1) Multiple Choice

Did you have any prior programming experience?

Response

Percentage

Yes

29
(54.7%)

No

24
(45.3%)

Skip

0
(0%)

3) Multiple Choice

Did you know Scheme before taking CS1101S?

Response

Percentage

Yes

1
(1.9%)

No

49
(92.5%)

Others
   1. Just heard of it as an MIT-developed language
   2. I knew scheme existed and that it was a functional programming language but not the concepts
   3. -

3
(5.7%)

1) Multiple Choice

How do you find the lectures?

Response

Percentage

I have no clue what the lecturer is talking about most of the time

1
(1.9%)

I have no idea what's happening half the time

5
(9.4%)

Lectures are no different from the other classes on campus

6
(11.3%)

Lectures are clear and I am able to follow the material quite well

19
(35.8%)

Lectures are way cool. Easily the best class that I've taken at NUS (not like I've taken a lot, but...)

14
(26.4%)

Others
   1. sometimes I understand sometimes I dun. I get the concepts but dun understand the code.
   2. Challenging to keep up
   3. I am able to follow the material well but there are some topics in which I don't get everything which is taught
   4. Lectures are interesting!
   5. I tend to get like maybe 70% of what is going on, but there are certain days that I have absolutely no idea what in the world is going on.
   6. Lectures are interesting even though I do not understand half of it most of the time. Its lively and engaging.
   7. You're good as a lecturer for scheme, as in I understand most of what you're explaining to us. Or will understand after a bit more thought after lectures. I think I get most of what was taught, with the exception for the harder maths, as my maths is pretty bad.
   8. The lectures are cool! The materials are interesting, definitely my best class! However they're somehow overwhelming for 2-hour lecture. Cannot follow without reading about them before class.

8
(15.1%)

Skip

0
(0%)

2) Essay

Feedback for Lecturer Ben Leong.

1. Good!

2. It's the only class where the lecturer takes a personal interest in every student ;)

3. pace is reasonable most of the time. classes are interesting. Prof Ben's nice and funny. :)

4. Very good. For me, I learnt from you not only the programming concepts, but also some optimistic attitudes towards study and life, which I think is very helpful.

5. You are a good lecturer. Sometimes you go through things too fast especially if people ask a lot of questions at a particular lecture. I know you keep saying that lectures are not enough but I feel a lot of students would like to understand as much as possible in lecture first before reading the slides on their own. Sometimes, some students also ask questions that are answered later in a few slides. Perhaps what you could do is, if you think you are going through a particularly tough-to-understand lecture, you could inform us beforehand to note down questions on a piece of paper first and then you could answer the questions either during the break or after class.

6. quite good

7. He is cool and the way he teaches is mindblowing

8. I don't think there is any method i would prefer to have the lecture in, just keep the webcast, it's a life saver...

9. Dr Ben is far more engaging and most other lecturers. Although one might attribute this to the smaller class size, I feel that it has more to do with the teaching style. Most other lectures serve to propagate information and knowledge, while tutorials serve to validate understanding. For CS1101S however, Dr Ben actually teaches during the lectures and periodically checks on his audience to ensure receptiveness.

10. You've put in a lot of hard work lecturing for the class. Thank you very much and keep up the good spirit.

11. Very fun lecturer. Easily the most interesting lecturer I've encountered. Lectures are almost never boring with him. Speaks too fast and in Singlish sometimes, which might be a problem for foreigners, but definitely no problem for me. In fact, I can relate better to him this way!

12. Great lecturer. Tries to cater to the slower students since the faster/brighter ones can make do with slower pace but not the other way round. Haha. Incorporates some jokes during lecture time to make it less stressing and probably to "extend" our attention span, especially dealing with things that are cheem. Has many many versions to his lecture. From V1 to V1.11 for eg. Hahaha. applies to PS, DG and rec too. really dedicated to his work. Awesome. (5000 word limit is like too much.... longer than any essay I've written)

13. You're very dedicated to teaching. That's what I really appreciate. Thank you! : )

14. It's quite difficult for me to listen to him in the first time. He talk quite fast :(. But now, I can listen and understand what he says :)

15. Maybe cut back on the administrative stuff at the beginning of the lecture so people will have more time to ask questions later.

16. The lectures are clear, fun and thought provoking! Great job, prof!

17. maybe he needs to emphasize/reinforce the main point he is trying to teach us... sometimes, I cannot catch the main point.

18. Cool! A lot of laughters.

19. Pretty good, sometimes rushes through things, but I suppose it doesn't happen that often

20. I like your lecture style!

21. I wanted to choose the "I have no clue what the lecturer is talking about most of the time" option just for kicks, but decided not to :P Nothing much for feedback, it REALLY is my favorite lecture in nus so far... and i like the fact that you can crack and take jokes. =D oh, and all the best being a father! ^_^

22. It would be extremely good if he speaks a little slow. He goes too fast.

23. He is the most interesting Computing lecturer I have ever seen. Humorous, intelligent and warm person...haha:)

24. You are cool Professor. It's fun to study the module. You make it a lot of fun.

25. i get the concepts but dun understand the code.

26. Dr Ben is a very enthusiastic teacher, but he should talk slower.

27. Cool Lecturer, but find his lectures a bit fast paced. Understandable and clear though.

28. Examples are good...

29. Dedicated, reliable, kind, easy to relate to and understand. Lectures are enjoyable and fun!

30. Very good! Friendly and easy to approach. Explanation always is very good.

31. You're good as a lecturer for scheme, as in I understand most of what you're explaining to us. Or will understand after a bit more thought after lectures.

32. nice guy

33. -

34. Thank you, Dr Ben. You are cool and sometimes make the dying class revived. However, at the begin of the lectures, the pace of class is a little bit faster..

35. Excellent Professor...way cool. Does not deviate from the topic and is very smart and hence a suitable teacher for scheme. Very IVLE active...i mean he probably does the most stuff on IVLE...than any other prof in NUS. :)

36. Great Teacher

37. Nothing much. Pretty comprehensive slides. *Thumbs up*

38. I think that he present the idea quite well. But in some cases, I have to practice on Dr Scheme to understand how it works. I think that he should use the interpreter to run all the codes that is in the lecture. It might be helpful if the student hear and see the result.

