Course Description:
CS 100: Introduction to Computing through Applications
Using personal computers as effective problem solving tools for the present and the future. Effective use of spreadsheets to process, manipulate, and visualize numeric and textual information. Introduction to the Internet, World Wide Web, HTML, and XML. Algorithms underlying the functional components of web search engines and their influence on data access. Using wikis to publish, reshape, and organize data collaboratively.
Dave's Comments:
Teaching Evaluations:
Number of Respondents: 119 / 382 (31%)
| The instructor related to students in way that promoted mutual respect. |
| Strongly Disagree | Disagree | Neutral | Agree | Strongly Agree |
| 2 | 3 | 21 | 54 | 32 |
| 2% | 3% | 19% | 48% | 29% |
| The instructor's explanations were clear and understandable. |
| Strongly Disagree | Disagree | Neutral | Agree | Strongly Agree |
| 1 | 6 | 12 | 66 | 32 |
| 1% | 5% | 10% | 56% | 27% |
| The instructor was helpful to students seeking assistance. |
| Strongly Disagree | Disagree | Neutral | Agree | Strongly Agree |
| 3 | 1 | 34 | 40 | 25 |
| 3% | 1% | 33% | 39% | 24% |
| Overall, I learned a great deal from the instructor. |
| Strongly Disagree | Disagree | Neutral | Agree | Strongly Agree |
| 1 | 3 | 27 | 51 | 34 |
| 1% | 3% | 23% | 44% | 29% |
| Course materials were presented in an organised manner. |
| Strongly Disagree | Disagree | Neutral | Agree | Strongly Agree |
| 5 | 8 | 54 | 50 |
| 4% | 7% | 46% | 43% |
| Expectations for learning were clearly communicated. |
| Strongly Disagree | Disagree | Neutral | Agree | Strongly Agree |
| 7 | 12 | 59 | 39 |
| 6% | 10% | 50% | 33% |
| The assignments, activities, and content helped me achieve the stated learning objectives. |
| Strongly Disagree | Disagree | Neutral | Agree | Strongly Agree |
| 1 | 2 | 12 | 63 | 39 |
| 1% | 2% | 10% | 54% | 33% |
| The assignments contributed to my learning. |
| Strongly Disagree | Disagree | Neutral | Agree | Strongly Agree |
| 2 | 3 | 6 | 62 | 42 |
| 2% | 3% | 5% | 54% | 37% |
| Feedback on course assignments contributed to my learning. |
| Strongly Disagree | Disagree | Neutral | Agree | Strongly Agree |
| 5 | 7 | 41 | 39 | 23 |
| 4% | 6% | 36% | 34% | 20% |
| Technology was used effectively for learning in the course. |
| Strongly Disagree | Disagree | Neutral | Agree | Strongly Agree |
| 1 | | 11 | 59 | 46 |
| 1% | | 9% | 50% | 39% |
| The general climate in the course was good for learning. |
| Strongly Disagree | Disagree | Neutral | Agree | Strongly Agree |
| 1 | 1 | 14 | 67 | 31 |
| 1% | 1% | 12% | 59% | 27% |
| Overall, I learned a great deal from this course. |
| Strongly Disagree | Disagree | Neutral | Agree | Strongly Agree |
| 2 | 4 | 13 | 61 | 35 |
| 2% | 3% | 11% | 53% | 30% |
| What grade do you expect in this course? |
| Below 50 | 50-60 | 60-70 | 70-80 | 80-90 | Above 90 |
| 2 | 1 | 20 | 60 | 33 |
| 2% | 1% | 17% | 52% | 28% |
| Is this course required, or an elective? |
| Required | Elective |
| 9 | 106 |
| 8% | 92% |
| On average, I spent X hours per week working on this course: |
| Much less than 10 hours | Less than 10 hours | Around 10 hours | More than 10 hours | Much more than 10 hours |
| 38 | 47 | 23 | 5 | 4 |
| 32% | 40% | 20% | 4% | 3% |
| The instructor related to students in way that promoted mutual respect. |
- [Neutral] Online course, never met course instructor ever, only heard him in lecture videos (I am assuming it was him).
