Term: Autumn 2002
Credits: 0-5 ECTS
Teacher: Jyrki Katajainen
In total, 12 students were registered for this course. Of these eight got credit points; one student did not get his credit points since I did not receive any course evaluation from him, which was a compulsory part of the course, so his credit points are not released yet.
Of the eight evaluations four were empty since the students took part only a few of the activities (they gave a presentation). Below I list uncensored all the comments I received from the four students who completed an evaluation form. I give my own comments at the end.
Students A and B used an evaluation form where the alternatives were terrible, bad, good, or excellent. Students C and D used another form where the alternatives were 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5; 1 meaning terrible, too little, too easy etc. and 5 meaning excellent, too big, too difficult etc.
Lectures: excellent
It was a good idea to make article writing part of the course.
Topics: good
Topics were relevant but difficult. It would be good to have an
introductory course first.
Course material: good
Own activity: good
General impression: excellent
Lectures: good
Exercises: good
Topics: good
Course material: good
Own activity: bad
I should have done a written project.
General impression: good
Did the course fulfill your expectations?: 5
Was the course too big compared to the given credit?: 3
How difficult was the course?: 3
How big effort was required from your side?: 3
Was the course well designed?: 5
What was the quality of the course material?: 5
Was the material presented in an understandable way?: 5
What is your general impression of the course?: 5
Did the course fulfill your expectations?: 1.5
Was the course too big compared to the given credit?: 3
How difficult was the course?: 4
How big effort was required from your side?: 3
Was the course well designed?: 3
What was the quality of the course material?: 3
Was the material presented in an understandable way?: 1
What is your general impression of the course?: 1
What was good in the course?
"Det var godt selv at fremlægge."
What was bad in the course?
"Fremlæggelserne var alt for ustrukturerede og rodede. Det var
frygteligt at folk ikke havde forstået stoffet nok til at give en
præsentation andre kunne følge. Derfor blev timerne en rodet og
uforståelig diskussion."
Personally I felt that it was difficult to activate the students, but perhaps I should have tried harder. Only one of the students continued the course with a written project.
The comment of Student D that some of the presentations were difficult to follow is correct. I had read the presented papers so I knew their contents. In our meetings I tried to help the presenter to understand the subject better, but I ignored the audience. I should have pushed the students to read the papers beforehand --- and use the opponents as I planned in the beginning --- so that at least the opponents would have been able to follow the discussions and possibly also help the presenter.
Copenhagen, 16 January 2003
Jyrki Katajainen