39. Very clear, creative and humorous.

40. Actually, Dr. Ben is the most enthusiastic lecturer in my first year here :) Thanks for giving us new knowledge and great care for the class! Best wishes to your family and your newly baby :)

41. He is a very fun professor. His lectures usually are clear but they really make you think hard and dwell on what is taught in class. I think overall he is doing a great job.

42. Keep up the good work! Very comical and cute too.

43. Superb! Although sometimes tend to go too fast during lectures.

44. Fantastic lectures given and I really like it.

45. Not much .. Lecturer Ben Leong is as good as they come I suppose... There are some lecturers who can make the class very interesting by infusing humour, others who dazzle and snap on everyone's attention (e.g. Prof Tay Y.C.) but those are just other styles of lecturing and Lecturer Ben's style is pretty effective and good in its own way :)

46. Speak a bit slower. And don't assume everything is very easy!

47. At first, it is quite hard for me to get the picture of the lecture, since I cannot pick up the speed of your perfect speech, haha. I had to listen to the lecture and transferred it to the English which I could get used to easily, then I would translate it into my mother tongue, think about the problems in Chinese and find the solution..-_-||That is to say, during the whole process, many procedures are applied..:P. Fortunately, since I get used to the lecture, I can cancel one step, although it is not efficient enough.. However, I will try my best and I like the relaxed atmosphere of the lecture, hehe, though I cannot get the point of the perfect jokes.. :P

Skip: 6 (10.5%)

9) Essay

Please let us have your suggestions on how the teaching for CS1101S can be improved.

1. Probably some lab sessions

2. Its currently pretty good.. nothing that starkly requires improvement.. altho like they say there is always room for improvement.. haha.. Such as hm.. Less typos.. problems sets.. esp. PS 2, needs to be way better documented (almost everyone was lost ... and required someone to clarify or how the graphing works)

3. I followed well in scheme. But I think some of my classmates do suffer a lot, during lectures and doing problem sets. I think especially at the beginning of this course, too many new concepts are introduced for us. For some guys without programming background, I don't think it's easy for them to handle. Besides, I do think PS2 need to be clarified a bit during lectures so that it won't take us lots of time to think about the key ideas.

4. i hope the lecture can cover more basic rules in scheme language. e.g. primitives.

5. Personal attention on students The prof. should go a little bit slow. I don't know actually as I studied very hard for the mid terms but then still I ended up with a very bad score. So even I don't know where I am wrong, it can be time management problem or the paper was tough.

6. recitations should have problems very similar to exams. gives you the practice you need to be confident of exams.

7. Probably can have some group discussion. Currently I feel kinda left out, so I have to fight on my own:(

8. It's ok like that I guess...

9. CS1101S has 3 hours of lecture, 2 hours of Discussion group, 1 hour for recitation. 3 hours for lecture is not enough to explain and clarify everything. I think that we should have good students (the one who understand most part of the lecture) help the other.

10. More lecture hours would be better...

11. I hope that there will be more and more contests, and let students have more times to do the contests.

12. It's already great! =) Perhaps a better introduction for "what we are suppose to do for problem set" would be good tho... maybe go through in lecture, explaining what the problem set is about and what exactly are the questions asking us to do.

13. ~~keep going

14. Some competition problems...should be awarded extra credits...so that lazy oafs like me...who can think of a algo but wont take the trouble of writing the code will set out to do the problems.....

15. Maybe can go a bit slower for the weaker students to catch up. Emphasize more on basic concepts (spend more time on them).

16. Nothing, everything is fine.

17. Actually I think it's OK.

18. Extended deadlines for all PSes

19. Can try making more connection between different key concepts. (Though a lot better than other modules already..)

20. The schedule of the PS could be improved. It could be such that the a new PS is released only after submission date of the current PS is over. It seems to overlap now and is a bit taxing on our schedules. PS that also requires us to go through the DG first could also be scheduled better. Sometimes it seems like we only have 2 days after the DG to submit the PS and again, might be a problem for some students.

21. Please put more questions of the day.

22. Not so jialat problem sets, though it might be good to sink in some concepts. Overall, fine.

23. I think there should be more problem solving sessions so that we can improve our skills. More practice questions and reviews would be helpful

24. It would be great if we can have lab sessions where we get to try things hands on while we are learning. I have personally been doing that on my own laptop, but it would be great if everyone does that.

25. none really...

26. I think we should have a lab session for studying CS1101S.

27. I feel that examples given are generally not enough/ explanations could have been done in more layman terms. In other words, I had an easier time studying from the textbook than listening to the lectures. However recitation and tutorial materials are appropriate. and the problem sets are challenging enough to test concepts learnt and how to apply them.

28. At a slower pace?

29. It's already quite alright in my opinion.

Skip: 24 (45.2%)

10) Essay

Some students have suggested that we have review sessions. If we hold such sessions, what are the topics that should be reviewed?

1. okay.. so this is kind of not answering the question.. but.. Maybe we can have 2 kinds of review sessions? One to cover the fundamentals and the other to cover harder things like applications of the concepts..

2. List

3. No particular topic. Just ideas in general

4. Key points and the mistakes we usually make...

5. Multiple representations

6. No idea...

7. order of growth. oop. more about concept, I am very lousy at it. and review of frequent mistakes:)

8. The lambda special form, and this might sound abstract, but how to "think" like a computer. This only really occurred to me in the mid term test but I realized if I could think like a computer, many things could be solved more easily. My initial confusion with recursion was also because I couldn't think like a computer.

9. Order of Growth.

10. for me : List (the Map, Filter, Accumulate, etc) Orders of growth Higher order procedures

11. binary tree, gaming...

12. The topic should be clarified in the forum before .

13. Of course, the most basic and the most difficult topic. * The most basic (define, lambda, if, cond, ...) are for student to revise what they have learnt, what they haven't understand clearly, ... * The most difficult like "Data directed programming", "Higher order procedure" should be taken into account.

14. lecture 10 onwards.... i also have miscellaneous doubts in other lectures as well for which i think if the professor gives personal time to each student, it would be good for the student.

15. well mostly it will be back to basics recursion, iteration and trees.

16. higher order procedures

17. Problem Sets and their relations to the stuff we learn in the lectures should be reviewed.

18. The one's....that are usually too long to be compressed in two lectures but probably are..........stuff that requires a lot of eye balling..etc

19. Generic arithmetic

20. I believe that review sessions do not really serve a purpose. If anyone requires additional help, a one-to-one session will definitely be more productive. Review sessions degrade CS1101S to the level of common courses where the focus is in stuffing the students with information and expecting them to regurgitate during the exams.

