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Survey Results



Course Survey Results


Philip   Johnson   ICS314, Fall 2017

Campus: University of Hawaii at Manoa Course: ICS 314 - Software Engineering I
Department:   Information& Computer Sciences Crn (Section):   77068 (001)    


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) 
3.41 27 0.89   0(0%) 6(22%) 5(19%) 15(56%) 1(4%) 0(0%)
2.   Course - please note that by answering this question you could potentially jeopardize your anonymity

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Elective (1)  Required (2) 
1.96 27 0.19   1(4%) 26(96%)
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) 
4.48 27 0.7   0(0%) 0(0%) 3(11%) 8(30%) 16(59%)
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) 
4.41 27 0.8   0(0%) 0(0%) 5(19%) 6(22%) 16(59%)
5.   The instructor communicated effectively.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree (1)  Disagree (2)  Neutral (3)  Agree (4)  Strongly Agree (5) 
4.52 27 0.64   0(0%) 0(0%) 2(7%) 9(33%) 16(59%)
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) 
4.48 27 0.58   0(0%) 0(0%) 1(4%) 12(44%) 14(52%)
7.   The instructor was accessible to students.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree (1)  Disagree (2)  Neutral (3)  Agree (4)  Strongly Agree (5) 
4.41 27 0.75   0(0%) 0(0%) 4(15%) 8(30%) 15(56%)
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) 
4.19 27 0.83   0(0%) 1(4%) 4(15%) 11(41%) 11(41%)
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) 
4.22 27 0.8   0(0%) 1(4%) 3(11%) 12(44%) 11(41%)

10.   Which aspects of the course were most valuable?
working in groups to do projects
I think the WODs were helpful because it required students to learn the material and apply it in a time-limited situation.
The practice wods and hw that we submitted online. The videos were awesome too.
Coding
.
The In Class WODS
The WODs Screencasts Web Development Framework UI
videos on how to do the homework. I feel like for some stuff, especially with meteor I would be lost without some video. final project is also helpful. Learning how it is to work in a team.
The assignments or WODS
Being able to practice material through WODs
The most valuable aspects of the course were the HTML, Semantic UI, and web design.
I really liked the WODs, they were fun and tuned to the right amount of challenge. I feel more confident after going through that experience.
The new athletic learning style of the class and the group project was well worth the class value
javascript, functional programming
Strengthened problem solving and research skills.
being able to work with people
The course teaching style and format were innovative and effective at maintaining a rigorous yet intriguing pace of learning. Dr. Johnson's Athletic Software Engineering pedagogy -- specifically the concept of WODs -- was tremendously stimulating and efficient at fostering class learning.
Learning the fundamental aspects of software engineering: version control, working in groups, testing, ethics, etc.
The most valuable aspect of the course is the fact that you learn more than just new programming languages (JavaScript, HTML, CSS), but also you learn how to work together in teams, manage your own projects, and use version control.
I think that everything we learned in this course was a very valuable skill that will actually be applicable when we find jobs. I feel like I can already start to apply the skills that I have learned, in my current job.
HTML and Meteor
The understanding of JavaScript and some of about how to develop web applications.
Creating an app on Meteor for the final project.
online webcasts.
Using GitHub effectively, testing, development platform, functional js.


11.   Which aspects of the course were least valuable?
none
I think the difficulty of the WODs should be increased so more people have the possibility of DNFing. This will significantly improve the quality of classes quickly.
Nothing
Talking
.
Take home assignments
Not that I can think of
The screencasts. Many of the screencasts seem very opinion based, making it a little harder for students to grasp the objectiveness of the "lecture."
I feel like I didn't get much out of the JavaScript section of the course, as a lot of JavaScript is similar to most languages we already know.
the least valuable part probably would be the in class group wod
wads, timed testing, intellij, meteor
Material was often left unexplained
having WODs every week
To be honest, I loved every single aspect of this class from the in-class music to the final group project to the self- challenging WODs. Every aspect was both valuable and relevant.
Learning HTML, CSS, and JavaScript all over again.
Although this class is a WI course, I feel that the writing assignments were probably the least valuable aspect of this course. Although, I feel that there is a lot to gain from them as well.
Some of the modules, in my opinion, were not taught thoroughly (ex. Meteor) and I understand that it is such a broad topic that is hard to cover in just a few weeks. However, I feel like I did not gain a good understanding of things like Meteor Blaze through the modules. I think that it could have been taught more effectively, instead of having us go through tutorials and merely follow instructions.
that fiddler thing we did in the beginning
The flipped-classroom method.
N/A
WODs
It was taught with JS instead of TS.

