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Journal jeffy124's Journal: Oh so close... 19

Journal by jeffy124

Senior Project - DONE! Ok, so we finished it Monday and demo'd it Wednesday, but it's DONE!

The CS Dept this year also started giving a $250 prize to the best overall project. We came in second.

other news.... or rather a question:

On course evaluation forms, does anyone actually read the comments? I had a *really* bad professor this term, and wrote an extensive narrative on the comment form about him. I took time to prepare it as the form was an online form and made sure it was something readable and worth reading (including bait at the beginning to get the reader to read the end). I do know profs get these forms in a few weeks, but are they actually read?

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Oh so close... More

Oh so close...

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  • At my school, at least, the forms are read. Usually by the Professor, obviously, and many departments also have the departmental head or the professors direct supervisor read them.

    Now if the professor has tenure it probably doesn't matter what they say BUT I have had many a professor say "I changed things around this semester because students complained about xxx" so I would say, all in all, they are probably worth filling out.
    • I have had many a professor say "I changed things around this semester because students complained about xxx"

      I have never met a college student that would complain about xxx rated things.
    • I know most profs read them. The prof I'm talking about here does not yet have tenure, as he's only been around a few years. I'm also not the first to not like him as a teacher.

      I, too, have had profs respond to complaints. Often not directly, just by changing or correcting what the complaint was.

      For instance, my calc prof when I was a freshman who used to wear his shirt untucked and he belly would be showing at times. I wrote that down at the end of Calc 1 and he had shirt tucked in the rest of the ye
  • I know at my school ( UofWinnipeg [uwinnipeg.ca] ), the professors/instructors don't get to see the course evaluations until the next year. So for example, course evaluation submitted in April, won't be seen until December of that year. Unfortunately only the professors that stay the second year get to review their evaluations. If you really want to place a complaint though, the best people would be your students group association (in case of tenured professors), so that they have a working case against the bad profes
  • And I read all of mine. We use two sheets for each student evaluation. One is a scantron thing and I get the agregate data. Here, some scores are thrown out, such as a grade of entire 1s or 7s (1 being the lowest, 7 being the highest). The second is a thing asking for responces like "what did you like about this course" "what did you not like" etc... There is then a space at the end where you may list your name if you like. Thus far only studetns who have gotten near perfects have listed their names a
    • I was actually hoping you would reply. I know that most good profs read them, and made another post in this JE indicating that I've seen profs in subsequent courses respond to comments I've made in the past. I also had one prof, at the start of a part II course, ask for comments since it does take awhile for

      Drexel, too, uses a system of scantrons and paper sheets like you describe. The College of Engineering, otoh, does this via a web form, which is where this course was evaluated.

      My primary concern is
      • You are a grad, go to the department chair. My dad recently took a PSU class at a differnet campus (he's old, it's free for the elderly) and his prof canceled about 1/3 (that's one THIRD) of all of the scheduled classes. My father was concerned of being labeled a trouble maker, but he wrote a letter during the semester about his prof.

        I can tell you that for non-tenured people who are asking for tenure at PSU, their evaluations are reviewed as part of their criteria for advancement. If you're not going f
        • well, I'm not graduated yet. That's next weekend. But I am held with reasonable high regard in the Dept, specifically among some of the better (in terms of research money and popularity) profs and the [iterim] dept head. But I'm not sure if raising hell in person would be a good idea. But it's not something I've ruled out quite yet.

          I think this prof had some straightening out a few years ago during his first term here. His term project was an extremely difficult assignment that generated loads of comp
    • I am with you 100% here. I have been in the position of hiring developers and ny preference was nearly always with the people who had a decent degree behind them, rather than just some MCSE/MCSD-type of "qualification". My personal approach is that the more languages you learn in university/college the better - each new language makes it that much easier to learn the next one. When I am confronted with a new language, I can pick it up very quickly now thanks to the exposure to different languages at univers
      • And I bet you never used a single data structure as taught... ever.

        I get so many students who gripe that chances are they will never ever implement a red/black tree, or implement a virtual memory system. Those things are just the tools we use to show how to solve problems. Solutions are only part of what I'm interested in, how you got there is much more important to me. I know that statistically maybe 1 of my students will go on and write an operating system, but those who picked up on what I was saying
        • And I bet you never used a single data structure as taught... ever.

          Nope - why should I? The most important thing I learned was how to solve problems, not how to use specific data structures. It is really about learning how to think... Building up a decent tool set of ideas and concepts along with the understanding of those concepts so you know when to use them and when to modify them. Knowing the rules of a system is one thing, knowing when to break them is completely different.

          I taught myself how to pro
          • Yeah, same poop different day is what puts the science in computer science. The core problems are the same yet the syntax changes.

            I have used the analogy of a box of tools before relating what I consider good computer education. I could take you and show you how to use a very high end CNC machine. You would probably be a brilliant machinst and turn out wonderful parts. After a few years you might even be making highly precise parts for the space industry, not a bad job at all, don't get me wrong. But
        • And I bet you never used a single data structure as taught... ever.

          I get so many students who gripe that chances are they will never ever implement a red/black tree, or implement a virtual memory system.

          Just knowing what these are and how they work are, i think, among the intent of learning them. For instance, a Java SortList (i think that's the name of it) is an array that is always sorted when iterated over. The documentation indicates it is a red-black tree, which helps in supporting this property.
          • It seems you have done well young Skywalker, you got out of your education what I see only 20% of my students getting.

            Here is what I see in the faces looking back when I teach:

            20% I'm picking up what you're putting down... my education is flexible and will grow with my career... hoorah!

            20% Is this going to be on the test? I'm just here 'cause my dad has some sort of job related to computers and thinks this will be good for me.

            10% Is that provable in Zermelo Frankel without the axiom of choice? I'm jus
  • ...even in a worst-case scenario (i.e. nobody usually reads them), I'll bet that if people higher up in the hierarchy have issues with this instructor, they'll be looking at the student evaluations for evidence.

    (But, as others have said, it's likely to be useful in other circumstances also)

    • Don't rely on using historical reviews to say a prof is or was bad. When I get my evaluations, I get to keep 'em. One time I even mistakenly left a pile of them at a sushi restuarnt (I did go back and successfully retrieved them).
  • When I was taking night classes to upgrade Physics 12, the teacher out my comments in class, & disagreed with them. He felt that he was doing a better job than I stated. Very few people, if any, agreed with his opinion. He was upset because the comments would go with to the principle.
  • I had a prof that didn't show up for over half his classes (without notice). His research was more important than his teaching. I wrote up a petition, got most of the class to sign it, gave it to the Omsbudsman (I prolly spelt that wrong), and he got put in front of a commitee and has someone overwatching every one of his classes now (basically, on a probationary period).

    Luckily, the 301 teacher was so great, he explained everything we needed to know about the 201 class in a week, so we didn't really su

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