21. Higher order procedures

22. Order of growth Higher order Abstraction Uh... almost everything lah. Lol.

23. orders of growth....?

24. all we have learned...

25. Binary search tree.

26. Fundamental concepts, recursion, iteration, and basically half the contents taught during lectures.

27. I think the concept of tagging and building a a complex system by using different levels of abstractions are very important and need to be discussed in greater details. Also the signal processing and lists should be reviewed along with strings.

28. New concepts that we haven't practised much

29. The topics that should be reviewed should be discussed nearer to the review sessions as we would better know which topics we are weaker in.

30. the order of growth sets Generic Arithmetic Multiple Representations

31. Those topics which are core to programming such as orders of growth and ideas such as list processing which are very important. asking students on the forum is the way to go.

32. Data structure implementation.

33. do not know

34. Obviously everything

Skip: 19 (35.8%)

11) Essay

Please let us have your feedback on the Compulsory Text, "Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs (SICP)".
 

1. Seldom use it.. coz it's online.

2. Not really easy to understand for me. No answers to check and understand.

3. Is quite informative and detailed. Useful text!

4. Quite comprehensive but not as good as Concrete Abstractions...

5. More relevant to the teaching material than concrete abstractions.

6. its too wordy and hard to understand. feeling as a burden to read it...

7. Can it republish again? I hate to watch it online.

8. Its very useful.

9. it's quite a good book. I'll keep it even I finish CS1102S. Everytime I read it, I can find new and exciting stuff in it.

10. The illustration is not very helpful if we understand the lecture material well. Exercises are good, but will be better if answers could be provided.

11. Comprehensive, but lacking somewhat in the instructional aspect. The design aspect isn't covered very well.

12. I haven't exactly read the SICP. I am mostly relying on the lecture notes, PS, DG and recitation.

13. The textbook is quite good. It covers all the topics in the lecture. But there is an disadvantage: The book is not available in paper form. It 's out of print. So most of the students didn't read it. The exercises in the textbook are very interesting so it 's good to have a chance to work on most of the exercise.

14. I wish I had the hard copy version. And of course solutions to the exercises.

15. It's really cool!!! Full of insights and helps me clarify a lot of concepts and develop the way of thinking (not only in programming).

16. I only read it when I don't understand the lecture notes. Haha. It's a good book, actually. This is because sometimes, I'm able to find good explanations.

17. terrible sometimes I can not get the point

18. I rarely read the book (lol)

19. I think its very useful for this module and is a must read for better understanding of the module.

20. I have not really been reading this book.

21. A bit too detailed in places.

22. I haven't read it yet

23. I don't really use it.

24. Very inaccessible language, which makes it a very technical read and not helpful for purposes of learning (esp. for a first course in computing)

25. It's a good book..

26. Personally, I have not read the text sufficiently to comment. I tend to learn most of the things I know about Scheme by experimenting.

27. I find it interesting and inspiring. The exercises are quite advanced so they help me a lot in understanding the topic better.

28. Very Helpful in understanding but lengthy

29. The textbook is very helpful. But it doesn't have any solution for exercises :(, so I think we should have solution for exercises in this book.

30. it's not as detailed as i would expect from a text book.

31. informative

32. Er... haven't read it much...

33. As it is web-based, it cannot be easily copied over to the PC. Perhaps with permission, we can spider that site and reproduce and distribute it to students as a zip file.

34. Uh, never really read it properly. Oops.

35. An absolutely essential text. I have it in book form thanks to my seniors and am now reading it like I would the bible!

36. Certain examples are really confusing or tough and sometimes don't really know how to begin.

37. Comprehensive and accessible. Though not everyone reads it because much of the contents are covered in lectures.

38. It doesn't have answers for the exercises!!!!

39. Very good book, clear and interesting

40. It's quite comprehensive, but there isn't much time to use it anyway.

Skip: 13 (24.5%)

12) Essay

Please let us have your feedback on the Supplementary Text, "Concrete Abstractions".

1. I only read a few pages. But, I think the SICP is better.

2. I wish I had the hard copy version. And of course solutions to the exercises.

3. At first it seems more user-friendly than SICP, but then later on it seems to get more and more off-syllabus. (maybe cos it IS, after all, defined as the supplementary text)

4. A bit clearer for me compared to SICP

5. Sorry, but I haven't downloaded it yet...

6. Similarly, have not read this text.

7. Its very useful.

8. never seen, so do not know

9. Never read.

10. It is a good book. The exercises scattered all over the book make it easy to understand a concept. The applications are also interesting.

11. -same as above- :)))

12. never read.

13. Reading it is like talking to friend, because it does not use much formal written English...

14. haven't read it before :p

15. I have this text but I haven't used it so far.

16. Sorry, never read it before...

17. Never read it...SICP is enuf

18. I don't really use it.

19. I love the applications at the end of each chapter. They give a good view of how what we've learn can be used in real life.

20. I have the hard-copy of "Concrete Abstractions". It 's not as good as SICP.

21. Good book lah...

22. I Haven't read it yet

23. Ok.. doesnt really provide extra info?

24. Rather good text. It would be better if the pdf has indexed links,

25. i don't have that book and never read it.

26. I hope the examples have answers.

27. no idea

28. It's also nice and includes more details. But in fact no enough time to read through.

29. I've not touched this text at all.

30. This one is a little harder to understand compared to SICP but nevertheless its very helpful especially after you read the lecture notes

31. Usually don't read it

32. Clear

33. Uh. nvr really read it properly too. Oops again.

34. Comes across better in the instructional aspect.

35. Havent referred to it yet.

36. n/a

37. its easier to be understood than sicp, but sometimes hard to find the main point of the contents.

38. Helpful as a complimentary text. Some things are better explained here, but I feel many could make do with SICP alone.

Skip: 15 (28.3%)

13) Multiple Choice

We introduced reflections as a means to enhance learning this year and we would like to seek your feedback on it's usefulness. We usually throw in a question or two that students are encouraged to think about and start a thread in the IVLE Discussion Forum.

Do you think that this method to encourage reflections has helped you in your understanding of the material covered in lectures?
 

Response

Percentage

Nope. It's completely useless. I don't bother with reflections.
 

