Muddy Card evaluation for TDDC47, Autumn 2008

08-10-08

The evaluation took place during the lecture on 7^th October 2008, at which 24 students were present. 21 cards were handed in.

A specific question that the course team was interested in got individual answers:

Q: Did you read the lab instructions before attending the first lab session?

Summary of comments:

85% (18 students) of those who wrote on the cards had been reading the lab instructions before the lab session. One person had not.

Positive remarks:

The lectures: 57% (12 students) commented that the lectures by Simin Nadjm-Tehrani were good, right speed, interesting examples from reality, made a difficult topic understandable, could follow the material in the lecture fully, and the like.

The lessons and lab assistance: 43% (9 students) gave positive comments about the lab assistance and the lessons provided by the course assistant Jonas Elmqvist. He was mentioned as being good in explaining the lab environment that for some were considered hard to get into.

Points for discussion/improvement:

1. Two students thought the lectures went somewhat slowly, and one thought that the lectures had little content. Another thought that the slides should be on the web earlier.

Comment: it seems that the majority is happy with the pace of the lectures and the contents. Currently the slides appear one day before on the web, and this is a good balance wrt “freshness” of slides. Earlier posting might mean that due to changes which come up during the last preparation of the lecture, slides may be reposted anyway. There will be no changes on this topic.

2. The spreading of the course events over two periods.

There seems to be a point of concern for the students. 43% (9 students) have indicated that they find the spreading of the course over two periods is not positive. They consider that this setup:

- gives a low pace in the first period

- are worried that the next period would be too intensive

Comment: This is the first time that the course is being placed in two periods, so this feedback is welcome, though we have to continue monitoring this aspect during the next half term (and due to administrative planning of courses one year ahead will not be able to change until 2010!). Two inputs might make students less concerned:

- the total number of lectures is 10 (including one industry speaker), so the spread of the technical course contents in lectures is actually relatively even (4 in ht1 and 5 in ht2). There is going to be only one lesson in the next period.

- The scheduled lab sessions for the next period are 12 hours as opposed to 4 for the first period. However, the actual work to be performed at the labs typically takes 6 hours and the additional scheduling is only for having access to the machines and freedom to do the work in own slots.

- We believe that listening to parts of the lectures (3 plus the industry speaker) together with a larger group of students in a course that is given in English will also have positive impact on the students for this course. Meeting other disciplines and seeing new interactions in the class is typically positive!

3. There were 5 comments about the lack of lab assistance during the labs. There seem to have been some intervals in which Jonas was too busy to help all at the same time.

Comment: The course had originally been planned for 64 students with two assistants. One assistant became sick for the whole period and difficult to replace. It however turns out that the actual number of people reading the course is not more than 37-40. This means that having two lab sessions with two assistants would not have been economical even if the original assistant had been available.

The course team believes that the most “assistance demanding” part of the labs have already been done, and the situation will become easier in the next period. Also, Jonas has announced explicit “extra office hours” for answering to your additional questions outside the lab hours. Please check the mail on 7/10 and refer to the web announcement!

4. Two students commented course literature. We are aware (as mentioned in first lecture) that having two books for a course, which is the result of having two courses in one, is not satisfactory. The student that had referred to the library and not found one course book can contact the course leader to see if borrowing copies of some editions of the book can be organised in the department.

We thank you for all the constructive remarks that gave some insights and hopefully enable us to be more effective in your learning process!