Background
Feedback is important to running the course more effectively.
In the best case, constructive feedback can be acted upon to
improve the course. In the worst case, at least the course
staff recognizes the issues.
Questions in Lecture
The CS100M course instructor welcomes questions in lecture.
- Questions help to slow him down, which is important because he has a tendency to rush, especially when he is especially excited about the material.
- Questions help the instructor know what problems students are having and gives him a chance to solve them.
- In all courses, but especially one this large, many people are likely to have the same or at least related questions, and thus asking questions is performing a community service.
Since it can be intimidating to ask questions in such a large class,
bonus points are awarded for asking good questions. (There are a very
few rare exceptions, but just about all questions are good.) To
receive credit, at the end of lecture, turn in a piece of paper with
- Your name
- Your CUID number
- The date
- Brief summaries of your questions
Please use full sheets of paper. They will eventually be handed back,
whereupon you can reuse them to hand in another set of lecture questions.
Questions out of Lecture but about Lecture
If you feel uncomfortable about asking questions during lecture or
think of a question after lecture, then consider
- (ok) using the lecture feedback form (see below),
- (good) sending e-mail to the instructor, or
- (best) posting to the newsgroup. (Follow the posting guidelines, etc.)
Questions that are somewhat advanced should
be asked on the newsgroup rather than in lecture.
Lecture Feedback
After each lecture, there will be an online form available for about 2 days to allow
you to evaluate that lecture. You may do so anonymously or
non-anonymously. Whichever way you do it, please do fill it out so
that the course instructor has an idea of how well the concepts are
coming across. If only a few people fill out the form, that will
present an incomplete/skewed picture, which could result in
sub-optimal "solutions".
With this many students, the course instructor probably cannot respond
to every evaluation. Nevertheless, filling out the form
non-anonymously has the following potential benefits:
- You get a bonus point for doing so.
- The class is still small enough that the instructor is likely to slowly get acquainted with names and perhaps see patterns of problems for which he can make suggestions.
Project Feedback
After each Project is due, there will be an online form available for about 2 days to allow you and your partner to evaluate that project. You may do so anonymously or
non-anonymously. Whichever way you do it, please do fill it out so
that the course instructor has an idea of how successful the projects are.