6
(11.3%)

Tried a couple of times. I think it doesn't help.
 

8
(15.1%)

Sometimes it's useful, sometimes it's not.
 

22
(41.5%)

Generally helps for me.
 

13
(24.5%)

That's the greatest thing about the lectures. All classes at NUS should have such reflections.
 

4
(7.5%)

Skip

0
(0%)

14) Multiple Choice

Do the reflection questions/reflection process increase your interest in Scheme and CS1101S?
 

Response

Percentage

Yes

24
(45.3%)

No

9
(17%)

NA - I don't post reflections

14
(26.4%)

Others
  1.I don't necessarily reflect only by posting materials on the forum. Sometimes I reflect about the concepts in my own free time (on the bus, at home, etc.) and test them by actually trying it out. So even though I am interested in Scheme and CS1101S, the reflections I do on my own and the reflection questions in the lectures increase my interest. Sometimes I discuss things with friends/classmates and that helps too. But the process of posting things online doesn't really increase the interest.
  2. Sometimes it did, sometimes it didn't. Many times I felt convinced that Scheme is not really a very powerful language even though it proved me wrong many times, perhaps the problem is with it being hopelessly inefficient. I am still more impressed with Java and still sometimes thought I should have taken the Java courses instead.
  3. Depends on how well I've understood the material so far. Heh.
  4. Sometimes yes but other times no because I do not really understand what's going on.
  5. Sometimes there are things to write, other times there is nothing. I find it a turn off that some people write reflections for the sake of it. They should refrain from random commenting and only post if it is required. In general, most of the exchanges are meaningful and increases my interest.
  6. most of the time, i dunno what is going on. and the forums are just plain user unfriendly, someone should go redesign it...

6
(11.3%)

Skip

0
(0%)

15) Essay

If your answer to the previous question is that you do not post reflections on the lectures, we would be most grateful if you'd share with us why you choose not to do so.

1. Waste of time.

2. The forum gets too cluttered.

3. i can reflect back on a lecture and basically sum it up in a sentence or two.. so i do not see the point in posting something which i think is subjective to each student. also, for fear of posting something ridiculous?!

4. Not sure what to post

5. Since most of the issues raised are outside the learning scope and difficult to understand. And if i have doubt about the concepts taught in lecture, i'd rather go for consultation to clarify. Unless the discussion is relevant, e.g. discussion on ps problem, it's hard to follow.

6. Dominated by extreme high level discussions

7. The forums are too cluttered and sometimes, it seems like after the first 5 or 6 posts, there isn't much to add regarding a particular reflections question.

8. I'll only post reflection if the lecture is very very very difficult. Sorry... -_-

9. most of the time, i dunno what is going on. and the forums are just plain user unfriendly, someone should go redesign it...

10. get no time to do so~~

11. Don't really know what to type in as reflections since everyone's posting almost similar stuff.

12. Usually, they're questions that are too difficult for my current level of understanding...

13. People ask too difficult questions.. plus no time to think through it..

14. My friends posted all that I want to say and I don't want to spam the forum.

15. reading off a forum may help for some ppl but i prefer face to face talk.

16. I think it's just a habit. I don't go to the forum often.

Skip: 37 (69.8%)

1) Multiple Choice

Do you find the CS1101S discussion session useful in your learning?

Response

Percentage

Yes

48
(90.6%)

No

1
(1.9%)

Others
  1. yes but the sessions always seem to be dominated by those students who already have a good grasp of the topics at hand. not enuff interaction between students themself as well as between tutors and weak students.
  2. Not that much because my understanding is not that good and the tutors have to cater to the whole class, so sometimes I lag behind. However, recitations are very useful as I get to understand concepts better.
  3. I think it's a bit like a time for solving homework :| Maybe it's better to have actual discussion and get people knowing each other

3
(5.7%)

Skip

1
(1.9%)

2) Multiple Choice

Do you find any differences between the CS1101S discussion session and tutorial sessions in other courses?

Response

Percentage

Yes

23
(43.4%)

No

29
(54.7%)

Skip

1
(1.9%)

3) Essay

If you find the CS1101S discussion sessions different from the tutorial sessions in other courses, what are the differences?

1. The content is about programming which is more interesting ;D

2. firstly its an hour longer !!! but i find my session much more different because we go through everything very carefully and not just get the answers. Thus its cooler for our understanding.

3. More interesting tutors and topics...

4. Harder to cope.

5. Much more intense, involved and thought provoking. I learnt most of my stuff from here actually.

6. Every tutorial is different in a way... so difficult to answer this question!! =/

7. As mentioned above, normal tutorials tend to be very much akin to "answer checking sessions". Even for non-technical studies such as MNO1001, the tutors like to force things down our throats and highly discourage discussion that challenges established viewpoints.

8. More learning.. of nuances...that cannot be taught in lecture

9. its more relaxed, discussion based and a lot student participation.

10. solving problems is not the key point in CS1101S discussion sessions, however, to understand the concepts introduced in lectures is most important. Besides, CS1101S discussion group tend to have a smaller class so that it's easy for tutor to clarify our questions.

11. Since we have 2 hrs. The pace is slower and is more helpful.

12. Smaller class, more interaction. Allows for greater discussion and understanding.

13. It's the nature of the module. In other tutorial sessions, we go over the questions and sometimes we don't have time to go over all the questions or we don't understand the solutions to some. But in discussion sessions, we go over all the questions and with the computer, we can also test solutions and have a better chance at understanding the solutions.

14. They're rather different courses in nature.. probably any meaningful comparison would need to be done with CS1101XYZ

15. More fun? Lol. It's the only tutorial that's taught by a senior for now. Even though I've heard say that when you get seniors as your tutor, they'll probably be uninterested in teaching you and have no time outside of lessons to help you. But here, the tutors are quite happy to help (as seen in the forums).

16. Some of the questions are challenging. So, I can understand the Scheme language better.

17. Much more interaction between students and tutor and tutor will usually give further illustration and information related to the questions.

18. More interesting.

19. People are more active, discuss about the different answers that they have more..

20. More interactive and greater help in understanding lecture topics

21. More participation from the students.

22. Much more interactive. That's good!!! All tutorial classes should be this way!!!

23. In tutorial sessions, we rarely discuss together about the problem, just give solutions for exercises.

Skip: 29 (54.7%)

4) Multiple Choice

CS1101S has the following official contact hours: three hours of lecture, one hour of recitation, and two hours of discussion. What do you think of the class time?

