|
| |
Results of CS3243 (Semester 2, 2006/2007) Mid-term Survey +
My Responses
The following are the results for the online survey that we did after the
mid-term exam. I've also included some of my comments to the mid-term survey.
There are several reasons for this survey:
-
Timely Feedback - We cannot teach well unless we know what's going on
and what students do not understand. Waiting till the end of the semester
would be too late and there's nothing much that we can do. That said, I hope
that students will appreciate that the lecturers are only human and it's not
always possible to address all concerns and fix all problems this semester.
In any case, the feedback will be taken seriously and future batches of
students will benefit.
-
Allow
Lecturers to Respond - This survey also presents the lecturers with a
opportunity to address the concerns of the class and to clarify some issues
from the perspective of the teaching staff, which is also why this
particular page exists.
-
Reference
for future batches - Students always want to know about class before they
take it. The style of the lecturer actually matters more than the subject
material being taught. These results will allow future students who are
contemplating taking CS3243 with me to know what to expect. If I may cite
the key finding in this regard, "Students who are looking for a class that
is easy to score, please don't take CS3243 (or actually any class!) with me
:-)". My responsibility as a teacher is to help students learn something,
not to make a subject easy for them to score. The only way to score in my
classes is to learn the material well and to learn CONSISTENTLY. My teaching
style is such that students who have a penchant for sleeping during the term
and trying to study last minute for the exams will likely do poorly. I
apologise for my shortcoming in this regard. Students, please be warned. :-P
Total Number of Respondents : 42/63
|
Teaching |
| Question |
Total
Responses
|
Multiple Choice
How do you find the lectures? |
| A : I have
no clue what the lecturer is talking about most of the
time |
1 (2%) |
| B : I have
no idea what's happening half the time |
1 (2%) |
| C :
Lectures are no different from the other classes on
campus |
11 (26%) |
| D :
Lectures are clear and I am able to follow the material
quite well |
24 (57%) |
| E :
Lectures are way cool. Easily the best class that I've
taken at NUS (not like I've taken a lot, but...) |
1 (2%) |
F : Others
|
4 (10%) |
| Skip: |
0 (0%) |
|
Thanks for the generally positive feedback. The 4 "Others"
responses are as follows:
- Not really attending
- Key ideas are grasped.
- Most of time ok. Sometimes can't understand
- Lectures are really good. It's one of the best classes i
have taken in NUS.
Making lectures available via webcast has a consequence of
encouraging some students not to attend lectures. However, I am
of the view that the benefits of giving students flexibility and
to review lessons that they missed or are not clear about
outweighs the cons of having lower lecture attendence. We are
dealing with adults and not five-year-old kids. Students should
have the flexibility to decide how they want to learn. Whenever
possible, I will always try to arrange for webcasts for my
classes. :-)
|
Essay
Feedback for Lecturer Ben Leong. |
| 1. Lecture
can also go a bit beyond the text book, like exploring
other possibilities that are beyond the text book
examples given. |
| 2. the
speed of speak is a little bit fast, it's better to slow
down when teaching important topics. the lecture slides
sometime are not quite good. because the background is
dark blue, when lecturer highlight some words using red
or green, it's very hard to see. overall, he is good. |
| 3. I do not
understand why I have been referred to as "champion" by
the lecturer. I do not believe that I am a champion, but
I do appreciate this act of encouragement. I hope that
more of this well-meaning terms will be used to
encourage students to show more interest in this module. |
| 4. - |
| 5. You
speak clear enough and at a comfortable pace for us. |
| 6. Tried
very best to make the student understand the concepts |
| 7. Eh,
faster. |
| 8. I think
you are really good. Keep it up! I understand that you
are just fresh from ur PHD (i think so) and so Sometimes
i feel that you know everything but you are not able to
bring that out. I think that will improve with time. But
apart from that you are great and you have increased my
interest in AI. And i think that u are really hard
working. |
| 9. Students
here are more concerned about grades. So better be
careful in the marking scheme. |
| 10. Not
bad. But sometimes a bit too draggy. |
| 11. too
much Singlish in lecture/tutorial. it's not something
bad, at least i m ok with tt personally. the lecture
contents, tutorials etc. are all well conducted. |
| 12. The
lecturer should talk slower so that students can
understand better. |
| 13.
