Here are a few thoughts I have based upon your feedback:
(a) I absolutely agree that more time should have been allocated to Wicket. Next time, I think I will skip or severely shorten the "CLI" assignment in order to provide more time for a Wicket-based project. Although my thought at the time was that the CLI was a nice transition to Wicket, I think that the result was too little time to absorb a fairly complicated framework.
(b) I see now that I went overboard on the videos during some weeks. Your feedback was very surprising to me because, at the time, I thought it was a "feature", not a "bug", that I could ramble on for hours on end about a topic and not be constrained by the limits of the in-class time. Now I understand that I have to self-regulate a bit more so as to not overwhelm students with material in a given week.
(c) I was not aware that the microphone volume was too low. I will do some experiments to see if I can bring up the volume for future screencasts. Thanks for letting me know.
(d) I totally agree that access to the readings was frustrating, and of course this was not news to me. I think I'm going to have to go back to simply having students purchase the books in future semesters. I feel bad about that, but unless the library "seats" situation improves, I'm not sure how else to deal with it.
(e) I empathize with the students who felt frustrated by some of their group work experiences. I wish there was some way to guarantee that every student taking the class would be equally motivated and equally responsible to their group. However, I feel strongly that despite this structural problem with group work, it is still a vitally important part of the class and that it would be worse to revert back to individual assignments. My hope is that mechanisms like the Software ICU help incentivize as many students as possible to do their fair share. Having said all that, my personal experience is that Fall 2008 had one of the lowest levels of group strife ever in the history of the class. Comparatively speaking, I had very few anguished emails about the dysfunctionality of a group.
If, after reading the reviews or this response, you have some further thoughts to add, don't hesitate to email me personally or (better yet) reply to this discussion so that others can read and add their own reflections. I continue to be interested in your thoughts and perspectives.
What are your thoughts on having people form their own groups as opposed to you assigning people randomly to groups? Personally, I like the idea of working with people whom I already know. On the other hand, I also like to try new things, like working with different people each time. Both have their own pros and cons; I don't mind either way, but some people on this discussion list may.
Regards, BJ Peter DeLaCruz
On Mon, Jan 18, 2010 at 3:30 PM, Philip Johnson <philipmjohn...@gmail.com>wrote:
> Here are a few thoughts I have based upon your feedback:
> (a) I absolutely agree that more time should have been allocated to > Wicket. Next time, I think I will skip or severely shorten the "CLI" > assignment in order to provide more time for a Wicket-based project. > Although my thought at the time was that the CLI was a nice transition > to Wicket, I think that the result was too little time to absorb a > fairly complicated framework.
> (b) I see now that I went overboard on the videos during some weeks. > Your feedback was very surprising to me because, at the time, I > thought it was a "feature", not a "bug", that I could ramble on for > hours on end about a topic and not be constrained by the limits of the > in-class time. Now I understand that I have to self-regulate a bit > more so as to not overwhelm students with material in a given week.
> (c) I was not aware that the microphone volume was too low. I will do > some experiments to see if I can bring up the volume for future > screencasts. Thanks for letting me know.
> (d) I totally agree that access to the readings was frustrating, and > of course this was not news to me. I think I'm going to have to go > back to simply having students purchase the books in future > semesters. I feel bad about that, but unless the library "seats" > situation improves, I'm not sure how else to deal with it.
> (e) I empathize with the students who felt frustrated by some of their > group work experiences. I wish there was some way to guarantee that > every student taking the class would be equally motivated and equally > responsible to their group. However, I feel strongly that despite this > structural problem with group work, it is still a vitally important > part of the class and that it would be worse to revert back to > individual assignments. My hope is that mechanisms like the Software > ICU help incentivize as many students as possible to do their fair > share. Having said all that, my personal experience is that Fall 2008 > had one of the lowest levels of group strife ever in the history of > the class. Comparatively speaking, I had very few anguished emails > about the dysfunctionality of a group.
> If, after reading the reviews or this response, you have some further > thoughts to add, don't hesitate to email me personally or (better yet) > reply to this discussion so that others can read and add their own > reflections. I continue to be interested in your thoughts and > perspectives.
> Thanks again for your thoughtful responses,
> Philip
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--On Monday, January 18, 2010 3:43 PM -1000 BJ Peter DeLaCruz
<bpdelac...@gmail.com> wrote: > What are your thoughts on having people form their own groups as opposed > to you assigning people randomly to groups? Personally, I like the idea > of working with people whom I already know. On the other hand, I also > like to try new things, like working with different people each time. > Both have their own pros and cons; I don't mind either way, but some > people on this discussion list may.
Good question! I agree that there are pros and cons to both. What do others think?
I prefer forming our own groups. I think it's easier for a student to work with people that they already know. I think the group works better if everyone is at the same comfort level. But in the real world, you don't get to choose who your co-workers are and who you work with. So in a way the random grouping will help the student.
On Jan 18, 4:26 pm, Philip Johnson <john...@hawaii.edu> wrote:
> --On Monday, January 18, 2010 3:43 PM -1000 BJ Peter DeLaCruz
> <bpdelac...@gmail.com> wrote: > > What are your thoughts on having people form their own groups as opposed > > to you assigning people randomly to groups? Personally, I like the idea > > of working with people whom I already know. On the other hand, I also > > like to try new things, like working with different people each time. > > Both have their own pros and cons; I don't mind either way, but some > > people on this discussion list may.
> Good question! I agree that there are pros and cons to both. What do > others think?
Maybe it would have been better to work with random people for the CLI project, and then let everyone choose their own teammates for the Wicket project, as opposed to randomly working with people for both projects.
On Mon, Jan 18, 2010 at 5:04 PM, David Joel Lazaro <djplaz...@gmail.com>wrote:
> I prefer forming our own groups. I think it's easier for a student to > work with people that they already know. I think the group works > better if everyone is at the same comfort level. But in the real > world, you don't get to choose who your co-workers are and who you > work with. So in a way the random grouping will help the student.
> On Jan 18, 4:26 pm, Philip Johnson <john...@hawaii.edu> wrote: > > --On Monday, January 18, 2010 3:43 PM -1000 BJ Peter DeLaCruz
> > <bpdelac...@gmail.com> wrote: > > > What are your thoughts on having people form their own groups as > opposed > > > to you assigning people randomly to groups? Personally, I like the idea > > > of working with people whom I already know. On the other hand, I also > > > like to try new things, like working with different people each time. > > > Both have their own pros and cons; I don't mind either way, but some > > > people on this discussion list may.
> > Good question! I agree that there are pros and cons to both. What do > > others think?
> > Philip
> -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "ics-software-engineering-fall-2009" group. > To post to this group, send email to > ics-software-engineering-fall-2009@googlegroups.com. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > ics-software-engineering-fall-2009+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com<ics-softwar e-engineering-fall-2009%2Bunsubscribe@googlegroups.com> > . > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/ics-software-engineering-fall-2009?hl=en.
