Friday, April 9, 2010

Rate This Professor

I thought I would put up this post so students that took this class last Fall could add their comments for the benefit of those who will be taking it this Fall and for my own benefit. The reviews I got for the last class included the usual complaints:

  1. "Tests were graded very harsh" Yes, you can see for yourself the point values for the final test. But points are not grades, the final letter grade for the class is based on a curve.
  2. "challenging". Yes. More specifically, learning to program takes a lot of time. Be prepared to put in many hours in front of the computer.
  3. "this should not be a requirement for Math/EE/x majors". That's out of my control. Still, ability to program comes in handy when you want to find a job.

The goal of this class is for every student to leave with basic programming skills. For example, look at question 1 in our final test. Every student who passes 145 should be able to write that program. To do so the student needs to know about variables, string manipulation, loops, and how to put all these together to get it done. These are just some of the basic skills students learn. You can take a look at the textbook to see all the topics we cover.

So, if you have taken this class and have some suggestions for me or future students on how to achieve this goal, please leave a comment.