Tutorial style is good. Going through key concepts is
much better than just doing questions. |
| 15. good
lectures! |
| 16. try to
be earlier for tutorial.. :) |
| 17. So far,
so good =) |
| 18. well
done... careful to make sure no one gets lost halfway
thru the lec... tries to make lec interesting... helps
student to learn instead of throwing chunks of info to
memorise |
| 19. Good. |
| 20.
Interesting, close to young people |
| 21. Good
but sometimes he speaks too fast. |
| 22.
Speaking a bit fast. |
| 23. makes
the lecture interesting and interactive but maybe not
try too hard to remember names (a bit not smooth when
replying the questions asked). |
| Skip: 16 (38%) |
|
Thank you for the feedback. I apologize for not being able to go
into too much detail beyond the text. This is the first time
that I'm teaching this class and I'm barely coping with all the
preparation that I need to do each week to prepare for classes.
May look effortless, but it's not quite as simple as it looks.
Some of you guys should also become teachers in the future and
you will find out for yourself. :-P If I however get to teach
CS3243 again in the future, I will most certainly be able to do
better since I would have worked out all the basic materials. I
ask for your kind indulgence.It's true that I speak somewhat
fast at times. Will try my best to slow down -- and I actually I
think I do and repeat myself a few times whenever I come to
important concepts. Students please do not feel shy about
interrupting me and asking questions during lecture if there's
something that they miss and do not quite understand. I will not
eat anyone. :-) Learning to speak up is important. Those who are
confident in public will tend to do better in their future
careers.
I already make clear at the beginning of the class that I
will have a lot of problems pacing the class. As I mentioned,
some will find the lectures too slow and some will them too
fast. This is borne out in the comments above. I'm trying to
strike a balance and so I think I will maintain the current
pace, since going faster or slower is going to upset some
people. :-(
Students who think the lectures are too fast can watch the
lectures on webcast over again or come to office hours to
clarify doubts. Students who think the lectures are too slow can
consider skipping lectures and watching them at 2x speed over
webcast. Be creative lah! :-)
|
Multiple Choice
How do you find the tutorials? |
| A : I'm
always asleep during tutorials and have no idea what the
lecturer is saying. |
0 (0%) |
| B : I have
a hard time understanding what is taught in tutorial |
1 (2%) |
| C :
Tutorials are okay |
11 (26%) |
| D :
Tutorials are clear and helpful in reinforcing the
material covered in lectures |
26 (62%) |
| E :
Tutorials are brilliant. I understand AI completely
because of them. |
3 (7%) |
| Skip: |
1 (2%) |
|
Thanks for the feedback. Advice for the student who has a hard
time following the tutorials : (i) read the lecture
notes/textbook and try the problems before you come to class;
(ii) ask during class if you don't understand something; and/or
(iii) come to office hours.
|
Essay
Please let us have your suggestions on how the teaching
for the class can be improved. |
| 1. Can give
more examples, and more variations - will help in
reinforcing understanding. |
| 2. slow
down the talking speed when teaching important ideas.
change slides background. |
| 3. Maybe
the tutor could focus more on the answer formats we
should use to questions. Realised that some questions
are quite vague and do not know what type of keyword the
paper is asking about. |
| 4. I am
longsighted but I am always being forced to sit near the
front. This is because the lecturer does not want people
to sit behind. It is difficult for me to see the slides
on screen, making it hard for me to follow the lecture.
I believe that this sort of discrimination is bad for us
students on the whole. |
| 5. - |
| 6. It is ok |
| 7. Feel
that it is pretty fine. |
| 8. Smaller
tutorial classes. This should apply to every tutorial in
NUS.. #$%^! |
| 9. You are
doing great. As i said the "teaching and explaining"
part will become better with time automatically. Just
keep going. |
| 10.
