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Survey Results



Course Survey Results


Philip   Johnson   ICS314, Fall 2016

Campus: University of Hawaii at Manoa Course: ICS 314 - Software Engineering I
Department:   Information& Computer Sciences Crn (Section):   79578 (002)    


1.   Class Level (pick one) - please note that by answering this question you could potentially jeopardize your anonymity

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Freshman (1)  Sophomore (2)  Junior (3)  Senior (4)  Grad (5)  Other (6) 
3.78 27 0.64   0(0%) 0(0%) 8(30%) 18(67%) 0(0%) 1(4%)
2.   Course - please note that by answering this question you could potentially jeopardize your anonymity

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Elective (1)  Required (2) 
1.67 27 0.48   9(33%) 18(67%)
3.   The instructor demonstrated knowledge of course content.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree (1)  Disagree (2)  Neutral (3)  Agree (4)  Strongly Agree (5) 
4.7 27 0.82   1(4%) 0(0%) 0(0%) 4(15%) 22(81%)
4.   The instructor fulfilled the goals of the course.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree (1)  Disagree (2)  Neutral (3)  Agree (4)  Strongly Agree (5) 
4.59 27 0.84   1(4%) 0(0%) 0(0%) 7(26%) 19(70%)
5.   The instructor communicated effectively.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree (1)  Disagree (2)  Neutral (3)  Agree (4)  Strongly Agree (5) 
4.7 27 0.87   1(4%) 0(0%) 1(4%) 2(7%) 23(85%)
6.   The instructor was consistently well-prepared and organized for class.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree (1)  Disagree (2)  Neutral (3)  Agree (4)  Strongly Agree (5) 
4.67 27 0.83   1(4%) 0(0%) 0(0%) 5(19%) 21(78%)
7.   The instructor was accessible to students.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree (1)  Disagree (2)  Neutral (3)  Agree (4)  Strongly Agree (5) 
4.74 27 0.81   1(4%) 0(0%) 0(0%) 3(11%) 23(85%)
8.   I gained a good understanding of concepts/principles in this field.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree (1)  Disagree (2)  Neutral (3)  Agree (4)  Strongly Agree (5) 
4.44 27 0.93   1(4%) 0(0%) 2(7%) 7(26%) 17(63%)
9.   I deepened my interest in the subject matter of this course.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree (1)  Disagree (2)  Neutral (3)  Agree (4)  Strongly Agree (5) 
4.42 26 0.95   1(4%) 0(0%) 2(8%) 7(27%) 16(62%)

10.   Which aspects of the course were most valuable?
not sure, didn't really like the way things were taught. (inverted classroom.) probably the final project was the most valuable.
Online course modules, and Slack.
Dr. Johnson is one of the few professors I've had that implements current technology into his course (e.g. Meteor, Semantic UI). This is incredibly valuable because it gives students the tools/skills to be more competitive in the current job market. He also updates his lecture videos from semester to semester to stay current which some professors fail to do.
All of them.
Learning Javascript
The aspect of working as a team as we do our final project.
Everything we learned and all the helpful stuff we did to help us prepare for our future such as the techfolios and linkdin profiles.
Learning new skills such as Javascript and HTML.
The WODs were awesome for solving problems and coding in a short amount of time.
Working on a project with things that I have little to no knowledge of.
I valued the experience in creating an actual web application that will get deployed for use.
Emphasis on real-world skills that are useful to the workplace Use of cutting-edge technologies, and how to use them together to deliver finished software Learning more about how to be a professional developer The flipped classroom style allowed me to pause and explore the content before moving to the next point, deepening my knowledge The class teaches all the technologies necessary to achieve your goal
I felt that exposure to a number of popular professional software development programs, and lessons on modern programming languages, was particularly valuable.
the different tools we learned
Learning all of the different parts of software engineering
learning teamwork and participating in a group coding project.
Using github & git and giving us advices for it to using it professionally. Giving us a taste on how to make apps with meteor & galaxy
Building and using a software development stack.
Athletic Software Engineering, or WODS, taught me how to code efficiently in a fixed amount of time. Creating a professional portfolio for our future career lives was also valuable.
Learning JavaScript, Meteor Being introduced to IntelliJ!!! The free student licensing package Small inclass coding activities with random pairings to get to know other ICS students in the class.
The professional profile and all the up to date modules


