| Campus: | University of Hawaii at Manoa | Course: | ICS 311 - Algorithms |
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| Department: | Information& Computer Sciences | Crn (Section): | 83326 (002) |
| TA: | Jared Lo & SK Fazlee Rabby |
1. Global appraisal: Overall how would you rate this INSTRUCTOR?
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2. Considering everything, how would you rate the GA/TA’s sections of this COURSE?
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3. Considering everything, how would you rate the LAB for this course?
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4. What did you find most valuable and helpful about the instructor? |
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His knowledge about the material, his high expectations, and his willingness to help us learn and grasp all concepts.
The instructor is very knowledgeable/competent and wants students to succeed. He is very open to questions and he encourages students to engage with the material. He teaches students how to think about problems and approach them, and I strongly believe that his teaching-philosophy of encouraging people to learn how to think and understand why/how you do something is a critical skill. It results in a class that is challenging and conducive to growth. I learned a lot by hearing the thinking process out loud, and I found the stronger emphasis on reasoning ability over memorization to be refreshing in academia. Additionally, this class was one of the most efficient in the terms of getting assignments back in a timely manner which was very helpful for my studying. I am super appreciative of that.
His perspective on what we are learning.
The knowledge and the open-minded approach the instructor takes.
He is very encouraging for students to participate. I can tell that he does care about the learning of his students. He is also very knowledgable on the subject so he can probably answer any/most questions you have.
He answered every questions that I didn't understand well
What I found the most valuable and helpful about Professor Nodari is that he's explains the topics in a way where you can understand the material better. Some topics are just hard to grasp, so it would take time for the material to sink in.
What I found most valuable is that he is willing to answer any question no matter what. He really tries to get students to understand the material whenever they ask and tries to make you come up with the answer on your own.
Very good understanding of the material and good at asking questions to get you thinking and point you in the right direction. Helps you without giving you answers or super direct hints.
He is extremely knowledgeable about the subject matter and is always willing to help out/answer questions. He really tries to challenge you and get you thinking during class.
Nodari is always willing to explain things out to you, and he'll keep you on track if you start to stray from a solution. The man genuinely loves teaching and is very good at it.
He is pretty good at explaining things.
I find it helpful that he provides how our class exercise is solved, and how it should not stop there, question everything even the Instructor. As it helps deeper understanding than a surface level.
I think Nodari is knowledgeable about this course, and you will learn quickly the gaps in your knowledge with this course.
With the instructor their deep understanding of the content allows them to explain any topic and answer any questions asked by a student in class. He does not give us the answers to questions directly but guides us to a solution.
I enjoyed the academic integrity of how the class is handled.
I found the class work to be very helpful because it would guide us on the homework.
He is really approachable and willing to teach the students and answer their questions.
Able to give back constructive criticism and make you reason more about your thought process
The instructor demonstrated a deep understanding of the material and explained it in a clear and concise manner
Goes in depth when asked a question, providing a deeper understanding of the topic.
Professor Nodari will try his best to explain the problem to you but you have to ask :D
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5. What did you find least valuable and helpful about the instructor? |
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The grading for this class was harsher than needed to be.
Sometimes questions were very vague or unclear, causing my group to get stuck during class work. Additionally, sometimes the professor would make snide remarks about the abilities of the class when we were struggling. I'm kind of used to this in STEM and I don't expect to be coddled and have my hand held or anything, but sometimes it felt very discouraging and frustrating to hear it when students were sincerely trying and struggling.
None
Nothing. Everything was equally as valuable to one another.
A lot of times the instructions were vague, half the battle sometimes was just deciphering what the question was asking or what kind of answer you needed to provide.
The grade is too strict, I want to get more partial credit in the problem of essay
What I found the least valuable and helpful about the instructor is not lecturing about the material in class and for that it gave me hard time in following along during class. Sometimes I would get lost in the material to the point where I don't know what questions to ask.
What I found to be least valuable was how he wouldn't nudge you into the correct direction AT ALL and will try to make you come up with the answer on your own, and when you do and when it's wrong, he just tries to reiterate the question again over and over again and were sitting there all confused. He also goes over class problems too quickly since we don't have enough time in class. He's also very unapproachable and very intimidating in person, which deters students from asking questions.