Examples and scenarios can be prepared beforehand so
that there will be less confusion due to improvised
teaching in class |
| 11. so far
ok. |
| 12. The
tutor should be more organised so that every point he
wanted to cover should be covered in detail, not just
briefly. |
| 13. In my
opinion it's quite good now. Lecture scope is a bit wide
sometimes, so some stuff cannot be covered in detail. As
far as I know, some parts of previous lecture needs to
be explained in more detail. (According to feedback of
friends) |
| 14. Prepare
interesting questions for midterms. Instead of setting a
lot of questions for midterm, set a few that will
require thinking. In another words, do not emphasize
rote learning for mid-term/exams. |
| 16. its
interesting, better than the rest of the tutorials ive
attended so far |
| 17. Maybe
some examples from other Texts instead of repeating
whatever have been mentioned in AIMA? |
| 18. nil. =) |
| 19. hmm not
really sure... more animations? hee |
| 20.
Lectures are ok. |
| 21. Cannot
expect everyone in tutorial class understand some
concept. Best if can go through a bit before go into the
tutorial question. |
| 22. maybe
can have a variety of questions that is able to cover
all aspects in terms of examinable areas. sometimes, i
feel that it is not the understanding but rather the
presentation of answers. therefore, without the
coverage, I might not even know what the question
expect. |
| Skip: 20 (48%) |
|
More examples? More variety of questions? I guess these students
are somewhat perturbed by the seemingly wide scope in the
possible questions that can appear in the exams. Unfortunately,
this is the way the class is. Students have to get used to the
idea by now that some subjects are not like the 'A' or 'O'
Levels and it's not possible to have a 10-year series.
I did provide the class with the past year midterms for
practice before the midterm. Students can get the past year
final exams from NUS Library. There are also a lot of practice
questions in the text. Furthermore, students can also surf the
web and try out the AI exam papers/homework from other
universities. AIMA is a text that is commonly used by MANY
schools.
I will try to speak a little slower and I will try to improve
the colour scheme for the slides to make them clearer. Long
sighted student should have told me that he/she cannot see!
Discrimination is a very serious accusation that should not be
thrown around lightly! :-) Will left students sit wherever they
want during lecture. :-P
Smaller Tutorial classes is not possible unless the school
assigns me more teaching support. I am handling everything from
lectures to tutorials to grading for this class of 63 students.
Yes, please complain at the final survey that will be conducted
by the School at the end of the semester about tutorial class
size. Maybe then I'd get TA support in future semesters. :-)
W.r.t. comment on examples, I believe the student is
referring to tutorials. I actually have my examples in mind
before the class starts, but sometimes students say something
smart and it occurs to me on the spot that there might be a
better way to explain something so I fumble a bit. Apologies.
Usually happens only for the first tutorial. By the third
tutorial, I would have ironed out all the bugs. :-)
|
|
|
Homework |
| Question |
Total
Responses
|
Essay
There's very little "homework" for this class, but there
are tutorial questions that students are supposed to
prepare for each week. Please let us have your views on
the tutorials and/or suggestions for improvement. |
| 1. It would
be great if we had more problems to practice on. Not
that I am requesting for more homework but references to
materials that contain questions for practice etc. |
| 2. I prefer
to have more questions to practice more. |
| 3. Tutorial
questions are quite workable and helpful. |
| 4. The
tutorials are sufficient. |
| 5. - |
| 6. Tutorial
question are fine. But I do have difficulties in doing
proofs. Maybe it has always been my problem as I may
understand a concept but not able to write it down in
words to explain what I think. |
| 7.
Tutorials further enforced the concepts |
| 8. More
theoretical? |
| 9. they are
just fine...may be increase the number of questions so
that we can have more practice. Like i felt that all the
topics are not covered by the questions in the
tutorials. For example i felt there could have been more
questions on CSPs, local search etc |
| 10.
Tutorials are fine. Some unclear concepts are explained
better in tutorials |
| 11. I'm
fine with how tutorial is being carried out. |
| 12. so far
ok. |
| 13. The
tutorials are good in that they require students to
think and understand the concepts. However, it would be
the best if the lecturer could at least have drawn some
parallels between the discussion in lectures and
tutorial questions so as to aid in the understanding. |
| 14.
