Student feedback

Anonymous feedback was collected from the students using the web-based feedback system of the department. 14 out of 15 students provided feedback. All except the last question where answer using the scale of 1-5 to (1 = 'disagree', 5 = 'agree'). Here is a brief summary of the feedback.

Questions with scale 1-5

1. The learning objectives of the course were clear to me from the start ('I knew what I was supposed to learn'). Average: 4,1; range: 3-5
2. The learning material used during the course (such as exercises, lecture material, other literature) supported my reaching the learning objectives. Average 3,9; range 1-5
3. The course activities (such as scheduling, instruction, other teaching) supported my reaching the learning objectives. Average: 3,7; range 1-5
4. The assessment of the course (such as exercises, exams, distribution of points) measured the attainment of the primary learning objectives. Average 3,9; range 1-5
5. The course was laborious. Average 3,7; range 2-5
6. As a whole, I give the course the following grade: Average 4; range 3-5

Free feedback

The feedback form then provided an option to give comments on anything related to course. Here are selected comments that represent the different opinions and ideas.

Overall course organization, problem-based learning

+ The problem-based approach was quite useful and helped a lot in understanding the key concepts. -- Considering our society is largely goal oriented, one of the things often overlooked in the school environment and otherwise is the process of reaching a goal itself. The course was a lot of fun and excitement and is actually something I will remember. -- Personally I learned a lot and what is more important that I learned how to use things in practise. I don't know how this course can be graded but I think this fullfills the aim of the studies: "Non scholae sed vitae discimus". -- The course was a) fun b) something to have positive memories about. Having a fun factor is the way (and the efficient one too) to learn things. School does not have to be boring or tedious, but unfortunately in most cases it really is. More of such courses please. -- Overall the course was perfect.

+/- Still have mixed feelings about the way the course is taught. On the one hand, I liked the more practical approach, on the other hand, I usually learn very well with lectures AND (graded) exercises. I would not have minded an exam in the end at all.

- The general feeling is that there was a lot of wasted time. Empty lecture days just because noone asked for anything; doing minitests individually, then groups, then globally... Also, there was too much feedback expected (learning journals, group learning, etc.) that, in my opinion, was 100% useless to the students, even if I understand that it helps teachers improve the course.

Organization of groups and problems

At the beginning there should have been a small individual implementation task and groups should divided after that. -- It would be better if there was some guide line about which things we need to study and a little brief about each task at the start of each lecture.

Organization of sessions

The topic of each the course's session can be more concrete. Many of them don't need 3 hours so much. -- I would like to have 1 hour of lecture, then the project talks. -- It would be good to have some kind of lectures together with groupwork -- The course was not laborious and not very difficult, but very time-consuming. It could be possible to reduce time spent in the class as we have to spend a lot of time working in the group. -- [Also see the negative comment above for waste of time.]

Reporting

The requirements and the coverage of the reporting should have more clear. -- [Also see the negative comment above for useless reporting.]

Mini tests

Overall quizes were great and very useful for personal learning.

Course contents

The content of the course may contain some other technology about the current popular issues, like recommendation system.

Counter feedback from the teacher (Hannu)

This is the second time I ran the course in a problem-based manner. In this form of learning, the students are required to accept responsibility for their own learning, and partially also for learning of their group members. Again, I was for the most part positively surprised how active and curious the students can be. Also, the student-perceived value of exercises (called mini tests or quizes in this course) and lectures (of which there were very few in the end) seemed to increase when the students were more clearly charged with the responsibility of learning (for themselves or for life).

It is clear that this kind of course organization does not suit everyone's tastes and preferences. In the first lecture, I tried to be very clear about the working style of the course and encouraged everyone to make up their mind if they want to take the course this way or rather read the book and take the exam. (Just like last year, a good amount of students decided to not take the course this way. The number of drop-outs during the course was very small.)

Based on the numerical and verbal feedback from students, the course still divided the participants. The majority was in general happy about the adopted problem-based style while some were critical. (For questions 2-4 in the feedback form, there are clearly to clusters of answers: a positive cluster with 10-13 students, then a gap, e.g., no "maybe" answers at all, and then a negative cluster of 1-4 students.) Compared to last year's course, the opinions were more strongly split.

The student feedback above gives a number of valuable suggestions for improving the course in the future. Some additional comments from the discussion at the end of the course, as well as from other feedback from students: (a) more lectures, to make better use fo the teachers' expertize, (b) better instructions for what is expected from reports and how grading is done.

I conclude with a comment I made last year and sign this year, too: Overall, my impression is that students in this course have learned much more than they would have had in a normal course, and that the learning is much more permanent. However, coverage of the material and theory is not as systematic as in a normal lecture course, but I am not worried about that.

Thank you for your active participation in the course. I wish you all a nice summer!