Friday, February 19, 2010

[DSA] Feedback

Feedback about me regarding

1.my teaching
2. your learning
3. what you have learned from me
4. what you want me to improve on

I hope to see you guys again, but not in the same module!!!!!
It was fun and fulfilling to teach your class.

21 comments:

Rajendran said...

posting our codes on your blog was a very effective way of learning. If i didnt know how to to a certain question i'm able to use other student's codes as a template and learn how to go about doing the assignments. Instead of the lecturer giving a standard answer, by sharing code this way, i was able to learn the many different ways of writing code from different students.

The divide-and-conquer method helped me to understand the concepts of the programming elements very effectively.

I have learned how elements, variables and addresses get manipulated by the program, instead of just merely learning how to write code.

For improvements, i think giving worksheets with a variety of questions to do would be better as compared to 'challenge/hero questions' because i feel that the tougher questions do not help the majority of the students.

sjteo said...

rajendran,
thx for the feedback. I am glad to hear that you have learned something from attending lessons. Instead of attending for the sake of "insert reasons here"......

The "hero" question is used by me to identify who is the person that is a cut above the rest.

No first prize for those that managed to complete the "HERO" questions nor consolation prize for those that at least attempt to solve it.

the only starter prize is students get a "feel" or gauge on how they fair compare to the rest of the crowd.

Buck up for those that is behind, for those that is in front watch out for the pot holes...

kpkarthigaeyan said...

Sir,The I think the posting of codes on your blog or snipt was not only very innovative but also very beneficial to all students who did not get the codes working the majority of the time. (including me) .It also served as a great guide as even if we wrote a successful program we could learn to write in a more coherent and even may be simpler ways by looking at codes written by other students..


Your way teaching Also requires us not to come to lesson without doing any pre-preperation or revision...as your lessons require us to run thougth lecture slides before coming to lessons.Learning to use the standard libraries has been quite fun to my surprise and i am kinda impressed at how people manage to create standard classes ..

Overall the programming part of this course has been much more enlightening than the previous semesters .

Thank you

kpkarthik said...

For improvements, nothing much maybe focusing more on certain chapters like classes and objects and giving us challenging interesting assignments.

Hui2 said...

Posting codes through snipt then through blog is a good idea, but when reply us, it is better to send us emails. This is because when there is too much comments, it's hard to find your reply.

Your teaching is quite interesting, but I refer that there are more visual images for learning such as diagrams. (More diagrams) This helps me to know more about each functions for file operations, class etc.

I have learned quite alot of things that I didn't learn before. Such as queue, stack, map ...
It is good that you have set more questions on your blog since the class exercise is not enough. However, it is better that you state clearly about the requirements you want, I sometimes do not really understand what you want.

For improvements, I think it is better to set quizes unexpectedly during class, the marks for these class quizes may stand about 5% of the overall marks. Also, fill-in-the-blank can be considered.

Jaryll said...

For me, I feel that the way you teach actually lets me feel that it is very risky to miss even one lesson, as every lesson is important, and that even though we have references we may not be able to understand them as clearly and use the codes as well as we do now. I was also taught that there are many ways to solve a problem, not like the usual subjects which can be answered word for word or only a standard variation.

Reading and posting codes on your blog does make the lesson more interactive and the class more competitive, and this is a very good way for us to improve significantly.

However, I do feel that this module should be based on the actual writing of code more, as I feel that it is actually what the market wants more compared to the small details that might be easily neglected by some, especially me. But overall, I don't regret taking this module as while learning, I also had fun and learnt new things I didn't know about, both module-wise and moral-wise.

cheechin said...

Mr Teo teaches super fast. Most of the time, i can't catch up. However, posting of codes is effective and useful. Although i don't post much codes since i'm a slow learner, i still did got a lot of help from the codes posted up by my classmates. using it as reference, i get to know the topic better.

I have learned that consistent attendance and posting of codes plays a big role. Practice makes perfect. Have to keep work hard in order to score well for this module.

Improvements, i think notes will be good. Can revise anytime, anywhere.

Linjing said...

A very helpful teacher. His way of teaching makes lesson very interesting. using real life examples can let us understand the topic better. Codes from the blog can be use as a sample for us to understand how the question is done.

I learn that we need to keep on writing codes to understand what have been taught.

For improvements, you need to slow down a little.

Azfer Karim said...

