Course Description:
CS 136: Elementary Algorithm Design and Data Abstraction
This course builds on the techniques and patterns learned in CS 135 while making the transition to use of an imperative language. It introduces the design and analysis of algorithms, the management of information, and the programming mechanisms and methodologies required in implementations. Topics discussed include iterative and recursive sorting algorithms; lists, stacks, queues, trees, and their application; abstract data types and their implementations.
Dave's Comments:
Teaching Evaluations:
Number of Respondents: 27 / 87 (31%)
| Evaluate the organization and coherence of the lectures. |
| Excellent | Good | Satisfactory | Unsatisfactory | Very poor | No opinion |
| 23 | 4 | | | | |
| 85% | 15% | | | | |
| At what level were the instructor's explanations aimed? |
| Too high | Somewhat too high | Just right | Somewhat too low | Too low | No opinion |
| 1 | | 23 | 2 | | |
| 4% | | 88% | 8% | | |
| Evaluate the instructor's treatment of students' questions. |
| Excellent | Good | Satisfactory | Unsatisfactory | Very poor | No opinion |
| 18 | 8 | | | 1 | |
| 67% | 30% | | | 4% | |
| Evaluate the effectiveness of the instructor's visual presentation (blackboard, overheads, etc.). |
| Excellent | Good | Satisfactory | Unsatisfactory | Very poor | No opinion |
| 22 | 5 | | | | |
| 81% | 19% | | | | |
| Evaluate the effectiveness of the instructor's oral presentation. |
| Excellent | Good | Satisfactory | Unsatisfactory | Very poor | No opinion |
| 26 | 1 | | | | |
| 96% | 4% | | | | |
| Was the instructor available for help outside of class? |
| Always | Most of the time | Often enough | Not often enough | Never | I did not seek help |
| 15 | 7 | | | | 5 |
| 56% | 26% | | | | 19% |
| Did you find the course interesting? |
| Very Interesting | Interesting | Not interesting | No opinion |
| 20 | 6 | 1 | |
| 74% | 22% | 4% | |
| Evaluate the overall effectiveness of the instructor as a teacher. |
| Excellent | Good | Satisfactory | Unsatisfactory | Very poor | No opinion |
| 25 | 2 | | | | |
| 93% | 7% | | | | |
| What proportion of lectures did you attend in this course? |
| 90-100% | 75-90% | 50-75% | 25-50% | < 25% |
| 23 | 1 | 2 | 1 | |
| 85% | 4% | 7% | 4% | |
| Was the assigned work (assignments, projects, etc.) helpful in learning the course content? |
| Very helpful | Helpful | Not helpful | No work assigned | No opinion |
| 20 | 7 | | | |
| 74% | 26% | | | |
| Were the printed notes (if any) helpful in learning the course content? |
| Very helpful | Helpful | Not helpful | No printed course notes | No opinion |
| 11 | 8 | 2 | 6 | |
| 41% | 30% | 7% | 22% | |
| Was the required textbook (if any) helpful in learning the course content? |
| Very helpful | Helpful | Not helpful | No text required | No opinion |
| 3 | 3 | 5 | 14 | |
| 12% | 12% | 20% | 56% | |
| Did the course introduce an appropriate amount of new material? |
| Too much | Somewhat too much | Okay | Somewhat too little | Too little | No opinion |
| 2 | 1 | 21 | 2 | | |
| 8% | 4% | 81% | 8% | | |
| Was the amount of assigned work required for the course appropriate? |
| Too much | Somewhat too much | Okay | Somewhat too little | Too little | No opinion |
| 3 | 7 | 16 | | | |
| 12% | 27% | 62% | | | |
| On average, how many hours per week did you spend on this course outside of lectures? |
| 0-2 hours | 3-6 hours | 7-10 hours | 11-15 hours | > 15 hours |
| 1 | 3 | 9 | 7 | 7 |
| 4% | 11% | 33% | 26% | 26% |
| At what level were the instructor's explanations aimed? |
- [Somewhat too low] I think it's natural, since it's a first year course, but at times he does go a bit too slow. Probably doesn't need to use up the entire 1h20.
| Evaluate the instructor's treatment of students' questions. |
- [Very poor] Piazza answers were rude.
| On average, how many hours per week did you spend on this course outside of lectures? |
- [> 15 hours] The assignments usually take a lot of time to complete and this makes us neglect other courses and often gives us sleepless nights
Note: This is a complete list of comments I received, listed alphabetically to avoid bias.
| Please mention anything that you feel the instructor has done well in this course. |
- Amazing lecturer
- Dave Tompkins was the best professor so far for me.