Interesting questions that helped me to understand key
concepts. Good. |
| 15.
Tutorials are fine. |
| 17.
tutorials are to the point and specific |
| 18. The
tutorial questions are well chosen, and the method of
using the questions to aid in explaining concepts rather
than merely going through answers is good. |
| 19. tuts
are gd... qns planned in a way to reinforce
understanding of concepts... lecturer knows what he is
doing... |
| 20. They're
fine. |
| 21. No
comments. |
| 22. The
tutorial questions are okay. |
| 23. maybe
can have a mini online mcq quiz (redo-able) to aid
students to understand the concepts, which will generate
the answers right after, so that students can have a
check on their own understand. |
| Skip: 18 (43%) |
|
Re: questions on more practice questions, I will quote response
from earlier question, "There are also
a lot of practice questions in the text. Furthermore, students
can also surf the web and try out the AI exam papers/homework
from other universities. AIMA is a text that is commonly used by
MANY schools".
As for proofs, that's not something that we are supposed to
be covering in CS3243. That's the topic of CS1231. Students may
wish to review their CS1231 notes. Mini-MCQ quiz is a great
idea.... unfortunately, I don't have the resources to put up
something like that. Will keep this idea in mind. Maybe someday
we can work something out.
|
Essay
Please let us have your views on Mini-Project:
Breakthrough |
| 1. Please
put up a test webpage so that it actually tests some
cases ( sample cases) on the *sunfire* computer, so that
we know how well our program performs on the sunfire
computer also. |
| 2. It was
fun and simple.. |
| 3. I feel
interesting and learn a lot. |
| 4. In a way
unfair as students who already have AI background
obviously will fare much better than beginners who are
using this course as an introduction. |
| 5. The game
is too abstract for me to understand. I can barely
figure out how to play the game, let alone try to win.
All projects based on games need to be easier to
understand, and be simple enough so that it is possible
for weaker students like me to even visualise a path for
victory. Even after the mini-project, I am still not
sure what makes a winning position for Breakthrough. |
| 6. Could
have been fun... |
| 7. It was a
interesting and fun project. Was hoping that we could
see some of the techniques used by the top few students
to help us learn. |
| 8. Pretty
helpful in understanding some important concepts and
also an initial idea of how AI is written |
| 9. Fun!
Could have a pre-match halfway through to let people
test out agents. |
| 10. it was
fun to code. |
| 11. I think
more considerations can be made to Non-SOC students
taking this module. Such as Sunfire accounts and java
programming. |
| 12. ARGHHHH!!!!!!!!! |
| 13. it's an
interesting assignment. |
| 14. The
project was fun as I had pushed both myself and the
agent to the limits when trying to make things work
better. |
| 15. Fun
project. Not very hard to code too, except that the
competitive element might be a bit harsh. If some group
can't even finish the minimax they can't really
implement any form of decent evaluation function. |
| 16. Good
introduction to AI. Though might be better if students
are allowed to choose their own project (like the final
project). Reason being that this will allow students to
focus on what they want to learn instead of just
learning alpha-beta, minimax, evaluation function. |
| 18.
breakthrough jumps us into the problem directly which
disorientated me. although I know about the general
theory and algorithm I have no clue about how to apply
them into the program. the algorithms taught are very
general and hence application is made difficult |
| 19. Too
much time spent on this! The AB Routine was easy and
fair enough.. The optimization was time-consuming..
Maybe more percentage of marks could be given on this
such that the time spent is well-justified. |
| 20. It's
interesting and eye-opening, and I had fun. |
| 21. fun...
but a bit painful coz started in wrong direction =P |
| 22. It was
ok. |
| 23.
Interesting. |
| 24. It's
cool |
| Skip: 16 (38%) |
|
I'm not sure that I understand point 1. What samples are
required? Students can always log into sunfire to see how fast
their programs run. Suggestion of mid-way prematch is not
practical. Most teams were doing their projects near the
deadline! :-) I know that some students had mini-matches among
themselves, so this can be done among yourselves. I have no
objections to students playing their agents against each other
prior to the submission, as long as code is not being shared!