Response

Percentage

Way too little, we need to spend more time in class.

1
(1.9%)

More class time would be helpful

14
(26.4%)

Just right

31
(58.5%)

We don't need so much time in class. We can afford to cut one hour.

5
(9.4%)

This is way too much time to spend on something as simple as Scheme. We can afford to cut at least 2 hours

1
(1.9%)

Skip

1
(1.9%)

5) Multiple Choice

If you think CS1101S has too many contact hours, and you are given a choice to cut off one such hour. Which one would you prefer to be cut off?

Response

Percentage

Lecture

4
(7.5%)

Recitation

12
(22.6%)

Discussion Group

11
(20.8%)

Skip

26
(49.1%)

6) Essay

Please give us your suggestions on how we might be able to improve the discussion sessions.

1. allow some group discussions.

2. Pacing of the TAs? Then again they are not professional tutors in that sense so can't really blame also...

3. dont post all the questions before hand...the conceptual ones...should be introduced in class.........u know...like the order of time...etc...should be a surprise...to test the student

4. Not much I can think of. The current situation is alright.

5. hm... it's fine

6. If recitation is cut, I'd still like to have the recitation questions and have the solutions posted on IVLE.

7. Do more problems!

8. recitation may be cut off. and then, in every discussion session, the tutor may recap the key concepts taught in the lectures and then go through the questions.

9. I think for discussion groups basically we solve the problem ourselves at home and if we cannot solve then we can always refer to the solutions on ivle . So the doubts can be clarified in the consultation sessions and I think for discussion groups the questions should not be posted on ivle beforehand. I mean if we are given the questions in the class we can see how fast and instantaneously we can come up with the solutions which will help in exams too.

10. More tutors!! The tutors are doing a good job, but if the class size was smaller that might encourage more interaction.

11. The DG on lists was good, for example, as there was sample input and output for every question :) Earlier DGs could use this too...

12. Maybe discuss briefly how the questions can branch out to similar but different questions.

13. yes but the sessions always seem to be dominated by those students who already have a good grasp of the topics at hand. not enuff interaction between students itself as well as between teachers and poor students.

14. It's good. Let it remain as such.

15. Put more questions.

16. I think it's a bit like a time for solving homework :| Maybe it's better to have actual discussion

17. Nope, i think it's great! and it is good that it differs from tutor to tutor as it is... makes it interesting to see the different views and perspective of scheme.

18. More interactive because some of the students are shy shy one. I hope the tutors can teach us step by step because some of the students are blur blur one.

19. Try to keep 'smart' people at bay, they keep asking all the chim questions and all, i really dunno what is going sometimes... want to say something also dun dare to say...

20. More practical practices...

21. We could discuss problems sets during DG sessions too. As of now, PS are not discussed at all.

Skip: 32 (60.3%)

1) Multiple Choice

As a five MC module, the workload for CS1101S is expected to be heavy. On average, we expect students to spend about 12.5 hours per week on the subject. Granted that for some of the weeks, you spend less time on the subject; and on other weeks, you spend tremendous amount on it. On average, how much time per week have you spent on CS1101S?

Response

Percentage

At most 10 hours

11
(20.8%)

Between 11 and 13 hours

17
(32.1%)

Between 14 and 15 hours

9
(17%)

Between 16 and 18 hours

7
(13.2%)

At least 19 hours

8
(15.1%)

Skip

1
(1.9%)

2) Multiple Choice

The problem sets are important for learning the material in the class

Response

Percentage

Agree

42
(79.2%)

Disagree

3
(5.7%)

Others
  1. Concepts are there but the applications sometimes a bit... cheem
  2. whilst I understand their practical applications, they seem to be dwelling in unknown ground. they dun reflect what is need in exams. rather often after we finish the problems sets we forget what we did for it quickly.
  3. I feel like I am suppose to agree but I cannot seem to do problem sets on my own so in that case it does not help me in terms of concepts.
  4. i think problem set is interesting. but not so related to what we learnt, in my point of view.
  5. Sometimes it is sometimes it's a bit hard to see the link.
  6. Not in a obvious way. But I'm sure it is.
  7. i half agree, half disagree. So there should be different practical classes in which students discuss about the problem sets and different practical questions which are of importance for the practical exam.

7
(13.2%)

Skip

1
(1.9%)

3) Essay

Please let us have your feedback on the problem sets for the class

1. Rather difficult. Research out of lectures and DGs required at times.

2. takes a lot of time....

3. very good practice.....

4. It is a little bit hard that sometimes I can't catch the ball.

5. They can be torturous! Yes they are fun, but I have to be lying to myself if I said I am having fun when I couldn't even figure out how to start some of the questions after staring at it for 5 hours. The problem sets are tough enough that they test concepts, not just memory work. I think the current situation is alright.

6. The problem sets are ambiguous in some aspects.

7. It takes time and effort but interesting and beneficial. And it makes me feel good because we can 'solve' big problems with present knowledge.

8. Mostly difficult and requires a lot of time and thinking. But it's a good stretch for us.

9. Cheem, can potentially drive some people mad. =X

10. Challenging

11. Hard.. obviously. lols. Allow more time to work on it?

12. they are really challenging and that is why they are really good for the students .

13. Generally, the difficulty is okay and the time given is more or less enough if we plan well. It's really helpful to apply what we learned during the lecture and to gain a feeling of accomplishment after finishing it every time. :p

14. Sometimes it seems difficult to solve it in a short time with my previous knowledge in some field, so I had to search for the internet for some related background information, but it's fun to know new things!! I draw the conclusion, after a suffering process, I can have a cool result finally.

15. Well it's interesting, but should focus on the question, not focus on the story.

16. Problem sets are very interesting and challenging. I spend more than 19 hours a week primarily because I enjoy exploring the many ways to solve the same problem, or perhaps even doing something more than is required.

17. Problem sets are not so difficult since we have discussion group. Most questions in the discussion group open the gate to the answer of the problem set.

18. its challenging, it requires a lot of thinking and application, but the pre-readings of ps waste a lot of time, eg ps3.

19. There very little link between the lecture contents and the problem set.

20. As they are : "grow exponentially in difficulty but (fortunately?) drop linearly in time"

21. The problem sets are very well designed and they help us solve problems on our own given some background information which is the best part according to me . You have to take your own time to understand it and see how to solve it.