N/A
He can be a little eccentric and perhaps tries to challenge you a little too much at times. During classwork exercises, his comments can be a little vague.
This isn't really about the instructor, but the flipped classroom format can definitely leave you in the dark at times. If you miss a notes section (or do the wrong chapter, for example), you're spending the whole class period playing catch-up during the in-class activity. If you do miss a notes section, definitely try to go to office hours.
He doesn't want to "give away the answer" in the problem-solving activities when the "answer" is something ridiculously simple that we are missing. He could also manage his time explaining things better. Once again, he writes on the board at the very front of class and it is often hard to interpret whatever data structure or algorithm he is explaining. And it was in red. Get a black expo pen.
I find it least valuable when the instructor gets frustrated with students that are not understanding a problem, as they might understand the topic material but not the question and the deeper meaning of what the problem poses. As this hinders a students belief that they are capable of actually understanding it.
Nodari won't give you the answer to a question directly. Instead, he might leave it up to you to figure it out on your own. Sometimes, he can be confusing because of how he words his response. You might be on the right track, but if your understanding isn't precise enough, you could get confused. Nodari seems to enjoy confusing people at times.
I did not find anything valuable and helpful with the instructor's teachings. I feel this instructor is even limited by the amount of time in the course. If given more class time we can have a better grasp of the content in the course.
I wish there was a little bit more explanation but I also understand its important to come to certain conclusions on your own.
Not providing solutions to homework to go over after
Nothing, everything is perfect
None
The flip classroom, the video lecture is not always helpful sometimes, I feel it make me more confuse than other online resources
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6. The instructor is fair and objective in evaluating students.
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7. The instructor is well prepared and organized.
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8. Which aspect of the course were most valuable? |
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The material.
The screencasts were very helpful for going through the material, and it was nice that we got a page of notes for tests since the class is more about reasoning than memory. I wish that there were more screencasts covering the material! I thought that the screencasts and problem sets were helpful overall since they helped me see the lessons in action. It was a well-organized course, and I saw how the lessons built off of each other. I learned a lot from the review sessions, and the class work problems were really engaging and challenging.
Everything
Everything was equal to each other in terms of value. They were all important.
I think the screencasts were most valuable to my learning and understanding of the material. I also loved the in-class practice because it allowed us to apply what we were learning and I believe that is the best way to learn material.
It is useful in the future if it can be understood.
The aspect of the course that were the most valuable were the notes because having the notes be graded forced me to actually read and prepare for the in class quizzes.
When professor Nodari would go over and explain certain concepts and problems in class that made it easier to understand is what I thought was very valuable as it gave me an easier and deeper understanding of the material.
The in class time was by far the most useful for understanding material.
The in-class exercises. Once you get comfortable writing down your thought process and sharing them with a group, you really start to gain a better understanding of the subject material. Being exposed to other's insights also helps you look at certain problems a different way, improving understanding.
Office hours offer a great way to hear about other people's approaches to the homework problems, get help from the instructor, and listen to TAs' explanations and hints toward the solution. I also enjoyed the video screencast lectures.
Learning running time and certain sorting algorithms.
The quiz in the beginning of the class is what is most valuable for me as it will show me what I know about the topic material. And the best part is that you can argue with the instructor or the TA's with your understanding, and they will happily provide the correct adjustment for your quiz in the level of your understanding of the topic.
the screencast done by other professor
The in-class problems were extremely valuable as they gave us steps to solve the weekly homework. The homework can be difficult to complete if you do not understand the in-class problems. Also, something very helpful was that the instructor allowed questions to be asked before the quizzes started as it provided additional insight into the content from the instructor other than the resources.
I think I learned how to approach questions more broadly and definitely improved my ability to learn new concepts on my own.
The explaination for the class activities. Helps give students a better understand on the material and how to approach answer questions of that type. Usually learn the most (outside of learning the material) during that period.
The quizzes and notes were valuable because this really forced me to understand the content. There was a stronger incentive for me to really understand the material. The in-class assignments were also gave me an incentive because I didn't want to embarrass myself.