I am not going to say anything which is not true. Sir, i really leant many techniques and data structures in your class. actually its a simple task to teach programming and make it understandable to everyone. But, You just simple did it with such a fun and joy in learning. I am happy to have you as my lecturer for DSA.

ofcourse, the best topic i ever liked is STL Containers. its just awesome to play around with. Your teaching techniques and method really helped me to easily finish the questions in Labtest 2. :)

and for the improvement part, i feel like it would be helpful for most of us if you provide some worksheets and program programming examples written by YOU,especially for the challenging questions. because, your way of programming is easy and classy to grasp.

And lastly, Thank you so much. Cheers.

Cedric Tay said...

I feel that there are pros and cons using blog to teach and posting codes. As this is my first time going through this way of learning, i personally feel weird by posting codes to your blog initially. However, as times passes, this way of learning is quite effective.

However, it not really that effective to students who learn slow because when someone posted codes on your blog, they will tend to copy other person's answer and modify it a bit blindly and posted it back to your blog. At the end of the day they actually learn nothing or learn very little.

For improvements, giving us worksheets will be better as it is easier to learn and revise.

HOU DONG dcpe2b01 said...

I have never seen any lecturers use this way(posting codes) to teach us, frankly speaking, I like this way very much. To post codes on your blog force me do some jobs after class. So I can learn knowledge even after class. To post codes still can help us know what we do not know, then we can solve them before exam or lab tests. To post codes on snipt can help us recall some important points when we need them. So it is very useful for me.


In this module, I have learned many programming knowledges, the most important thing is nobody can get good result if he did not work hard for this module. I will keep recoding my codes in the future study, in case i will use some of them in future.


I was not only learning how to write codes but also learning how to solve the questions(when i meet the problems what should i do).

For improvements, I think you can give us more chance to share our codes during the class, and let us share how we solve the problems.

Melvin Chua said...

Your teaching I would say have its own style. You drew diagrams to illustrate how certain elements is being used. However, there are times where you are speaking something of a higher level and confuses me. I can also see that you are really trying to help those that are trying to understand. I have learn a lot from you, like, learning how to tackle a problem and getting it solve, using another method to solve the question etc.

If you really want me to squeeze out an area of improvement for you, I would say that sometimes you are speaking too fast and some alien language, and maybe you can work on it.

With that.
Thanks for all you had done.
See you around.

sjteo said...

Hi Guys,

Reading your feedback have gave me some positive reinforcements to continue my way of teaching programming and continue to make the lessons more interesting.

I speak fast... very fast.... because there is a need to cover all the bases given the finite time. Compared relatively to the previous years, I have toned down a little bit. But speaking too slow or waiting for everybody will make me feel bored.

cedric, I agreed that copying and modify a little bit so that can upload as "homework". Doing this is exactly not doing the person himself/herself a good service. Practically doing some form of self denial.

hui hui, you can subscribe RSS/atom feed for my reply instead of polling on my blog. hehe

karim, questions from me???? Setting questions need some form of inspirations too. Some of them is already on the blog.

SIC!!! Sharing is Caring.

sjteo said...

Hi Guys,

Alien language??? As much as I want to speak in Na'vi or Elven... I doubt anybody could understand me...So, I speak English.

I tend to geek speak when I got exited on a particular topic.

Usually I cite some phrases or uses the way of pronouncing from contemporary geek pop culture such as Star Wars, Starcraft, computer sci-fi lingo and more.

Time to watch these movies after your exams!

yanyan 2b01 said...

it is an effective way for us to learn programming by posting codes.ur teaching is quite clear .but some of ur lesson,i cannot catch what u taught.so, i think u may try to slow down a bit.because every student has a different level of programming.i know it is quite hard to cover everyone. but at least u may take a look majority of us. u may try ur best to minimise the gap between those good ones and bad ones.

thank you

Saravanan said...

Firstly, sorry for the late reply Sir.
I have learned a lot of things from you. Though I had a tough time adjusting to the way you teach but I liked it when i had adjusted to it.

About the blog.You have really spent alot of time and put in hardwork to come up with this and take a look at our codes. This has helped my drastically catch up in my weaker areas in the subject(eg iterator).

Your teaching style was demanding. Thus I have to come to lessons better prepared and read up.You concentrated more on the understanding and concept rather than the coding. Your teaching increased my interest in writing programs.