- [No Answer] I don't understand this question or how it applies
- [Strongly Disagree] This is the first place I've seen the profs name
| The instructor's explanations were clear and understandable. |
- [Agree] Some of the content is video and some are via notes posted online. I think that it would have been better if all modules had both, even the http module. Especially
- [Disagree] For the Excel unit, the explanations were good. Other than that - the HTML unit was OK but not detailed enough to provide a good understanding. The part about span and div I really did not understand from the lecture content and I went to external websites to try to figure it out. The units about how the Internet works and the final Internet security module sometimes really confused me with the numerous analogies that are used instead of directly explaining how those things work.
- [Strongly Agree] The youtube videos were very detailed
| The instructor was helpful to students seeking assistance. |
- [Disagree] TAs helped students.
- [Strongly Agree] Along with TAs, quickly responds to questions asked through LEARN or email
| Overall, I learned a great deal from the instructor. |
- [Neutral] Most of the info taught i had already learned in school prior with a few exceptions.
- [Strongly Agree] All the material was presented in a way that was easy to understand, especially for beginners who have never touched a computer science course before and had no background knowledge about excel or HTML coming into this course.
| Course materials were presented in an organised manner. |
- [Disagree] Some modules were just HTML sites and some modules had videos and transcripts. Some more consistency or some PDF notes would be nice. Also, the transcripts and closed captioning on the videos was full of errors. I had no sound on my computer so I was relying on these but there were a few times where I was confused by these errors. I imagine someone who is hard of hearing would have a difficult time with this as well.
- [Neutral] The format of lecture was varying week to week. Continuity would have been nice (i.e. all youtube videos)
| Expectations for learning were clearly communicated. |
- [Agree] Some quiz questions are confusing and misleading
- [Strongly Agree] marking followed exactly as in syllabus.
| The assignments, activities, and content helped me achieve the stated learning objectives. |
- [Neutral] In CSS module, I did not know how to START the CSS document. Maybe that was obvious, but I struggled with getting ti started.
- [Strongly Agree] The quizzes summarized the main points of the modules.
| The assignments contributed to my learning. |
- [Strongly Agree] The assignments were a great way to understand how to use and apply the information learned in the modules, really helped with memorizing.
| Feedback on course assignments contributed to my learning. |
- [Strongly Disagree] Feedback on assignments consists of a less than one sentence comment on the dropbox folder. Completely unhelpful. Solutions are posted but they are more like a marking rubric than actual solutions.
| Technology was used effectively for learning in the course. |
- [Strongly Agree] Love how the instructor used videos for demonstrating excel.
| The general climate in the course was good for learning. |
- [No Answer] I don't understand this question or how it applies to an online class
| On average, I spent X hours per week working on this course: |
- [Much less than 10 hours] Maybe 2-3 hours on average
Note: This is a complete list of comments I received, listed alphabetically to avoid bias.
- all the aspects of web designing and excel functions that were taught that are useful for life
- Basic Computer skills and organised learning
- clear format and layout of the course structure
- clear instructions and examples
- Clear organization. Weekly assignments and quizzes are helpful in learning.
- Course material was presented in a great way - Recordings never felt too long or a drag (they were actually pretty fun to watch)
- Easy and its online so I don't have to go to class
- EVERYTHING ABOUT IT
- Good course material, relates to quizzes well
- Good interactive assignments
- Good introduction to coding and excel
- Good support from TA's and discussion groups.
- Great explanations and analogies helped me understand the abstract concepts being taught.
- Great use and integration of course information with presentation of course. Learned a lot and liked how the course was done.
- Html, CSS, Advanced Excel functions
- I believe this is a very good introduction to computer science as it teaches both a bit of hardware and a bit of software.