12.   The instructor gives clear explanations.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree (1)  Disagree (2)  Neutral (3)  Agree (4)  Strongly Agree (5) 
4.22 27 0.85   0(0%) 1(4%) 4(15%) 10(37%) 12(44%)
13.   The instructor seems to enjoy teaching.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree (1)  Disagree (2)  Neutral (3)  Agree (4)  Strongly Agree (5) 
4.52 27 0.64   0(0%) 0(0%) 2(7%) 9(33%) 16(59%)
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) 
4.44 27 0.7   0(0%) 0(0%) 3(11%) 9(33%) 15(56%)
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) 
4.3 27 0.78   0(0%) 0(0%) 5(19%) 9(33%) 13(48%)
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) 
4.69 26 0.47   0(0%) 0(0%) 0(0%) 8(31%) 18(69%)
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) 
4.41 27 0.57   0(0%) 0(0%) 1(4%) 14(52%) 12(44%)
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) 
4.12 26 0.77   0(0%) 0(0%) 6(23%) 11(42%) 9(35%)
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) 
4.11 27 0.93   0(0%) 2(7%) 4(15%) 10(37%) 11(41%)
20.   The instructor was professional.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree (1)  Disagree (2)  Neutral (3)  Agree (4)  Strongly Agree (5) 
4.48 27 0.64   0(0%) 0(0%) 2(7%) 10(37%) 15(56%)
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) 
4.48 27 0.58   0(0%) 0(0%) 1(4%) 12(44%) 14(52%)
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) 
4.27 26 0.96   0(0%) 2(8%) 3(12%) 7(27%) 14(54%)
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) 
4.33 27 0.78   0(0%) 0(0%) 5(19%) 8(30%) 14(52%)
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) 
4.44 27 0.64   0(0%) 0(0%) 2(7%) 11(41%) 14(52%)

25.   My overall evaluation of this instructor is....
He is a great professor that teaches us many things to help prepare us for a job.
He is a knowledgable professor.
Great teacher. Great class.
7.5/10
.
Cool Guy
Knowledgeable and funny professor. I would highly recommended.
He is a good teacher, that allows students to learn as if exercising, based on his homework and teaching styles so far.
Cool professor and very knowledgeable in the subject. I could see the immense effort he put into the class
Good teacher who seems to be passionate about software engineering and teaching it in the best way possible.
Philip Johnson was careful to listen to any questions I had and took the time to answer my question to my satisfaction.
Strong knowledge of the content and well spoken with lots of passion. Some of his certain pet peeves seem very elementary and it makes me feel a bit worried.
good guy, maybe too hype for me
Would be good if material was better explained. Particularly in the latter parts of the course, you are often left to stumble in the dark until you find something that works
great professor, very professional as well as knowledgable.
Prof Johnson embodies that rare combination of thorough subject knowledge matched with boundless energy and enthusiasm in teaching that knowledge. I am quite certain that he is currently the best instructor in the entire UH ICS department, and fellow professors would do well to learn a thing or two from his outstanding teaching methodology.
Excellent professor, one of the best in ICS.
I feel that Dr. Johnson is a very passionate professor who is interested in teaching us professional skills as well as interpersonal skills.
He was very enthusiastic about what he teaches and really seems to enjoy teaching us. He is also very friendly and fun. However, his philosophy of only answering "smart questions" makes me a little afraid to ask him any questions at all. I saw one student ask a question, and get denied an answer because it was not a "smart question" but when the student asked in a different way, he was provided a good answer. His screencasts were informative, engaging, and well- explained for the most part. I enjoyed this class.
Really cool guy, his personality seems to be evident in his teaching and assignments.
Dr. Johnson doesn't seem to like the traditional method of teaching. So he flips the classroom and tries to make things "athletic" by giving constant, lighter work. However, I don't feel like it works because the lack of lecture time means that we actually end up not learning in a structured way -- in a sense, we teach ourselves, and that's not too effective if we don't know what we're doing.
The teacher made me want to work harder and learn the material as much as possible.
He is a great professor.
PJ is hands down the best professor I have ever had. He is very charismatic, teaches very effectively, and it is obvious that he is passionate about teaching.