- Dave was phenomenal, kept me interested at all times and provided explanations that made sense, and if not he was able to explain it in a different way I could understand.
- Dave's lectures have always been one of the things that I look forward to every single week. He makes them engaging, fun, and overall a great experience. He makes boring, mundane concepts fun and engaging, and he explains things in a way that is really memorable!
- Effectively explains concepts in a manner that is accessible to learners. Has a good sense of humour that makes even dry topics interesting. Also shows movie clips before class. Is extremely considerate to students as he tries to make grading as equitable as possible and makes sure that everyone is comfortable learning the content.
- Everything.
- Excellent teaching! 10/10
- Gave amazing engaging lectures!
- Good explanations.
- He always kept the lecture entertaining, boosting my motivation to come to lectures. He well explained the concepts that would have been challenging to understand.
- He's just a great prof overall. Keeps the students engaged and knows his stuff.
- I wish I can be in another course you teach (not 1XX tho).
- Incredible teaching. The best prof!
- Lectures are engaging and interesting, instructor explains concepts extremely well using helpful analogies and examples, entertaining and funny
- Relate to the students and make content unintimidating
- The instructor was good at explaining complicated concepts and pieces of code.
| Please make constructive comments about anything in the instructor's technique or style that could, in your opinion, be improved. |
- -
- Give us a bit more time to work on clicker questions (sometimes by the time I fully understand the question time is up so I don't have as much time to think of the answer).
- Good analogies and examples in class.
- His style's unique in that he tries to relate to students and occasionally, his attempts at humour may be a bit too excessive.
- I really don't even know what to say here. Dave surpassed any expectations I had, even though they were already slightly higher than usual after hearing how great he was.
- Maybe cut back on some of the crude jokes.
- No problem with Dave Tompkins; however, other instructors or TA’s piazza answers were sometimes rude and gave no respect to the students.
- None I can think of
- Room kinda hot.
- Sometimes repeats simple points too much, however this may be helpful for other students
| What were the strong points of the course? |
- Basics of C, understanding it right
- Fun
- Good support from the ISAs and the instructors.
- I liked learning about computer memory and pointers.
- Interesting, great teaching
- Lectures and helpful assignments
- Lots of interesting materials that challenged me to think in new ways, and I enjoyed getting to apply them to the assignments.
- Teaches a broad range of topics that opens the door to upper levels CS courses such that there is always something interesting to learn. Pace is good as there is enough time allocated for the instructor to cover the topics in class but not too slow as to become monotonous. The course notes encompass the topics effectively as to make for effective review material.
- Was pretty fun programming stuff
| What were the weak points of the course? |
- -
- Nothing that stood out.
- Seashell doesn't seem very relevant in the workplace.
- Some assignments' grading scheme was flawed. One tiny mistake or lack of clarity in a question would cause you to fail that question
- Sometimes it would get a little bit boring and I found it hard to pay attention, but this is mostly due to me having a shorter attention span.
- The assignments are too long
- Too much work, and little information when doing assignments.
- We should have another assignment dealing with floats/doubles. Like calculating tax for a bunch of people/family structs.
| Was the class atmosphere affected either positively or negatively by attitudes of the instructor or students, e.g., with respect to gender, race, ability, appearance? Please explain. |
- Good mix, but [racist comment removed]
- Great.
- He always kept the lecture fun. He sometimes made jokes that was personally a little too much, but otherwise, he always kept the atmosphere positive.
- I felt like Dave was completely fair towards everyone, regardless of any differences between the individuals.
- No
- positively. He brought humor to a classroom of serious and driven students.
| Any other comments, e.g., class size, suitability of room, noise level, etc. |
- Class size was a little bit of an issue, as sometimes it'd be really hard to find a place to sit. Also, some people were a little stinky but there's not much anyone can do about that one.
- Dave Tompkins is a god. Nuff said.
- I really disliked the class orientation. the doors are on one side, and you need to walk through the row to get a seat on the other side of the doors. Entering and leaving the classroom is a pain and a mess.
- Maybe some more space? It was kind of packed
- No
- Room was normally uncomfortably hot
- Too large class
- Where's the air flow?
- Worst room ever. Please use a better room next time with proper air flow and heating/cooling.