:-PI'm glad most students enjoyed the mini-project. Let me
get this clear: there is a GOOD reason for the Mini-Project and
that's to MAKE the students learn alpha-beta. :-) For this
reason, I cannot allow a free-for-all project and I cannot have
the tank project before Breakthrough. Quite sure that all those
who spent effort on the Mini-Project learnt their alpha-beta.
:-)
I cannot release the source code by the better teams. I
cannot release source code period since this assignment is
likely to be used again in future semesters. In any case, the
learning value of the assignment is in the coding of MINIMAX and
alpha-beta and the process of exploring the evaluation
functions. Learning how to play Breakthrough well is pretty
pointless.
Re: point about consideration for non-SoC students, I don't
buy that non-SoC students have been disadvantaged in any way.
There was a note in the FAQ on getting accounts on sunfire.
Students who don't have access to sunfire should have informed
me and I would have dealt with it. Students are also allowed to
use C++ instead of Java to complete the assignment (and many did
do so). It's true that those who use Java has some minor
advantage because the GUI is only available in Java, but given
that I have limited resources for this class, it is clearly
better to provide tools that benefit a greater number of
students. One student has been kind enough to contribute his C++
game driver. Students who want to use C++ in future semesters
will therefore probably be better off.
|
|
|
Seems like the majority of students don't spend a lot of time on
this class. I'm quite shocked to see that two student have spent
more than 19 hours per week on this class. I would be curious to
understand why they are spending so much time. Perhaps the two
of them can send me anonymous feedback via IVLE to help me
understand their situations.
|
Essay
What are your views about the Final Project? |
| 1. I am
facing problems understanding the code for tank game.
Also the documentation an be a bit more detailed. |
| 2.
Difficult and interesting |
| 3. I think
it should be fun and challenging |
| 4. Hope
it'll be interesting. |
| 5. This is
much more easier to visualise compared to Breakthrough.
At least I can relate to this game. I am confident that
I will be able to do something for this final project,
compared to Breakthrough. Perhaps, Breakthrough should
have been the final project, and the tank project the
mini project. This would interest me in the module a lot
more. |
| 6. Can be
interesting and fun... Good idea to have open projects. |
| 7.
Interesting and challenging. The research part of the
project really made me go online to find techniques used
by others to solve similar problem (Tank Game) |
| 8. Provide
a chance to further illustrate more components about
writing AI. |
| 9. Out of
ideas. Some advice on possible projects would be nice. |
| 10. it's
ok.. just that i wanted to work with lego sets which i
couldn't. |
| 11.
Potentially interesting and challenging |
| 12. Too
broad that it's scary.. Maybe could define the scope a
little.. Like maybe limit it to games, scheduling or
something like that.. |
| 13. I'm
still not very clear about the Tank game APIs |
| 14. The
final project is a good way to help students learn by
themselves. However, for the tank game, more details
should be provided because the java documentation may be
insufficient. |
| 15. Finding
a suitable problem was kind of tricky because we don't
really know what actually qualifies. But working on a
self declared topic will be fun... until we find that
it's too hard to implement. (hopefully not) |
| 16. Great
idea. Better to do project then to sit for exams. Good
to see there is not much emphasis on exam for this
module!! |
| 17. I would
like to suggest to have a higher weightage for the final
project should constitute more marks in CA. Final
project emphasizes more on the documentation than a
functional AI agent. |
| 18. its an
interesting project. However the project lacks a
debugging feature (the source codes are locked hence we
cannot use our preferred IDE to code the programs. |
| 19. Too
many factors to consider!! What is the aim of the Final
Project? to derive Strategies? Knowledge Base Agent?
Logic? What realm of AI is it suppose to be in? |
| 20.
