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1. What are aspects of the course so far that are positive and should be sustained?
- The classroom discussions are useful, because they help to clarify the complex materials that we read on our own. But I think the best things we do involve hands on activities, whether it be the PITA board or something else, these are more directly applied. The swiki is also a benefit to this class; I really like how it brings our class together over the internet.
2. What do you think about the following parts of the course?
2.1. Lectures
- Sometimes I find the lecture material interesting and informative, while other times I can’t exactly find the relevance to the topic. It is very difficult to take notes during lecture, because of the abstract nature of some of the discussion.
2.2. Guest Lectures
- Nice break from traditional learning shows us how the concepts we are studying can be applied in the real world.
2.3. "practical sessions" (EDC, PitaBoard, Role Playing)
- Also a nice break from the lectures, they allow us to interact in a more informal situation. Fun class periods.
2.4. small assignments
- Somewhat tedious because we answer the same questions from every assignment. But on the other hand it is also helpful to repeat the questions because then you know what to look for while reading the paper.
2.5. efforts of getting course participants involved in the course
- It is always hard to get students to participate when they are not comfortable talking in front of other people, but I think that as we get further into the course everyone will become more comfortable talking in class.
2.6. use of the Swiki in the course
- The swiki is helpful and fun. It lets us submit our own work and look at the work of our classmates, for both past and present assignments. (An example of indirect collaboration?)
2.7. peer-to-peer learning (e.g., to which extent did it happen in your case)
- I think that right now peer-to-peer learning is going on throughout the class because of the groups we are working in for the projects. It is helping me to better understand the ideas of cognition and collaboration. I also think that each student in the class has some unique concept or comment to contribute, and that helps in the group learning process.
2.8. Independent research activities
- I liked the idea of picking a topic from a list of suggested readings and researching it, then presenting a report of some sort. However, as I understand it now, the “independent” research project is actually a group project in which you choose a team and a topic to investigate. For my group the two projects are connected in that the first will describe what we have gathered from the readings and then lay a foundation for the study we will conduct in the second project.
2.9. Course projects
3. Which improvements would you like to see for the course?
- Possibly a little more time spent on new concepts and big computer science words (and names for that matter).
4. Self-assessment – please let us know how well YOU think you have done in the course Think about this in terms of your performances in:
4.1. please give an honest answer about how much time and effort you have put into your work so far (work hard <--> last-minute effort <--> minimum effort to get by)
- The articles that we are assigned to read are relatively long and sometimes dry and wordy, so it takes some time to get through them and comprehend them. It takes sometimes about two hours to read through them completely and then as much as another hour to answer the questions. I try to read as many pages as I can in between the due dates, but it is hard having one assignment due before each class. It doesn’t give me enough time to really understand each article and let it sink in. Sometimes my answers reflect my minimal understanding. I usually have to work right up until the deadline to get the assignment completed.
4.2. Participation (including class participation; attendance ...);
- I participate in class and I try hard to contribute everyday.
4.3. Small assignments
4.4. Your effort thus far in the independent research activities
- we have just started working with our groups on the project, so there isn’t much work to report on. We are still in the initial stages; we are still planning and organizing things. But by next week we will have made some significant progress.
4.5. Your effort thus far in your project
- I haven’t had very much assigned to do so far, but I have read a few articles about our topic. I need to read some others and take notes to share with my team. With a healthy-sized team of five I think I will be able to carry my fair share of the work.
5. What do you hope to learn from this course?
- I hope to learn about better ways to work with others in a goal-oriented environment/situation.
5.1. Originally before the course started?
- (see above and…) how design, learning and collaboration interrelate.
5.2. Now (close to the end of February?)
- Well, I would like to learn a little bit more about what computer science is behind all the code and the tech terms. I would like a better understanding about how we figured out computers and how we get them to do such extraordinary things.
6. Anything else you would like us to know?
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