For improvements,there is nothing significant. You could have spent more time in topics such as 'Class and Objects' as understanding it is very important for other topics.
You could have also made a separate set of notes for each topic as it would be useful for people who didn't buy the textbook.

It was a great time being in your class. A thought of it makes me miss it.It was an interactive and an enjoyable class.

kokrong2b/01 said...

sir, your teaching is great and post code to blog make me learn to write code and make it as a refrence. however, i feel that you have to consider that people who might understand what you had taught but might not know how to start write the code, u may seem that is just a commom mistake like the function had to be place outside the main program.

Ng Yushan/2B01 said...

Mr.Teo, I like the way of posting our code on the blog because if anybody is on LOA. The person still can refer to those posted codes as reference. As through that, we can learn many ways of programming ways as different people have different ways of handling the question(s).

To be honest, I only catch those important keywords you said in class and most of the time I am surfing facebook :X

Apart from those dry code programming, I have learnt from you the different approach of dealing with the questions. Like using objects to simulate the question first then starts to write codes. As for last time, I will write code and do trail and error.

I think for some question to be programmed in class, more time should be given. As some of us had difficulty dealing with it. And maybe some of us prefer the old ways of how teacher teach. Like teacher program and show on the screen and run the program for the student to analyse.

For everything, thank you to you for your time and effort for us.

chekyong said...

I find the procedures of posting the code on your blog too complicated. I hope you can find a better solution that enable students to do a simple copy and paste. I also hope you can go easy on the accelerator and slow down the pace of your teaching. Sometimes you are going just too fast and I don't know what is going on.

sjteo said...

yu shan,
I been through the process of the "generic" method (it is not an old method btw) where my lecturer/professor would just show us the "sample". Most of the students would have the impression that they just need to produce something similar to the process of the software displayed and they are safe from the chopping board. The fear of being too different from the rest of the crowd and get a "bad" grade is quite imenmpt in the creative students.

The only benefit of doing this is, the deliverables will have a very small standard deviation from the "model answer". The teacher would be more than happy to grade/view/mark this type of deliverables.

Thus, the deliverables of the students bare some form of resemblances to one and another.

So the questions come begging, should the students only learn how to "parroting" (repeat the same thing after the lecturer/professor) or learn how to apply some thought process

Very less emphasise on the "thinking process" on how to get it done from problem statements to the final code output. which I try to make it happend in my class.

yanyan,
It is always the challenge to bridge the gap between the best, the average and those that nearly fail. If my intention was to bridge the gap by waiting for everybody to cross the finish line, the best would feel bored in my class and play games, facebook, msn because of the infinite waiting, the average would be happy because they are on par with everybody else and the nearly fail would be less stressed because there is no hurry.

So my take is to bring the best of everybody (if possible), e.g those that crossed the finishing line first would have challenge questions waiting for them. those that have not crossed would take a look at how others (the best) have completed it and ask me to help debug. those that nearly fail would feel the competition and the need to buck up instead of sitting in one corner of the class and relax.

saravanan,
I would like to hear from you regarding adjusting to the way I teach, what is the elements that made it "feel" tough? regarding the book, remember the 10% method i mentioned?! hahaha. feel free to use it.

kok rong,
In the lessons, I always emphasis on understanding what is the problem statement(s) and what are the requirements. Follow by coming out with a system design first. At each blocks in the system, use the "flow chart method" to help you come out with the pseudo code. Coding is the last of the process. If nothing works, debug and code again.

Chekyong,

I agreed on posting code beeing alittle too tedious at the beginning. "refer to my entry on pasting code". BUt if you have played with HTML, the process is really trivial.
I stumble upon snipt.net which I think reduces all this extra steps to get code pasting done. Which many of the students have used it.

A.Saravanan. said...

As you wanted to hear from me regarding adjusting to the way you teach and the elements that made it "feel" tough?

In programing I feel that there are two very important things that one has to master. "Understanding" and "code writing". Both of it goes side by side and without either of it it would be tough.

In your teaching you concentrated mainly on understanding(ob & classes). For me i prefer learning the coding first then understand it by looking through and practicing some simple programs.
Thus it would be good if you teach more on the coding in class, especially on objects and classes.

You could have also spent more time on 'objects and classes.' compared to STL. I find that many of my classmates also found it difficult to understand the topic fully at a short period of time.