Quizzes and lectures after quizzes
the whole course challenged me intellectually
The in-class exercises helped with deepening my understanding of the material
Abstract thinking on how to develop algorithms and mathematical concepts.
Classwork and Homework they will let you know how much you understand the material
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9. Which aspect of the course were least valuable? |
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The note checking.
While I understand the importance of note taking and am ok with the idea of mandatory notes, I wish that we could pick our own style of notes to accommodate different students and different learning styles. Having to take notes in a style that did not help me grasp the material and build the necessary connections that I needed did not feel like an effective use of time. Requiring specific learning strategies like Cornell Notes and being graded on peer reviews for group work often made it feel like this course was strictly beneficial/tailored for a specific type of student, creating an environment in which students who are neurodivergent may find more difficult to navigate. I recognize that it may be impossible to accommodate every single type of student, but it may be something to be mindful of.
None
None.
The textbook because it was just so much content to read for every class. It was best for me when I used my time to focus on the screen casts and the web notes and then reading over the textbook but not using it as my main source of learning.
the content is difficult to understand
The aspect of the course that were the least valuable is the screencasts because it didn't seem like it helped me too much when using them to prepare for the class.
The fact that it's a DIY, teach it to yourself class with language that makes it 10x harder to understand anything. When Professor Nodari explains it, it seems so crystal clear, but when read in the book, I have a blank stare and am confused out of my mind. The fact that group work in class was not enjoyable as a lot of people would not participate, no matter what. No amount of points could get these people to say a single word to participate.
N/A
I found myself zoning out a little bit when the professor was going over quiz questions.
I could keep up with the content even without taking super great notes, but I knew not doing enough of them, or not doing them in full, would earn me an instant failing grade. That was a bit stressful and seemed like unnecessary hassle to me.
A lot of the algorithms that I will probably never see again in my time on this earth. Also, at some point the homework turned from hard into ridiculously difficult. It's discouraging and frustrating. It does not help me learn. Instead, it makes me spend four extra hours wondering what the problem is describing and coming up with useless possible ways to solve it.
The aspect that was least valuable I would say is group exercise. The problems and group work is actually very helpful for the student to actually grasp parts of the material that was hard to grasp. The least valuable part is when there is a student that does most of the group work than another student as it hinders the progress of that student that feels left behind.
some class discussions.
I found nothing to be valuable in the course.
N/a, I wish there was more in class time. Longer classes
I don't think there was anything given or expected of us that was not valuable to the learning but I often found the homework level to be much more difficult than the in class assignments and found myself to work on them for a long time.
Nothing
the formatting of notes
None
I found the video lecture sometimes really confusing. I wish professor Nodari could record these videos and explain them instead. He does a great job in explaining these concept
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10. Other comments? |
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I want to preface this by saying that I believe that being able to collaborate and effectively work with others is a very important life skill, so I do not want to suggest getting rid of group work completely, but I think that there may be some parts that could use review. I am ok with group work and enjoyed getting to meet other people in my major, but I think that there were also some frustrations with the group work in this class due to the style of the course. Firstly, I didn't feel that peer grading was very reliable as I knew that some very active and helpful contributors, who I felt were friendly or at least respectful, got suspiciously low peer review grades. While I understand keeping grading anonymous, I also think that it would be helpful to be able to receive some feedback on how to improve one's participation grade. It might be helpful to have students be required to justify their scoring to provide helpful comments to students who want to do better. This could also help verify that people are scoring honorably. I think a better system would be to have everyone start off with full points and then have people reallocate points as needed. Secondly, sometimes I felt that the pressure of peer review grades encouraged competitive environments rather than collaborative environments where students would try to dominate the discussion and talk over others, sometimes leaving students who were trying to follow and understand out of the conversation or behind the group. Sometimes I felt that this caused group work to go slower because a good chunk of time would be spent trying to get everyone back on the same page rather than spending the time on problem solving.
N/A
I think he is doing the best that he can with what previous classes did to set us up. I think previous classes like 211 and 141 and 241 did not do a good job at preparing us for this class that's why it was more difficult than it should be.
The difficulty level of Homework and in-class problems are too different. The homework was often too difficult compare to the problem in-class so I couldn't solve these problem sometimes.