11.   Which aspects of the course were least valuable?
the wods, the screencast-following homeworks
Almost all of the course aspects were valuable. I thought the first few Javascript modules may have been too long.
Lectures.
Dealing with WOD stress
None that I can think of.
None.
The "flipped" class format, in which we had to watch videos. I feel that I would've learned a lot more if we had more lectures/instructional lessons in class, as I feel that I learned most from the few that we had.
The use of Meteor.
Everything valuable
This is really nitpicky, but the class asks students to create a lot of public-facing content, which is great, but I felt the class would have benefited from a little more in-person discussion about personal branding and finding an authentic voice beyond obvious points like "don't make your username 'xxxXXX420BlazeItXXXxxx'" and writing in a clear, grammatically correct way. If the info is going to be out there, it'd be better if it were tailored to our goals more than a class standard. Also, I did not like the all-or-nothing, zero-or-100 aspect of grading, which made the class feel like a very high-stakes environment where a slight error could cost your entire grade. There are a lot of points available to mitigate the effect, but I still don't think it's the greatest teaching tool.
I do not feel qualified to answer that at this time.
It felt like we were gaining all of these tools over the course of the semester so that we could build something really cool in the end. But the final project ended up feeling non relevant since most of the people in my group only want to fulfill the minimum reqs and I didn't get to work on the project I really wanted to. Study Buddy is worthless, go to learning emporium or make friends, you don't need an app to be outgoing.
N/A
WODs
Nothing. Everything logically led into the next.
n/a
TechHui. does not seem to be used by the public, majority of users are from the previous ics classes whose interaction with the site was for a required assignment. Writing technical essays.

12.   The instructor gives clear explanations.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree (1)  Disagree (2)  Neutral (3)  Agree (4)  Strongly Agree (5) 
4.63 27 0.84   1(4%) 0(0%) 0(0%) 6(22%) 20(74%)
13.   The instructor seems to enjoy teaching.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree (1)  Disagree (2)  Neutral (3)  Agree (4)  Strongly Agree (5) 
4.74 27 0.81   1(4%) 0(0%) 0(0%) 3(11%) 23(85%)
14.   The instructor seems knowledgeable in many areas.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree (1)  Disagree (2)  Neutral (3)  Agree (4)  Strongly Agree (5) 
4.63 27 0.84   1(4%) 0(0%) 0(0%) 6(22%) 20(74%)
15.   The instructor was effective in meeting the objectives of the course.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree (1)  Disagree (2)  Neutral (3)  Agree (4)  Strongly Agree (5) 
4.63 27 0.84   1(4%) 0(0%) 0(0%) 6(22%) 20(74%)
16.   The instructor was enthusiastic about the course material.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree (1)  Disagree (2)  Neutral (3)  Agree (4)  Strongly Agree (5) 
4.78 27 0.8   1(4%) 0(0%) 0(0%) 2(7%) 24(89%)
17.   The instructor acknowledges all questions insofar as possible.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree (1)  Disagree (2)  Neutral (3)  Agree (4)  Strongly Agree (5) 
4.67 27 0.83   1(4%) 0(0%) 0(0%) 5(19%) 21(78%)
18.   The instructor is willing to meet and help students outside class.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree (1)  Disagree (2)  Neutral (3)  Agree (4)  Strongly Agree (5) 
4.38 26 1.02   1(4%) 0(0%) 4(15%) 4(15%) 17(65%)
19.   The instructor makes me feel free to ask questions.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree (1)  Disagree (2)  Neutral (3)  Agree (4)  Strongly Agree (5) 
4.67 27 0.83   1(4%) 0(0%) 0(0%) 5(19%) 21(78%)
20.   The instructor was professional.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree (1)  Disagree (2)  Neutral (3)  Agree (4)  Strongly Agree (5) 
4.67 27 0.83   1(4%) 0(0%) 0(0%) 5(19%) 21(78%)
21.   The instructor seems well prepared for each class.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree (1)  Disagree (2)  Neutral (3)  Agree (4)  Strongly Agree (5) 
4.63 27 0.84   1(4%) 0(0%) 0(0%) 6(22%) 20(74%)
22.   The instructor presented the course materials in a clear and organized way.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree (1)  Disagree (2)  Neutral (3)  Agree (4)  Strongly Agree (5) 
4.63 27 0.88   1(4%) 0(0%) 1(4%) 4(15%) 21(78%)
23.   In general, the course was well organized.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree (1)  Disagree (2)  Neutral (3)  Agree (4)  Strongly Agree (5) 
4.52 27 0.94   1(4%) 0(0%) 2(7%) 5(19%) 19(70%)
24.   The instructor makes the course difficult enough to be stimulating.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree (1)  Disagree (2)  Neutral (3)  Agree (4)  Strongly Agree (5) 
4.59 27 0.84   1(4%) 0(0%) 0(0%) 7(26%) 19(70%)