- - I found the YouTube videos very easy to understand - I always look forward to watching them instead of reading the required modules
- I had never learned cs before taking this course and I think it is a good introductory course to cs for students who have no prior knowledge on this subject
- I think the strengths of this course is the mix of both reading content and videos for the modules. I think That this really helped to shake things up and make it more interesting.
- Informative
- Interesting assignments and fun learning activities and modules.
- its online so provides flexibility to do assignments when you want.
- Late days policy is amazing
- Layout and good instructors
- Learn useful skills
- Learned how to create html quizzes, learned about CS terms
- light workload
- Lots of useful information that can be applied to everyday life and understanding technology.
- Organization, humour within lessons, clarity of presentation.
- Providing a good way to introduce computer science
- Teacher is funny, can keep students interested
Quizzes are fair.
- the ability to go at your own learning speed
- The application part of the weekly assignments
- The assignments. They really help enforce the content and help one learn and gain experience with what is being taught by allowing one to explore the programs on their own. Office hours everyday at the tutorial center was also very helpful, the TAs were always helpful and understanding.
- The content of this course is the greatest strength. Will be using this content in future courses and jobs in the future!
- The material that was taught is very applicable to everyday life, as well as to co-op terms.
- The organization of content, useful application based assignments
- The video lessons are extremely helpful and clear.
- the video modules
- the video modules
- The video tutorials
- the way content is organized and explained. put in a way that is easy to learn and grasp
- time consuming on working assignments
- useful information that will transcend to other courses
- Very informative, can learn a great deal in very little time.
- Very organised and useful videos. The assignments were very helpful in applying the knowledge I had gained that week.
- Very organized
- Video format worked really well, the instructor was very engaging in his presentation. Loved the memes. :D
- videos and lecture notes explained the content well. quizzes and assignments teach your knowledge well
- Youtube videos that were good for the explanation of certain topics (visuals were helpful)
- -
- a way to study for the exam not using a computer
- Computer Organization
- Don't know lol didn't find anything bad on it. Hopefully finals is also good
- Emphasizes basic concepts which should already be known to most or concepts and functions that are minimally relevant to those not in the CS field.
- I did not think that this course had any weaknesses.
- Inconvenient to ask questions
- Instructions were unclear at times. More examples should be given of assignments, especially html and css units. In addition, html and css were not taught well. Assignments were hard to do, and had to learn by myself using external resources. I disliked video modules, they were hard or me to understand.
- markings of assignments take longer than expected
- Material on Excel isn't exactly challenging for anyone who has a basic understanding of the program (somewhat to be expected for this course though)
- more professor/TA and student interaction would be beneficial.
- N/A
- N/A
- N/A
- no
- NONE
- None
- Not enough feedback for assignments.
- not everything is given in the module videos, many things had to be researched to understand
- Not fully knowing how to do assignments
- Not much information regarding practice for the final exam (practice questions given with no answers)
- Not sure how to study for the final exam
- Nothing.
- Presentation of material
- Quiz feedback
- Simplistic concepts
- Some of the assignments notably near the end take too long to complete
- Some of the assignments were MUCH more time consuming than others. Some weeks took me 30-60 minutes, others took me several hours so it felt pretty inconsistent, and since the content only opened at the start of the week, it was sometimes difficult to fit in. Maybe making the weekly content available earlier would be helpful for some students.
- Some of the theory-based materials are unnecessary
- Some questions in the assignments (usually the multiple choice) were difficult to answer, as it could have been indirectly spoken about in the notes
- Some units were only reading.
Some of the most complicated units/lessons are not applicable to every day life.
Some of the dates changed/were confusing.
There was no clear break for the reading week.
- Sometimes I feel like the lecture content was "scattered" and didn't provide all the info I needed for my assignments.
- The course is a bit too broad leading to jumping from topic to topic. hardware, network, html, and excel is a good introduction to computer science but maybe teaching more in-depth about 1 or two should be enough. Wished there was a bit more focus on coding.
- the excel modules
- the excel modules
- The HTML portion, some students have never coded before and you ask a lot considering this.
- The modules could definitely be more accessible as I said above. The feedback was lacking as well.