Incredible professor and Jared was a great TA, very similar teaching style to Nodari and also super helpful in getting you to solve problems on your own by asking more questions.
You get what you put into this course. If you don't really care and only try to get a decent grade, you'll probably end up hating it. All the coursework will seem pointless and needlessly hard. If instead you focus on learning the material, figuring out what each algorithm is doing and why exactly it is they work, you'll end up having some fun, learning a lot, and getting a decent grade as a side effect.
Thank you Nodari!
The teacher can be intimidating as he holds a ton of knowledge and really wants students to grasp what he is teaching. I would advise students who are shy, that the mindset students need to have if they struggle with opening up is to see that the teacher is also human as you are, also is why he imposes to question everything from the book if its correct and even HIM. As this means that mistakes in class or in homework should not be taken as a insult but as a "try again, but next time take this direction" way of progressing.
none
Generally good professor. If possible, would like a bit of preperation for the exam since they're such a big part of the grade. Something like example problems would help significantly in what to expect going into the first exam.
I really did not appreciate having to turn in homework on Fridays in-person. I didn't have class on Fridays and often worked this day. I would have to leave work just to turn in the assignment and made things very stressful. This instructor has mentioned that we should turn it in earlier but a lot of materials are explained on Wednesdays and makes it hard to finish before Friday. I'm not exactly sure what the point of turning it in-person was.
Take this class if you want to learn the material and it will help you a lot in long term. Don't expect this class to be easy. Practice your Discrete Math
there are two sections for 311, one with Nodari and the other with Conner. Take the class with Nodari if you actually want to learn something. Conner is the easy A, but if you're planning on taking ICS 621 (Nodari's Algorithms course pt2) then definitely start with Nodari. Also I have friends who've gotten the easy A from Conner, but they've all said the same thing, that they learned absolutely nothing and don't have any idea of how to do any of the things Nodari has taught us in our course. It's hard to learn from Nodari, but he does all he can to have you pass the course (fairly, he can't just give you a passing grade you need to work for it)
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11. The instructor was open to comments and questions.
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12. The course was a valuable contribution to my education.
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13. I learned a lot in this course.
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14. The instructor treated students with respect.
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15. The instructor demonstrated knowledge of the course content.
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16. This course challenged me intellectually.
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17. The instructor both sets high standards and helps students achieve them.
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18. The instructor was available for consultation.
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19. Considering everything, how would you rate this COURSE?
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20. What was the format of this class?
online synchronous (class scheduled for particular days and times)
online asynchronous (class conducted online - no scheduled class meeting)
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21. If you answered 'Other' for the question above, please specify. |
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N/A
Flipped Classroom. Every meeting is in person, but you learn the material on your own time.
none
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22. The course is highly recommended if it were taught by this instructor
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23. The teaching-learning strategies used in the course encouraged active class participation
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24. The instructor seems to enjoy teaching
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25. The instructor was enthusiastic about the course material
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26. What changes would you make in the lectures? |
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Not much, it's just that the course material is super difficult and complex.
I wish there was more opportunity to work with the material in class before getting quizzed. Sometimes I didn't even realize I didn't understand something well until after the quiz. I did find that quiz solution reviews to be very helpful to my understanding, so I kind of wish there was more of a lecture component to the class. The instructor is pretty good at explaining things. I also would've liked more time for problem solving. Sometimes I felt like my group would start making progress on a problem as we discussed it and shared our thinking and then we'd be frequently interrupted and told that we were going too slow.
None
The current way the lectures have been done were perfectly fine. Nothing I could find that'd be worth tweaking and changing for the next class.
All the lectures are online done by Dan Suthers, I really enjoy and learn the most from these videos. I think it is fine that lectures aren't done in class and that we learn at home, it is just very time consuming.
it need to study before the class and if I didn't understand well, I wouldn't follow the whole class in that day. so I want to you to teach some basic things in begining the class.
The changes that I would make to this course is to have more in class lectures. This is because I have a hard time grasping the material when reading and learning the material before class. As well as, I had other classes that I was worrying about while preparing for the class.