25.   My overall evaluation of this instructor is....
great professor
Good professor, very organized, structured, and easily accessible. Also seems like a cool dude.
An amazing professor that has created a truly wonderful course for students.
Excellent.
a little strange, but overall a cool guy and a good professor.
Great professor.
Great. He is very knowledgeable about the content and teaches it very well.
He's a very cool teacher. Overall great, just could improve a little on organization and perhaps the class structure.
The best ICS professor I have been taught by so far, though tied with Ravi Narayan.
Prof. Johnson is the best instructor I've had at UHM so far. Very talented at teaching, very hard working.
I thoroughly enjoyed Professor Johnson's 314 class. He is very enthusiastic about the material and it creates a much more exciting environment to be in and to learn in. He also adds newer things to his curriculum which is nice. Github swag is also nice.
Professor Johnson is an excellent teacher and a great source of knowledge on the technology, professional, and cultural aspects of modern computer science. He always had clear explanations and was able to quickly point to useful resources. I really respect how knowledgeable he is, and how well he conveys that knowledge, and would take courses with him again.
He is a great ICS professor. He puts a lot of time into the course materials and the results show, he gives us tools to tackle our class assignments (screencasts that he makes that cover course materials and problem solutions, readings, CS development mini- courses through professional learning sites) that no other ICS professor at Manoa has done, at least that I have come across.
Great teacher
Professor has a good structure and curriculum to the class. However, when creating our own project, he tends to consider his options to be better than the options that we propose. This limits our range of creativity. Additionally, while I know that the class is an inverted pedagogy, I believe that the professor should do more explanation in class about what we are learning.
good
A very optimistic professor who likes to make things sound fun and exciting and tells us its okay if things will be at first going to be a pain to learn.
Great professor
Enjoyable professor
Very well. Isn't completely knowledgeable about all of meteor due to its rapid growth in development, but puts his best efforts into helping students when one reaches out for help. Having nearly all lectures online and no in-class startup lectures was slightly rough in the beginning. The workload is definitely a lot, but I understand that it is due to the vast amount of content that needs to be covered. Its the best way to present material, vs trying to cram everything in that short class period twice per week. I personally have not watched all of the screencast materials, but the WODS are very good at providing the skills you need to know and master. I have not failed a single WOD. I like having these WODS as a test of skills much better than an actual exam like other classes.