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) 
4.44 27 0.58   0(0%) 0(0%) 1(4%) 13(48%) 13(48%)
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) 
4.33 27 0.73   0(0%) 0(0%) 4(15%) 10(37%) 13(48%)
28.   Grades are assigned fairly and impartially.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree (1)  Disagree (2)  Neutral (3)  Agree (4)  Strongly Agree (5) 
4.19 27 0.79   0(0%) 1(4%) 3(11%) 13(48%) 10(37%)

29.   My overall evaluation of this course is...
It is a good course. somewhat difficult and time consuming.
It is a significant required class for students because it teaches valuable skills such as version control and object- oriented programming.
Excellent
7.8/10
.
Cool Clas
Must have and highly recommended.
Good. You learn a lot in this class, however I feel shakey with the grading. The final and wods aren't clear in the syllabus. Part of me doesn't know if I can still pass, but i will try anyway.
Decent considering I didn't know what I would be learning in this course. I did learn quite a few things, including many languages that I didn't think I would learn. It also made me realize what I like to do in terms of coding.
Pretty good introduction to software engineering practices and a good look into what being a developer is like.
This course was excellent, it was precisely the experience I was looking for and I wish there were more classes like this class in the ICS major.
very demanding for what it is, but it is a good way to connect with fellow students, which is a big plus
javascript and its different facets are valuable to know in the modern day and application of engineering principles to software is so important. the class doesn't go far enough in these regards, and i think it gets lost in trying to do too many things. i think building up through languages (js/ts), frameworks (express) and use cases (basic routing and protocols, apis) that allow students to build core competencies and really know the material and how to use it, would be a smarter way. it's more important than "going far" and making some app that no one will use and is poorly made due to a poor foundation.
Could benefit from more teaching
good course overall, can be fun if you have a lot of time on your hands, if you are taking a lot of classes tho, it can be overwhelming
I do not use superlatives often, but this class has become my all time favorite ICS class at UH, and I would whole- heartedly recommend it to all students of all majors.
Difficult for people new to web development, easy for people who have done some web development.
The ICS 314 course is a course that I would highly recommend for anyone who is remotely interested in web-based applications and web design.
I am not a big fan of the flipped classroom style in general, but I think that for this course, it was implemented fairly well. He calls this learning style "athletic software engineering" which I found to be stressful, but also helpful (mostly). Most subjects were taught thoroughly, but not all, since there are a few that I still don't grasp fully even after looking at the resources provided. I like the fact that we are able to do a group project to put all of the skills we learned to the test, but also think that there are additional skills we need for this project that we didn't learn. I enjoyed this class and I think that the things I learned here will be very valuable for me in the future when I enter the workforce.
It's a super neat course to take. I learned a lot of different things from this course.
It's an average course. I don't feel like I get a good grasp of what "software engineering" is or how to design things. I didn't get so much direct instruction on how to design programs or how to design software architectures or what web applications more require. I just don't like the feel of the course.
This was a very intense course, but it helped me learn how to use time more wisely and work better under pressure.
I really enjoyed this class and I learned a lot.
One of my favorite classes.


30.   Other comments:
None
All-or-nothing nature of WODs makes them kind of stressful, would've also liked an option to make them up / some allowances to drop if you were sick or out for whatever reason
i thought the athletic whatever was a bit of a joke. also, please use email for primary important communications. slack is good for cooperative stuff, but people do eventually ignore or disable those notifications because there's bound to be needless info they don't care about
For the fall class specifically, maybe play some in-class Christmas background music during the last weeks of class. Seems appropriate to the general class feel.
The course is not bad, but I just don't feel like I didn't get that "spark" of what software engineering IS.
N/A
We need more instructors like PJ.