22. the first 3 problem sets can be easier to wait for us, until we get familiar with scheme, then it could be harder.

23. Vast difference in standards from dgs

24. It's very cool, especially the next PS5 :)

25. they are difficult but once you understand what they want us to do then its no more than an interesting game to play but then the time given should be flexible because we had our mid terms now and they are still continuing. So most of us haven't yet started ps4 and its due on thursday. I'm really worried that how will i do it. Problem sets are not the cup of tea for every one.

26. Interesting

27. There are lots of typos and ambiguous questions. In ps02 the code was not explained clearly, causing me to have to spend quite a few hours just to understand what's going on. Though that's a good thing to train - how quickly we learn new ideas. Questions like 7 and 8 in ps03 are ones I really hate, although from forum response many think the opposite. The questions are also not creative enough to get us to really think critically. dg04 was better in this sense I feel.

28. The interesting problem sets allow us to have more knowledge about other aspects of computing for ex RSA. It also allows us to have fun (I hope, wrt the robot PS)

29. Its hard for me, I have to say!

30. They're very interesting and do help us gain new knowledge.

31. Typos.. plenty of out-of-sync in submission template, problem set question, and .scm source files PS03 with that (totally unrelated) background story was a cool touch.

32. I mentioned it above, unclear of what exactly are the things we must do. And it will be great if the problem sets are released only AFTER the discussion group discussing the PS materials.

33. Helpful since it let me understand the Scheme language better.

34. cannot get the connection sometimes

35. very challenging!!

36. Can get a bit too difficult in some parts.

37. Less maths stuff. Some pses are about maths rather than about scheme.

38. The problem sets are cool. I particularly liked how in PS2, if the connect-ends wasn't using the let special form and you did calculations like (curve1 0) and (curve0 1) repeatedly, later on in dragonize, you cannot perform (dragonize 200) because time taken is too long. I guess you could improve the schedule and also have varied questions that you can't Google answers for.

39. Interesting, but for weaker students, it takes up a lot of time.

40. Beside the Scheme contents of the problem sets, the backgrounds were also interesting

41. whilst I understand their practical applications, they seem to be dwelling in unknown ground. they dun reflect what is need in exams. rather often after we finish the problems sets we forget what we did for it quickly.

42. They are extremely important as they will allow us to understand the concepts taught to us.

Skip: 11 (20.8%)

4) Essay

Please give us your suggestions on how we can improve the problem sets.

1. more warm-ups

2. Having a more structured feel to it.

3. there is no possibility to increase the difficulty level coz they are already difficult but we can make it a bit easier for every student to score high in it.

4. Questions are linked so when we don't know how to do the ones in front, the ones behind will normally be a problem..

5. Increase the number of small mini-sized problems.

6. Have more about practical problems.

7. Should be more samples provided. PS3 is good as there are many samples and explanations!

8. More practical problem sets (like ps5)...

9. I think the problem sets should be changed because I have seen that the last years problem sets and this year's are almost same which may lead people to refer to solutions of their seniors.

10. For the PS questions, what the question requires you to do should be more clearly distinguished.. as in it shouldn't be mired somewhere in a wall of text.. sometimes it becomes unclear what the question really wants you to do.

11. Problem sets should have more optional questions of much higher level of difficulty. Unlike contests, these are relevant to the entire problem set and will probably receive better response.

12. did i mention extended deadline?

13. A minor suggestion would be to proofread the PS before uploading.

14. either you give time to explain the scenarios of the problem sets in context of what we are suppose to learn or understand. otherwise convert them to exercises practical to meet exam standards.

15. Improve on typos, phrase questions clearer, and put in more "cute" questions.

16. Make it easier? Way easier?

17. Make the questions more clearly..

18. Just keep it up...

19. You could avoid what you just did. Try to avoid overlapping questions. The previous question in this survey asked for 'feedback' and here you ask us 'suggestions on improving the PS' and the content of both overlaps. This was also visible in PS3 where you had us forging a message to Jaf and in the next question, you had us forging messages between different people. If you could do the jaf question, then I guess the next question isn't needed since the essence of both question are the same.

20. explain the questions in general at lectures. :)

21. Well have a bonus marks question per problem set.

22. The descriptions in the problem sets should be clearer.

23. They could be made clearer. I sometimes have to spend more time understanding what the question wants than solving it.

24. Do not make every question follow from the last. is a problem if we get stuck.

25. maybe from the easy one to the harder one

26. Well, I hope the extension of deadline can be resumed if possible since sometimes different deadlines will really come together at one time unexpectedly. And I don't think it will really help to eliminate the copying of code because those copiers are probably running out time even with the extension. If more time could be given, they will be able to figure it out on their own and learn more. If they just want to rely on others, they will still copy without extension. So please kindly keep such flexibility to grant us more chance to survive... Thx:-)

27. Don't make so cheem la, then can meet deadline without extensions.

28. nothing much really...

29. make it simpler on what students are exactly required to do.

30. More interesting topics...

31. Problem sets 2 and 3 were a lot of fun because they involved some really comical scenarios. Generally I like my homework to also reflect some real world scenarios which can be applied to, so maybe that could be one way where the Problem Sets could be improved. (so far)

32. Lesser pointless questions

33. I think some of the questions should be more clear. It's better to separate the background and the question in each exercise. And there should be a couple of challenging questions for each problem set :p

34. Try to give all info in the problem set rather than saying refer to SICP.

Skip: 20 (37.7%)

5) Essay

Please let us have your comments about the Programming Contests.

1. The contests are nice and I solved some like the NUS problem and some I read through and thought of a way to solve them but didn't spend time writing the actual solution.

2. I would love to participate in contests, however I already spend most of my time tinkering with problem sets. In addition, responsibilities and commitments to other courses mean that I should avoid too many non-essential activities so that I can devote my time them better.

3. They are quite good.. evoke interest in scheme

4. no time to attempt those... especially with hall commitments together with other outside stuffs.. :P but it is a GREAT idea! would love to attempt them if i had the time! =D

5. Good, interesting.

6. cost a lot of time

7. Don't really have time to do them.

8. Well they should not be incentive free...give us incentive...we give u marks

9. only appeals to the students that are not struggling/dun need so much time to understand concepts/write code.