The reverse classroom setting is detrimental to students. Having a lecture day and lab day seems beneficial based on other ICS courses I have taken in the past. The notes don't seem to actually encourage learning as it encourages mindless writing just to pass the course and doesn't create understanding of the material. In-class group practice problems seem beneficial; however, the random pairing of groups each week is difficult as many groups I had this semester had people that would stay quiet, so we wouldn't get much done. It was infuriating, and the peer point grading system didn't seem to incentivize participation. This question is funny as it says "lectures" when we really don't have any as its a reverse classroom.
I would ask the students to add the correct answer on the daily quizzes so we can use them as a study material.
Nothing really, i think that the class time is well used. I think the only thing is sometimes it feels that the class moves at the pace of the slowest students when I think the in class time would be better spent if we got through all of the in class work and people who need more time to work on it or understand the solutions can use office hours or TA office hours.
He goes over the material well and is always open to questions. If I had to change something, I would want him to spend a little less time going over quiz questions. The quiz questions are fairly easy, and I found myself wanting more time to work on the harder, more relevant classwork exercises.
Not much, I enjoyed the lectures and found them pretty helpful
This is a flipped learning format. The lectures are videos and in-class we ask questions and do practice problems. The videos are subpar and go over a bunch of words. I prefer when professors draw things out as they explain, not just hover their mouse over words to explain things.
In class, Prof Nodari explains some things by drawing on the whiteboard in front of the class. I would prefer him to use a tablet that gets broadcast to the available screens in the room, so it is easier to see what he is writing, and he can use different colors, etc.
The lectures and screencast is great, I think If I were to change one thing, It would be the lecture notes, I would have the page a little more organized than it is. It might be a tiny bit helpful for students to not feel overwhelmed when they fully scroll down the topic notes and see a bunch of things that might startle them. Maybe make tabs on each important topics of the chapter?
Do more in class learning.
Since the classroom uses a reverse classroom approach. The times I was able to learn the most is when the Professor would explain these concepts himself. Whether it would be before and after class quizzes or for in-class problems that was when I was able. Personally. But in the end, there is just so much content to go over in this one semester. I understand why we have to take the time out of class to understand.
n/a
Not much. For the most he goes in depth whenever a student has a question about the material.
Rather than just a quick Q&A of material from the previous night, I would have liked a more structured overview at the beginning of the class. I understand the brain activity study but just asking "are there any questions" doesn't really prompt students to ask questions.
If it would be possible to give more visuals than readings it would be perfect.
i wish the lectures were more enthusiastic
None
Have an overview of the most important parts or most misunderstood portions of the weekly material in case people were not able to completely understand material themselves.
I really enjoy this course however I really wish that instead of a flipped classroom model it would be a regular lecture class. The material in my opinion is really hard and I struggle through the reading but feel like I didn't understand much until I attended class and did the classwork only then I feel like I learned something.
I feel like if people don't ask questions before the quiz in class, sometimes it's because the material was so confusing that we don't even know what to ask. I think that a really quick review of what the main points were over (maybe with some interaction with the class) would be nice.
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27. What advice would you give to students, who might be taking this course in the future? |
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Study, study, and study. The concepts in this class are not meant to be memorized, but learned and understood in a way that you could apply what you've learned in a way that is unique. Understanding things is better than memorization anyways, makes it easier to use those tools in the future.
This material requires a lot of study-time outside of class. I would say that I'm fairly curious and self-motivated, but I personally struggled managing this class along with long work hours and other courses that required heavy amounts of out-of-class work and self-teaching. I didn't feel that I was able to dedicate as much time to this course as I needed, and I would recommend avoiding taking this course at the same time as managing other heavy workloads. Write down any questions as you think of them when completing the readings and bring them to class. It is important to have strong reasoning skills to succeed, more-so than just memorizing. Review discrete math concepts as many of them are foundational to building a strong understanding of algorithms and other course content such as proofs and data structures.
When taking notes, reading the book is the best option. Lecture notes are best for a quick review.
Go and give over a 100% of your effort to this course. Be consistent and be determined to actually understanding the material. Despite how bad you do on the quizzes or homework, as long as you can fully understand the concepts and material itself, you are properly taking the class. Strive for a good grade, but also strive to really learn everything.