26.   Assignments are relevant to what is presented in class.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree (1)  Disagree (2)  Neutral (3)  Agree (4)  Strongly Agree (5) 
4.56 27 0.89   1(4%) 0(0%) 1(4%) 6(22%) 19(70%)
27.   The instructional materials (e.g., texts, handouts, etc.) were relevant to course objectives.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree (1)  Disagree (2)  Neutral (3)  Agree (4)  Strongly Agree (5) 
4.59 27 0.89   1(4%) 0(0%) 1(4%) 5(19%) 20(74%)
28.   Grades are assigned fairly and impartially.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree (1)  Disagree (2)  Neutral (3)  Agree (4)  Strongly Agree (5) 
4.59 27 0.84   1(4%) 0(0%) 0(0%) 7(26%) 19(70%)

29.   My overall evaluation of this course is...
great professor, mediocre course
He gave us all the tools we needed to build a website, which is all a professor can really do in six months. Great class, would recommend, 10/10.
Excellent.
great for people who want to get a basic understanding of Javascript, HTML, and CSS.
Fun class if you want to learn about software engineering. Would recommend.
Fun and must do with Johnson.
Great. It allowed me to experience new things as well as gain new skills.
I enjoyed it. Johnson is cool and funny. Liked the projects and WODs, my only problem is, as stated above, the flipped class format
A well made course.
The material of the course - tools and methodologies for software engineering - are invaluable. I really like the WOD format of the first 2/3rds of the course. Because of the format, we were to learn a huge amount of material very quickly.
Great course and would recommend to anyone interested in learning more about the software development process, or writing code in general.
This was probably one of the most useful computer science courses I've had at UH, and I felt that it left me better prepared to create software products for myself and in the professional world, and it gave me the tools to both use the technologies taught, and learn how to use new toolsets.
It is a great class. If you have an interest in learning about developing computer software, specifically web applications, you will likely gain a lot from this course.
Good until the end
Great course. I have learned a lot from it.
copious amounts of work but good for learning new languages and teamwork.
Not what i expected for a WI 300 course but did not mind the way the course is. Gave me a taste on how apps are sort of made.
A great course
A very rewarding course if one has the motivation to put time into it. Focuses on web application development through JavaScript/HTML/CSS. Great class to hone your skills if you are somewhat knowledgeable in these areas. If not, you WILL learn it. Depends on one's individual coding skills which will dictate how much work needs to be put in. It is totally brutal if one is a total beginner since you are only given a week to learn new concepts on your own from scratch and use your skills the following week to implement what you "learned." Making friends with others so you have someone to reach out to would help tremendously so you don't end up getting swamped by stuff. Professor seems very open to providing help though, but asking peers is probably more within many student's comfort zones. If you really don't know it, you MUST ask for help. There is no time to spend hours figuring out a basic concept on your own, especially since you have other classes and you will be 'expected' to know it later on. I am a strong coder myself though, and kept up just fine, without watching all of the video tutorials. It leans more towards an independent study online class with actual class time just being dedicated to WODS/questions/project work/get to know your peers. No paper exams or textbook to study. TLDR: Not for the weak. Best class for aspiring web developers. Help is always available.
Great class!


30.   Other comments:
Excellent.
none
If you're a Windows user, it's helpful to get a Mac or Linux machine (or VM) early in the semester, before you get to the Meteor units.
This class has a HUGE amount of work, so be ready to set aside some time for it. This class should have probably been 4 credits, instead of 3. Also, I think this class (or a version of it) should be taught earlier in a CS student's academic career, possibly as early as the 2nd semester. It's extremely useful, and I think it would have laid a great foundation for other classes such as ICS 321 (Databases) that go deeper into the components that create software packages.
One suggestion I have for students who are interested in this course/need to take it, is to be prepared to spend a lot of time on this class. I had to usually spend at least 20 hours a week on this class and sometimes closer to 30. I am probably on the slow side when it comes to time needed to absorb material, but talking to other students it did seem like everyone considered this class as one where a lot of time is needed to complete all of the assignments.
N/A
Not a huge fan of WODs. I personally did not do so well but didnt fail all of them. Hope it will be more lenient?
None