Interesting and fun. I really appreciate the effort to
let us choose what we want to do, and all the help and
clarification that has been provided through IVLE and
the lectures. |
| 21. tank
game project will be fun when completed... looks like a
lot of maths to figure out (-.-') kudos to lecturer for
coming up with the environment... |
| 22. Looks
interesting. |
| 23. No
comments. |
| 24. Time
consuming, quite challenging anyway |
| 25. The
idea of able to do some researching is quite good,
expose us to the uncertainty and more resources. but
afraid that there might not be enough time as we also
have other ongoing assignments. In regards to the tank
game, it seemed interesting to be able to compete with
other teams (just like breakthrough). |
| Skip: 16 (38%) |
|
There is nothing much I can say to the above comments. As for
the Tank Game documentation not being completely trivial. Well,
that's life. Part of the Tank Game project is supposed to make
you guys struggle with a pre-compiled library. Debugging that
library is my problem and not yours. You job is to debug your
own agents. You can use any IDE you like, just configure
cs3243.jar as a library in the IDE's project.
|
|
|
Midterm |
| Question |
Total
Responses
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Glad to know that most students think that
questions are fair. Be prepared to see more of the same at the
Finals.
|
Essay
Any other comments/suggestions for the mid-term? |
| 1. Shorter
paper please :( |
| 2. i think
a couple of multiple choice Q would have been better. |
| 3. Make it
shorter |
| 4. no. |
| 5.
Questions sound a bit vague, dunno how to answer the
questions, this is with regards to the manner of
approach to answer. |
| 6. The last
question in the paper involved a big mathematical
concept. I was unable to understand the question. More
pictures would have helped. I also believe that more
measures should have been taken to enforce test rules.
Some people took extra time (time before and after the
test started) to continue writing down answers. I hope
that in the future these students will be punished for
not following test rules. |
| 7. - |
| 8. I have
problems with writing proofs thus do not know how to put
in my points. I may understand the material taught in
general but writing proofs is somewhat difficult for me. |
| 9. Suppose
is still the time issue, as there is no time to
carefully understand the question and to think through
the answer. Suppose not everyone can think that fast |
| 10. i think
it was good. good questions. That is how a test should
be. Please keep the same difficulty level for the
finals. |
| 11. Need
more time. |
| 12. I think
the time part is fine :) |
| 13. i like
this format. hate MCQs esp when the options are similar
and confusing. |
| 14. I
discovered that even though I seem to understand what is
taught somehow I cant draw a parallel to the mid-term
questions. Hence, it could be best if the lecturer give
more examples each time so that the topic is thoroughly
understood |
| 15. Nothing
much. Testing based on understanding is good. (in the
long run) |
| 16. Too
many questions. |
| 18. time.
probably. |
| 19. Q1 is
too much of a giveaway.. Q2 requires the domain
knowledge that to give disc from one peg to another peg
requires 2^d -1 moves.. Not good.. Q3 doesn't test much
on AB but more like a puzzle to solve.. like IQ
Questions.. Q4 is hard despite the lecturer saying
giveaway marks.. :( |
| 20. It was
frustrating that I studied yet my results don't reflect
that. |
| 21. was a
bit blur when i reached the last qn abt the maths
equations... under tight time constraint couldn't really
understand qn at first... but understood in the end...
is it reasonable to suggest less mathematical qns for
exams as it takes some time to understand maths probs
with explanation in words? |
| 22. Nope. |
| 23. Too
many questions and time given too short. |
| 24. Just
keep the same format for the final, although grades are
not good as expected, i still think the questions are
quite formed and reflect the ability of student.
|
| 25. Some
questions didn't actually test whether students really
understand or not, i.e., they require a bit of
"familiarity" with the problems |
| 26. A bit
long for me, but it's ok because this can be used to
determine the response of students. I realised that I
really do not understand consistency and admissibility..
haha I like the nim game sort of question, kinda test
what we learned in class, the minmax, the state
reduction thingy. |
| Skip: 15 (36%) |
|
Final exam will be shorter (relative to the available time).
