments regularly. | 4.08 (3.93, 4.20, 4.50, 4.40, 4.40, 4.11) |
| 10. The textbook in this class is useful to me. | 3.17 (3.13, 3.20, 3.63, 4.20, 3.80, 3.67) |
| 11. The teacher in this class is useful to me. | 534.92 (4.50, 4.80, 4.88, 5.00, 4.80, 4.67) |
| 12. The teacher demonstrates enthusiasm for the subject. | 5.00 (4.93, 5.00, 4.88, 5.00, 5.00, 4.89) |
| 13. The teacher is respectful of students. | 4.92 (4.60, 4.80, 4.75, 5.00, 5.00, 4.78) |
| 14. The teacher wants me to succeed. | 4.83 (4.67, 4.80, 4.88, 5.00, 5.00, 4.67) |
| 15. The teacher presents course material in a clear, straightforward manner. | 4.58 (4.53, 4.80, 4.88, 4.80, 5.00, 4.44) |
| 16. The teacher presents course material using variety of techniques. | 4.33 (3.79, 4.40, 4.63, 4.00, 4.60, 4.22) |
| 17. The teacher checks to ensure that students understand the material. | 4.33 (4.27, 4.60, 4.88, 4.40, 4.20, 4.33) |
| 18. The teacher is available outside of class for individual help. | 4.58 (4.73, 4.60, 4.63, 4.80, 4.80, 4.56) |
| 19. Class time is used effectively. | 4.45 (4.00, 4.40, 4.43, 4.60, 4.80, 4.22) |
| 20. Course objectives are clearly stated. | 4.42 (4.13, 4.40, 4.38, 4.60, 4.60, 4.56) |
| 21. Grading criteria are clearly communicated. | 4.45 (4.20, 3.80, 4.50, 4.40, 4.60, 4.22) |
| 22. Assignments are meaningful and reflect the course objectives. | 4.50 (4.60, 4.80, 4.86, 4.80, 4.75, 4.78) |
| 23. The presentations (either PowerPoint-based or website-based) are useful to me outside of class. | 4.67 (4.00, 5.00, 4.00, 4.25, 4.50, 4.44) |
| 24. The presentations (either PowerPoint-based or website-based) improve the quality of the teacher's lectures. | 4.58 (4.07, 4.60, 4.29, 3.75, 4.80, 4.44) |
| 25. The presentations (either PowerPoint-based or website-based) are effective in helping me understand the material. | 4.73 (4.07, 4.80, 4.71, 4.00, 4.60, 4.33) |
| 26. My preferred operating system is: | macOS: 6, windows: 4, linux: 3 |
| 27. For assistance in coursework, students who search Internet for help: | 3/13 |
| 27. For assistance, students who refer to textbook: | 2/13 |
| 27. For assistance, students who refer to other students: | 9/13 |
| 27. For assistance, students who email instructor: | 6/13 |
| 27. For assistance, students who use office hours: | 7/13 |
| 27. For assistance, students who ask a family member: | 0/13 |
| 27. For assistance, students who ask a tutor: | 0/13 |
Results from the "free response" questions are given here. Not all written comments have necessarily been listed, but the ones displayed are representative of what was received.
| 28. List a few of your favorite things about this class. |
I really enjoy the passion of Mr. White and his integration of using the server and thereby learning shell and other important CS knowledge. It's a chill class that I enjoy more than my other classes and get to play around with some code Lots of time in class to work on homework assignments; very open classmates who will look at my code and help; when I'm stuck Mr. White often writes code on the board that helps me out Classroom atmosphere, the teacher I like the structure of the class and the collaborative nature of it. I like the assignments and problem-solving aspects of them and the way Mr. White conducts the class. The structure of class is very easygoing and chill and is a nice change of pace from the rest of the day for me. Not to say that the course is easy, but the pace is much more enjoyable and flexible than some of my other courses. I think my favorite things about this class are the way that the classroom environment is a collaborative space and is very open to asking for help. Additionally, I like the use of the website materials as a kind of guide if someone is stuck on a certain topic. I also like the open-ended nature of a lot of the assignments I enjoy learning about the different data structures and algorithms and their applications. I really enjoy the way the class is run, the environment is great and I always feel like I'm learning and having fun doing it. The assignments are also reasonable in length and difficulty, meaning they take a reasonable amount of time and present a reasonable amount of challenge. Github content. So many CS classes don't actually cover real skills needed for software engineering and including gibhub/version control gives kids a leg up in getting jump started. // Homework server - Getting us familiar with a command line. most things in development are only commandline so having that exposure to interacting with homework server is good. // The Crash white website - really great resource for anyone who needs a second pass on course content. I think Its quite well done and an excellent companion to normal lecturing I like how our assignments and in-class work lead into one another and there is a clear progression from our basic infrastructure programs into more complex problems. I enjoy our classroom atmosphere the time we get to work on our programs in between lessons, and the mini-coding challenges or problems we work through live. |
| 29. Which achievements in here are you most proud of for the year-to-date? What about that achievement was especially rewarding to you? |
I am really proud of my C doubly linked list and my matplotlib graphs. I think that those were things that I had wanted to do for some time, so I felt especially good about them. Finally getting in all of my assignments. I either forgot to submit some things or just had some errors, but I got it all done. I am just proud of the amount of programs I have been able to write by myself I'm proud of the atds file we made since it was cool to see all the other places it could be applied. I also think the sorting algorithm analysis will be rewarding to complete. Being able to expand my knowledge and learn more about recursion and data structures has been extremely exciting and rewarding. I think the achievement that I am most proud of in this class so far is writing the zipf_analysis.py program because it was an interesting topic but also relatively challenging compared to the other programs we have done so far. It was also interesting to analyze the results of my program and how they lined up with Zipf's Law. I am proud of learning how to display data on a graph using matplotlib. I think my zipf analysis went well and came together nicely as a combination of coding and analysis. I made a sort visualizer that extended the default list class gives users a super easy to implement visualizer. Counting things like swaps / accesses were hard because I couldn't use the default python functions for it because then it would call the list's own methods and recursively spiral into doom. So I spent awhile using __getattr__ and bruteforce fixing things until it worked. There was so more jankness that went into getting comparisons working but I'll save the rant for that :) it was really rewarding to see the visualizer counts match exactly the peft counts I expected! // This year I have been most proud of my zipf analysis project because of how cleanly I was able to get my code to work with any text body, and it felt very rewarding to finally get my code to work how I planned. I am also proud of my pile_of_documents program using our atds classes, as I was able to figure out how to process the data and interpret/sort it as I implemented it, without having to sit and think about the code I needed to write. |