- The part C assignments were not clear at all. The HTML ones and expectations of it were not explained at all and confusing
- The prof isnt available for asking questions during the online lectures.
- the way things are taught. Instructions aren't clear, doesn't provide the right resources and doesn't teach enough to be able to do the assignments without seeking help from other resources.
- there is not a lot of feedback on individual assignments. there is only common mistakes
- there seemed to be a lot of mistakes when posting the assignments (sometimes would be posted a day or more late but we were still expected to submit it on time)
- Unless your in computer science or some kind of computer related field, this class is pretty much useless and 95% of the material is boring hell
- Would appreciate a more responsive team for questions. Some assignments were hard to follow
- -
- Break down some complex assignments like with HTML. Just have part A (knowledge) and B (practical)
- Can't think of anything
- Ensure assignments are worded correctly for all students to understand and test for more than just the ability to restate the information from the modules.
- Fix HTML stuff, confusing to students who are new to this
- For the modules that have video content, I learn better when I read. The transcripts are vague, maybe include a document with explanations/content for that module so people who prefer reading can choose that way to learn the content.
- give personalized feedback on assignments and give feedback before other similar assignments are due so students can correct their mistakes
- Have examples/ hands on parts for all units like the lecture content for all excel units.
- Have more videos on examples about material being taught.
- Having practice final exam for students
- Having written notes to complement the video classes, or vice versa would be very helpful.
- I believe this is a great course if the student will continue with multiple computer science courses the term after. If not the student will forget a lot of what they learned the following term due to the broadness of the course.
- I do not know anything specifically that could be done to improve teaching of the course. Maybe allowing us to see the quizzes and what we got wrong. Or the solutions to the quizzes .
- I think for HTML and css it would have been more useful to have youtube videos of the modules instead of the written modules because it was sometimes hard to comprehend what the tags and styles were doing.
- I think it would have been helpful to see a video for the html and css modules, because it took me a while to get the hang of it, and would have been relatively easier to understand by seeing someone do it.
- I think this course is good. I cannot think of any.
- I would have loved to have seen a higher focus on actual coding languages such as python or java touched on in order to better help people understand computers.
- improve the excel portion
- Instead of a video transcript provide a content transcript without the times and in paragraph format
- It's a CS 100 course, make sure that you're teaching it in a way that someone who knows absolutely nothing on the subject would understand. Make instructions more clear and easier to understand so others don't have trouble and have to go else wear to find help to be able to complete assignments.
- it's good
- Keep it up but make finals studying a little easier by providing answers.
- Mark faster and for dropbox assignments, attach an answer key after the due date to help students understand their mistakes. Easier for students to study if they have access to their past quizzes and they can see what they got wrong.
- N/A
- N/A
- N/A
- N/A, very good course
- None
- Nothing really, it is perfect the way it is.
- Nothing significant. This was a pretty awesome course
- Optional daily short activities/questions to strengthen insight on the current/upcoming module for students who want to learn more
- Perhaps a few additional examples for the HTML and .JS sections each time an example is presented.
- perhaps add in some practice tests that don't count for marks to help with learning
- provide trusted external links we could use to help us understand the content more
- See above comments: In CSS module, I did not know how to START the CSS document. Maybe that was obvious, but I struggled with getting ti started.
- Simplify the excel/html assignments and what is expected from us
- spellcheck some of the video transcripts because some of them are way off
- Split up HTML into 3 units instead of 2.
- The teaching was fine, but I wish we didn't have to do excel, it was so unnecessarily difficult for what it is
- The transcripts for the last few assignments couldve been better.
Because of other responsibilities and a forthcoming leave, it became clear that I would not likely be teaching CS 100 again for almost two years. As a result, I put "Phase III" on hold. I spent a bit of time cleaning up some things so it would be easier for others to teach, but I probably did not spend nearly as much time as I should have.
Again, it is worthwhile mentioning that our ISAs do the vast majority of the student communication, so much of the instructor feedback is targeted toward them.