Feedback…
December 10th, 2008Hi all,
Somehow the last class ended without my even realizing that it ended. Ah well. I forgot to discuss possibly the most important issue (from my perspective). I’d like feedback from you all on things that went well and things that didn’t go so well. Suggestions for improvements for the future would be welcome as well.
Just in case you were wondering whether I pay attention to suggestions, I’ll mention that a number of people last time requested programming assignments, which prompted me to introduce them this time. So I do listen :).
It’s been my pleasure to teach you all: you’ve definitely kept me on my toes throughout the semester.
Entries
December 11th, 2008 at 2:31 pm
Most of the classes I’ve taken that are mixed undergrad/grad either have more work for the grad students, or grade less harshly on the undergrads. I noticed that this class didn’t seem to have any distinction between the two groups. Are you going to curve the undergrads differently than the grads… if there is any curve at at?
December 11th, 2008 at 4:23 pm
I hadn’t considered it, but I know that this is common practice. Inspecting the current grade profile suggests that the undergrads are in fact doing better overall (!). But that’s irrelevant to my grading policy. I probably will attempt to grade things differently for the different groups.
December 13th, 2008 at 4:40 pm
Just something I noticed. I was frustrated using Latex most of the semester, as it is painful to google all of the little commands and to not know how your final product will look until you actually compile the latex file.
Just for this last assignment I discovered that Microsoft Word 2007 has an insert tab which puts in super easy to use equations (super scripts, sub scripts, everything), and it gives instant feedback. Also the shapes drawing tool is much easier than trying to get drawings to compile into Latex (or doing them in another program).
Anyway, just wanted to give my 2 cents on Latex :).
December 13th, 2008 at 4:43 pm
point noted. personally, I wouldn’t use word for math if you paid me to use it, but if you’re more comfortable with it,that’s fine. I’ve used the equation editor in MSW before, and can make a point of mentioning it in class.
Also, I had linked to a LaTeX guide (it’s on the right): did you not find that useful ?
December 13th, 2008 at 9:33 pm
I would have liked to see a web turn-in form. Hal’s form for ML this semester was very handy, and I believe offered the following advantages:
1. You can always get to it. SSH for you and for most students and for me most of the time is not an obstacle. However, there are times for me when SSH just isn’t available (like if you’re sitting behind a paranoid firewall at 4:30 PM).
2. I don’t have to recall the syntax of handin every other week (or type history | grep handin)
3. For *you*, it guarantees a file name that is nuisance-free on Unix.
4. I can get a receipt code that gives me a paper trail (this sounds paranoid, but systems like this can help make things smoother).
This is just a suggestion. You can also ignore it if there’s already a web handin that I don’t know about.
Re: the LaTeX guide: it’s comprehensive, but *big.* I used it for finding odd things, but to find \cup I just did a quick web search. (And yes, I saved a local copy.)
December 15th, 2008 at 2:38 pm
The web handin works for this course as well … https://cgi.eng.utah.edu/webhandin/index.cgi
I used it for the last assignment, when the scp did not work because “my disk quota was exceeded and I can’t copy any new files”.
December 15th, 2008 at 6:49 pm
Wow. Color me a dumbass. I even remember using that in Spring. D’oh!