Midterm evaluations, Fall 2007 Math21a

Thanks for filling out our internal midterm evaluations. Here is a summary:

Textbook:

Summary: Most like it.

Quotes: Could have more examples", "Very helpful and has great explanations for everything", "Nothing special, but not bad either", "sometimes does not line up with lecture", "too easy practice exercices, not useful for exams", "stuff on exam not found in book", "problem quality: mediocre", "solid and clear", "not bad at all", "expensive but good".

What we will do about it: nothing. Continue bug publishers to get the prises down.

Hourly:

Summary: The difficulty level seemed have been ok. Some found it too easy, others challenging. Almost everybody praised the practice exams.

Honorable quotes: "The T/F questions were a pain". "It would have been nice if some problems had been more intellectuallyi challengeing rather than computational", "It was a lot to complete in the time alotted", "Some T/F questions were very tricky", "the hourly was a bit easy", "just right length and difficulty", "Too hard!", "grading should be more normalized", "last problem was hit or miss", "I would have liked some more time",

What we will do about it: We will continue to have plenty of practice exams available. While we had one person grading a problem or part of a problem, each grader had its own grading key. That is fair since all exams are graded with the same measure. However, individual graders often have very different approaches. We think that is ok but even try to make it more coordinated.

Homework:

Summary: Over 96 percent think the homework is just ok and has the right difficulty. About 1 percent thinks it is too easy, 3 percent it is too hard.

What we will do about it: We currently choose some of the most difficult homework problems in the book.

Lectures:

Summary: The mast majority of students thing the sections are taught very effective.

Honorable quote: "Some more concrete examples would be helpful".

What we will do about it: make it even better.

Website:

Summary: The website is considered well organized.

Honoroable quote: "The Halloween music scared me!", "More handouts should be there." "A review of each section should be there". "More practice problems".

What we will do about it: Replace the painted blood on the website with real blood next Halloween. About the handouts: we do not want to overwhelm people with handouts. Reading the book is already enough. The crucial handouts will be there. We might put summaries of each lecture later in the semester. About practice problems: for the second midterm we will put 4 practice exams.

MQC

Summary: Those who go seem to like it. About a third to a half of the class seems have seen it.

Honorable quote: "Awesome, always people there to help."

Problem sessions

Summary Those who go, like it. But not seem to make use of it.

Honorable quotes: "I like the individual attention". "Open ended discussions, some TFs are especially friendly and helpful".

What we will do about it: Advertize.