| 30. List a few of your least favorite things about this class. |
I would really enjoy some extended opportunities or challenges on assignments, as, without them, some assignments seem a bit mundane. I don't think there are many bad things about this class. even though some of the programs are short i still have trouble sometimes when we have to write 2 in one class because i often don't finish Not understanding what the code is doing even when you get the right answer sometimes because we don't do the problem as a class but Mr. White does work through it on the board/projector. Would be more helpful to me personally (after a certain level of difficulty of problem) if we just did it as a class but anyone who wants to do it on their own can. Nothing really. I don't use the textbook much, but that's not really an issue with the class. I think my least favorite thing about the class is that most people in the class have macs so some issues that apply to me do not apply to everyone so it makes it harder to solve. I don't dislike anything about this class. N/A Nothing much really The only bad thing I can say about how the class is run is that the assignments listed on mypoly aren't listed very clearly on the crashwhite schedule, and it's annoying to have to navigate between the two. -\_('-')_/- |
| 31. What has been most difficult or challenging for you up to this point? What strategies have you considered for meeting those challenges? |
I don't think much has been difficult other than remembering some of the python library functions and other conventions; I have fixed that by reading the documentation. Trying to use my broken laptop. I've gotten used to it now so it's pretty okay sorting stuff has been more challenging just because the actual python writing has gotten harder. I will meet with Mr white when i need help Recursion. It's just a topic I'm not very familiar with/can't fully grasp, but more practice is always helpful, and hopefully I'll gain a better understanding of it after the sorting algorithm analysis project. My greatest challenge has been understanding new concepts immediately as they are presented. To overcome this obstacle, I generally consult the course website and other resources online including the textbook. I think the most difficult/challenging thing up to this point was the atds.py program where we had to make different data structures from scratch. UnsortedList was probably the hardest one of those data structures to make. My main strategy to meet said challenge(s) is that if I am really stuck on something I will take a break to reset my thought process and come back to it later. I also am not hesitant to meet with Mr. White if needed. Especially because I'm new to Python, I sometimes have issues that I wouldn't normally have in Java. It's part of the learning process, but still a challenge. Usually just meeting with Mr. White fixes it. I think getting the graphs for the zipf was pretty tricky, figuring out what datastructure to store everything in and finding the documentation to make the plots since I'm not too familiar. The most challenging thing for me so far was wrapping my head around linked lists and how they work, and I struggled with implementing the different methods for a while as I worked it out. Another challenge has been making sure I'm turning in things on time, as oftentimes when I work on things outside of class I don't remember to upload it on time, but I have been trying to write things down more on sticky notes on my laptop as a reminder to upload. |
| 32. Please suggest some improvements that might make this class better in the future. |
Just to nitpick a bit, I would love to see some explanations of pointers or underlying memory structure, as that, at least for me, has been immensely useful in all of my CS pursuits. I like the idea of working together in groups for projects. This might just be me because I don't have a lot of coding experience unlike a lot of people in the class, but I would prefer if once we were given time in class to work on a program we finish it in class together just to make sure I get it all down I think some machine learning and more graphics would be very cool! A few weeks of machine learning does sound fun! I enjoyed the bit we learned last year in APCS. I think something that would make this class better in the future is doing a little bit more complex stuff with the turtle/graphics unit. I think the turtle module can be both fun and challenging at the same time. Can we spend some time on machine learning? N/A I think we should go into ML sooner!! I'm thinking I can make my own autograd engine for the final project. But I know timing is hard. // Maybe having some sort of quick daily coding challenge to do at the start of class like an entrance ticket? Just to nitpick a bit, I would love to see some explanations of pointers or underlying memory structure, as that, at least for me, has been immensely useful in all of my CS pursuits. I like the idea of working together in groups for projects. This might just be me because I don't have a lot of coding experience unlike a lot of people in the class, but I would prefer if once we were given time in class to work on a program we finish it in class together just to make sure I get it all down I think some machine learning and more graphics would be very cool! A few weeks of machine learning does sound fun! I enjoyed the bit we learned last year in APCS. I think something that would make this class better in the future is doing a little bit more complex stuff with the turtle/graphics unit. I think the turtle module can be both fun and challenging at the same time. Can we spend some time on machine learning? N/A I think we should go into ML sooner!! I'm thinking I can make my own autograd engine for the final project. But I know timing is hard. // Maybe having some sort of quick daily coding challenge to do at the start of class like an entrance ticket? |
| 33. Please feel free to make any other comments you might have that didn't fit in the categories above. |
Nothing at all thanks! Excellent class 10/10! |