10. Looks interesting, but I never really did take part. Good for sieving out the A+s from the rest!

11. I haven't participated so far. But its a good idea.

12. Out of my league :'(

13. Too little, but otherwise alright.

14. They're really cool : ) I found challenges there! And they did inspire me to learn harder!

15. It's quite good! I hope there will be more interesting kind of questions. especially something I've never seen before :p

16. Good!

17. Good way to occupy the very good students. Interesting to see what the other students among us are capable of doing using scheme.

18. The contests are very thought provoking yet when you manage to win they give you a sense of achievement

19. haven't tried them.

20. Benefit some but not most.

21. Challenging

22. Time consuming but interesting and improves my understanding.

23. not good enough to participate in one...

24. Never attempted as the PS already takes up so much of my time.

25. I haven't participated it as I don't have much time to think about it. It is for pros..

26. It's interesting although most of the time I cannot get best solution:P

27. I've not tried them at all. Seems pretty fun though.

28. Tough but cool lah...

29. Interesting, but wastes too much time. =P

30. no comments...

31. Don't participate in it..

32. did i mention extended deadline?

33. i like it.

34. Programming Contests are great chances to practice and learn how to think.

35. I haven't yet participated in them but i guess they are really interested as my friend was telling me the same. I plan to participate in them from now.

36. They are actually quite tough but we can gain a lot by spending long time thinking about it. It's so sad I don't always have that much time... :-(

Skip: 17 (32.1%)

1) Multiple Choice

What is your overall impression of CS1101S thus far?

Response

Percentage

This is a horrible class. Truly regret choosing it.

1
(1.9%)

Should have taken CS1101XYZ instead. :-(

5
(9.4%)

Just like any other

3
(5.7%)

CS1101S is cool

28
(52.8%)

CS1101S rocks. Coolest class I have taken in my life.

15
(28.3%)

Skip

1
(1.9%)

2) Multiple Choice

Has CS1101S been able to arouse your interest in programming?

Response

Percentage

Yes

43
(81.1%)

No

6
(11.3%)

Others
  1. I have prior
  2. well, i had interest programming b4 hand but while doing java and c++, i used to design the code in mind very often but with scheme i find it difficult to write the code, maybe because my first approach to any question is similar to the way i used to do it in java or c++.
  3. Partially. I think my main interest in Scheme is the theoretical aspects of it; the functional programming paradigm etc.
  4. Until now I used to use the same techniques in programming which was taught to me, but CS1101S forces me to think and it has made recursion seem so intuitive!

4
(7.5%)

Skip

0
(0%)

3) Multiple Choice

If you were given a choice again to choose either CS1101S or CS1101XYZ, would you still have chosen to take CS1101S?

Response

Percentage

Yes

45
(84.9%)

No

8
(15.1%)

Skip

0
(0%)

4) Multiple Choice

Would you recommend CS1101S to other students?

Rank

Percentage

Yes

43
(81.1%)

No

10
(18.9%)

Skip

0
(0%)

5) Essay

Please give us your comments and suggestions on how to make your learning in CS1101S more efficient and interesting.

1. More real-life applications if possible.

2. Practice makes perfect. Concepts are clear enough, and I think different people have different learning style. I expect some to be more abstract and connected, but others may not.

3. First of all, the reason why i'll prefer CS1101XYZ now rather than CS1101S is that i have been trying my level best and i really studied too hard for the mid terms but then my score wasn't at all good. So, i am really depressed with that and i think that although scheme is good but had i taken CS1101XYZ, i would have ended up with a good grade because i have learnt that language before. So the only suggestion is that if the professor tries giving personal time to students and sort out their problems, that could increase students' interest in that.

4. Less fast pace...like another class of 1101Ss...for slower learners

5. more class involvement.

6. the pace is too fast.. i need some time to really understand the matter not to mention practicing it

7. Maybe randomly pairing a small group of people based on their affinity to scheme (let the tutors be the judge to that) and assign a time for this group to just meet up and discuss. It might help those lagging behind and yet having difficulties to clear their doubts in classes or forum.

8. Use scheme to make some fun games and show to others.

9. i need more than 24 hrs a day...

10. just do it.

11. More cool stuffs...

12. RGD Q34, it would really depend on the calibre of the students.. I understand there are many who really struggle on CS1101XYZ, and they would probably die horribly if they were to take CS1101S.... RGD Q35, PS03 with that (totally unrelated) background story was a cool touch. Could possibly do more of this.. maybe?

13. Well, overall i am happy with the course.....though some bell curve alternative should be present in this course as well.....some people like me...do well with a comp and badly with pen and paper...and hence are screwed in the mid terms....

14. Please also introduce some real-life applications of Scheme to makes things more interesting!

15. It seems I have no good suggestions...

16. for my own opinion while i get concepts, i have difficulty converting them to code. should have more coding exercises.

17. It is good enough as it is! Not like we have too much time to spare or I would say increase more problem sets/problem set difficulty.

18. More exposure to exam type questions, the creative types prof ben comes up with.

19. Solve as many problems as possible.

20. Explore more problems of more varied nature and difficulty.

21. Problem sets quite interesting, but hard to do lehz. Come up with more creative questions for DGs or rec once in a while.

22. encourage students to share their newest and coolest codes. it can be written by themself or found in the book or the Internet.

23. We should have competition programming as a core component of the course. This will teach problem solving techniques and improve our thought process.

24. Explain difficult parts clearly and in a slow speed, especially the Generic Arithmetic.

25. read the textbook and do the excises afterward

26. There should be more practice involved and more stuff that helps us get better understanding of the module and what the objective of the module really is.

27. Difference between recitation and DG is too big.. recitation is a lot more easier than DG.. Make DG slightly more easier to understand to help us in PS?

Skip: 24 (45.3%)

6) Essay

Tell us more about what you think about CS1101S. This is your chance to tell us anything you want that is not already covered by the previous questions.

1. Great class, great lecturer, wonderful tutors, nicely structured course on concepts of programming, awful language. My only real issue with CS1101S has and I believe always will be the language. But I guess that is not really relevant, so I wish to thank everyone for a great job for this first half of the semester.

2. Scheme is cool...

3. I would have liked more of Scheme to be taught.

4. Make it 6MC

5. Great! Some students who are studying Java told me that the Java is difficult. So, I think the Scheme language is suitable for those who are not good at programming. However, I hope that we can learn how to turn our Scheme code into a program that anyone can use it. For example, The Game of Nim can only be run in Scheme, my friend want to play it but they don't have DrScheme, so I can't let them see how cool Scheme is. -_-!!!