If you need outside help or use resources like Kokua, take the help. I have a lot of difficulty reading so the screencasts were extremely helpful to me and the only reason I learned at home. The web notes are also very helpful when learning the new material.
this class is very hard to understand about what algorithm is so we need to study hard before the class.
The advice that I would give to students is to make friends in the class and work together to learn the material. I would also attend office hours if you can, since you can ask the professor/TAs for help. I would also recommend taking a light class load, since this is one of the classes where you need to commit most of your time on studying.
Don't take this course when you have difficult classes as it would most likely take up most of your time and brain power to grasp the material, especially since this is a reverse classroom setting. Be prepared to spend extra time outside of class time and be prepared to not have a life outside of this class if you really want to get a good/passing grade. Be patient with yourself as these concepts are very hard to fully understand. Don't hesitate to drop this class if by the drop date, you don't have a high enough score to pass or raise it high enough to pass. You might as well eat, sleep, drink Algorithms at this point, if I'm being honest. P.S. Homework is turned in physically and if you commute, good luck...
Work on the homework early. Go to every office hours. Get notes done early.
Put more effort into understanding the concepts than understanding specific homework problems. Even if you memorize solutions to homework problems it will not help you at all on exams which are worth way more of your grade.
Make sure you take this class during a semester where your other classes are easy. This class really is as hard as everyone says it is. It requires a ton of time and effort; you should honestly try to be going over all the material for each chapter more than once. Also be sure to start homework early. This is so you can actually ask questions about it and get help when you are stuck. The homework questions are extremely hard. I started my homework at the end of the week throughout the semester and struggled a lot. If I had started early, and was able to ask questions during office hours when I hit a wall, I would have gotten more out of the course.
Collaborate! Find people to work on the homework and study with. Multiple heads are better than one.
Take this course with a light load. The in-person class is awful and draining. The homework are even worse. I would not read the textbook. Too many words. I would watch the video lectures, even though I found them to be infuriating at times because of the way things are explained unclearly and without precision. Watch other Youtube videos by popular Algorithms creators, especially to grasp intuition.
One great advise that I would want to understand before taking this class is that, TO RE-READ anything that doesn't stick, and doing examples on paper, even easy examples, as they will really help understand get the idea that doesn't stick, stick.
Watch the screencast, and do not increase the speed of the video, because you really want to take the time to understand the lecture.
And finally I highly encourage, that if you do not understand the question, please do not try and brute force your way into thinking you understand the question, ASK / EMAIL the instructor or TA's as solving the problem in the wrong direction will not get you far in the exams or class problems.
take a light course load when taking this class, since is going to take most of you time learning the material, and doing the homework, focus on learning the concepts and no just memorizing, since 70% of your grade is base on your exams.
Start homework early:
- By doing so you are able to get extra credit points on your homework. You are also able to stay on top of other classes because as you get towards Friday (when hw is due) it becomes more stressful. A good part of homework is just thought and thinking about how to approach each problem which can take quite a bit of time.
Read and even reread material:
- The textbook is very dense in the way it explains different concepts so it requires extra time to understand what it says. Also use the screencasts and notes as supplementary sources of information.
Look at the homework questions right after the notes to get an idea of how you are going to apply what you just learned
Sometimes the material and lecture videos are really confusing so try to find outside material like youtube videos on the basic concept of what you're taking notes on and understand it before/while you're writing down notes. For the exams, just try to do/find a bunch of practice problems to understand the way to approach the problems.
Go to TA office hours and make friends.
Allocate more time for this subject to make sure you wouldn't get behind.
To not procrastinate and start your homework early
Make sure you read and watch all of the material for each lesson.
Learn induction, try to learn to think abstractly and how things work together. To best prepare for exams, it is better to understand the general concept of things and why some things are the way they are rather than to memorize facts.
Don't cheat on your Discrete Math, learn the concept it would help you a lot in this class. If you are struggling, go to office hours they are worth it.
Nodari can be intimidating, especially since it feels like he knows so much while we know so little, but he's very willing to answer questions and point you in the right direction if you just ask for it. Go to office hours for both the professor and TA sections. Try to build relationships with other students and WORK TOGETHER ON HWs. Start on homeworks earlier rather than later they take HOURS to complete.
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