6. I understood that this course is about programming concepts. However I wonder how many programming concepts there are, and what's exactly "programming concepts". Scheme is extremely powerful at abstraction. Is abstraction the most important concept? And what's more? Abstraction barrier, generic operators, object-oriented programming, and so on,... I think they are all programming concepts. But what are their relations in a systematic way? What do they look like in modern programming language? In this course, does we have an overall view about programming? Hope you will still have strong focus on the point that "we used Scheme to learn concepts, not a language"! :) By the way, this course is not easy, it gives me a lot of questions about programming! And I think it's not over after completing this course.

7. It seems I have no again...

8. Try not to give students the illusion that Scheme is actually easy to understand? lols..

9. I think scheme is a very powerful tool for programming and CS1101s really makes one focus on the concepts rather than knowing how to solve simple problems. It makes you learn a lot about how complexity can be managed in a simple and efficient way so that it can be of practical use.

10. I think it's cool and insightful! learned a lot of new concept about programming. :) and discussions are most interesting!

11. it mainly on application and algorithm. its fun and challenging to solve the problems, but sometimes may make u desperate too. always stressed when doing ps though deadline is far away... in overall, this is a really fun course only if student knows whats going on.

12. PS04 recommends we start on it after the relevant DG, but then that would leave us only 3-4 days to do the PS if we were to heed the recommendations?

13. After the midterms, I'm looking forward to Java so as to have a breath of fresh air.

14. if someone want to take this module, he need to work really hard.

15. The pace might be fast but if a person is able to handle it I think they would definitely benefit from it and enjoy it more than CS1101XYZ

16. i'm so lucky that eventually I choose to take such a good module.

17. Problem sets should not get extensions. This only promotes procrastination. An extension should only be given after the original deadline has been breached. This will ensure that all students try their best in the time given and not let it drag till they have to resort to copying code.

18. There should be seminar and discussion on contest (after the contest has been ended). It 's the chance for students to share the ideas.

19. it's very maths, i dunno about java, but sometimes the amount of maths drives me insane...

20. well...most parts covered......mid terms should not be a hundred mark paper...too many marks for small number of questions...i get one question wrong and bang...am down by 8 marks

21. Really enlightening. I'm trying to find the common pattern of different algorithms to the same problem, and expect it to be a very hard task and require experience and sort of mathematical expertise. But I would like to see some inspiring remarks. Now the key concept that inspired me is the relationship between procedures and data. It helps me crystalize my thinking and proceed to a new level.

22. nothing

23. I think it would be very interesting if it emphasized more on fundamentals for first time programmers

24. Interesting yet not easy to handle. Cool yet agonizing. Intuitive yet not so intuitive. Rewarding IF AND ONLY IF can manage to solve problems.

25. It is a wonderful module. I like its simple syntax, so I can focus more on methodology.

Skip: 28 (52.8%)

7) Essay

Do you have any concerns about CS1101S? If so, what are they and how can we help?

1. No

2. No concerns, no regret!!

3. well, I came up with a lot of doubts while reading the lecture notes which are still not cleared.

4. Mid-term test is a killer as compared to previous years (previous years mid-terms are no kid! ). This mid-term test questions are very difficult to understand and too little time.

5. Prof Ben, I am not so sure whether I should mention this...During today's exam, you were talking to us after answering some specific questions given by some of our classmates. Maybe I am a person who is easily distracted, I find my thoughts are "interrupted" when you speak to us, because I wanted to listen to you but at the same time I wanted to finish my exam question...so cannot focus well. I think I should learn to be more focused...but maybe next time you may address the questions by talking to the student who ask it personally in low voice if that question do not concern all of us...Sorry, I really do not mean anything bad, I really like your lecture:)

6. Sometimes, I can't 'see' the solution. You guys probably can't help in this aspect; as you mentioned, taking Scheme requires a bit of mathematical maturity, something which I think I'm lacking. Also, with the recent midterms, I suppose many (including me) are feeling depressed. Perhaps the 'steepness' of learning can be reduced so that people can catch up.

7. for my own opinion while I get concepts, I have difficulty converting them to code. should have more coding exercises.

8. JCC! Not the Jungle course in NS. The Java Conversion Course. Hopefully things will work out. Heh.

9. Somehow I don't feel like I'm programming, or worse, that I know how to program. It could be because of the minimalist syntax. It could be we are always doing small snippets of code, small programs. I think it could be nice to build up to programming on a larger scale. While it is true that the lecture and everything else are building up towards that, I'm still not very convinced I can produce a real program myself. Even worse, I somehow can't tell if I'm programming by rote or by thinking. So perhaps it would be good if we could get exposure to building up a program of manageable but respectable size, go through the thinking of tackling different aspects of a program and putting it all together.

10. As mentioned above, copying of code, or more specifically having to deal with such absurd requests.

11. The workload is, by various accounts, definitely heavier than CS1101XYZ.. Especially if one were to diligently prepare for DGs.. It probably should be a 6 MC module at the very least..

12. yes, sometimes do not know how to answer the questions which means I can not understand the questions

13. time time... help? hmm... make it 6 MCs! :thumbsup:

14. None so far. I'll definitely go for consultations if I find some.

15. a. Sometimes stuck by what the interpreter does. But seems we will learn it later. b. the way of making order log n procedures by the manipulation of parameters. 1 prm is ok, but how the algorithm comes by adding 2 or more prm s? Some seems to be tricks of matrix or other mathematical structures. c. Procedures that cannot be translated from recursion to iteration (in the same algorithm). The base case seems to be an infinite set..

16. if it becomes easier, more students will be able to do well in these module, so that more and more students will learn and love "scheme".

17. nothing

18. Not enough time to practise.. give us more than 24hrs a day? lols..

19. I need more time

20. We should have more classmates so that there would be CS1101SX and CS1101SY...

21. Em...... I'm still thinking. I'll tell you in the Final Survey of this semester. :)

22. well, i really need to have a good grasp in maths to do scheme, i hope my level of maths is good enough...

23. no concerns ..........yet.............should we be concerned about something...?

24. No, I don't, I think...

25. Lack of Java knowledge.

Skip: 26 (49.1%)