Personally, I don't like MCQs, 'cos some can get the answers
right by guessing. Aiyah, when I said that there's giveaway in
Q4, I don't mean that the entire question is a giveaway. I
thought the question to draw the constraint graph was a
giveaway... but apparently it wasn't quite. :-(
|
|
|
General |
| Question |
Total
Responses
|
Multiple Choice
What is your overall impression of the class thus far? |
| A : This is
a horrible class. Truly regret choosing it. |
1 (2%) |
| B : Not so
great compared to my other classes |
5 (12%) |
| C : Just
like any other |
13 (31%) |
| D : Better
than my other classes |
16 (38%) |
| E :
Definitely one of the best classes that I have taken in
my life. |
3 (7%) |
| Skip: |
4 (10%) |
|
My sympathies to the poor student who regrets choosing CS3243.
Perhaps he/she can make an appointment to see me and we can see
how we can help him/her out?
|
Essay
Would you recommend the class to other students? Why or
why not? |
| 1. Would
recommend for the content of the courses. But would not
recommend if he/she is grade oriented. |
| 2. I would
recommend this to my friends.. its more
application-based and just pure theory and also like the
higher weightage of CA instead of main exam. |
| 3. Yes. I
think I can learn sth from it |
| 4. I don't
know but if someone ask me if this course is easy or
hard to get marks, I'll say it's not hard to get high
marks but not easy either. |
| 5.
Interesting course, I will recommend it to others. |
| 6. I would
recommend this class to students who know how to play
chess or understand how to play Breakthrough. Otherwise,
abstract projects like Breakthrough will likely
traumatise them for life. I know that I have been unable
to shake off dreaming about a 6x6 grid every night. |
| 7. Yes if
they are motivated, hardworking and serious about their
studies. If they are only here to dream, then no. |
| 8. Yes if
they are interested in AI and similar fields. No if they
are not interested or are not too good with proofs. |
| 9. I would
recommend the class as the concepts learnt are
interesting. However, i would also mention that it is
not easy to grab some of the ideas. |
| 10. I'll
ask them to throw a coin. |
| 11. Yes of
course. it's a lot of fun |
| 12. Not
really. It is not an easy module to score |
| 13. Yep,
'cos the lecturer is better than the other lecturers :)
though the content is rather "informative" |
| 14. yes.
the topics covered are quite interesting. the algorithms
presented are amazing. |
| 15. I would
recommend the class to students who have the passion to
learn AI. |
| 16. Yes. AI
is interesting. (at least to me) |
| 17. Yes. I
like AI. |
| 19. yes.
the other students have expressed interest in taking the
course but have no idea of how tough/difficult the
course is because while the interest is there, the cap
score is more important for the time being (for them)
and they have to "check out " the mod before they decide |
| 20. Yes, if
they have an interest in programming and/or artificial
intelligence, this class is a must-take. |
| 21. yes...
interesting and fun course... lecturer puts in effort to
make sure students really learn something... |
| 22. Yes,
I'd just warn them that there's a lot of searching
involved. Lecturer is good. |
| 23. Yes.
Interesting. |
| 24. Yes.
|
| 25. yes!
learnt quite a lot, in terms of how to make computer
understand and think the way we do. maybe quite useful
in future if we were to develop games or some other
application. very interesting. |
| Skip: 16 (38%) |
|
Honestly, this grade-oriented thing irritates me quite a bit.
After being at NUS for about three years, students should have
figured out by now that grades are assigned on a curve.
Therefore, some will get A's and some will get B's and C's.
While how easy it is to get a good grade in a class depends to
some extent on who else is taking the class, most of it depends
on how much effort a student puts into the class. Easy to score
means what? Easy to get a good grade without putting in effort
right? If so, it probably means that you're not required to be
learning anything to begin with, which begs the question, "Why
are you taking this class?" I do not teach mickey-mouse classes.
Those who are looking for easy to score classes without putting
in effort, please avoid the classes that I teach. My apologies
to the poor students who didn't know this before choosing this
class. Hopefully, with these survey result, future
grade-oriented students will know better. :-)
|
Essay
Do you have any concerns about the class? If so, what
are they and how can we help? |
| 1. None. |
| 2. no. |
| 3. Yeah,
fared much worse than I expected to. I love the contents
of the course, but did quite badly for the project and
mid term. I guess I didn't realise the focus of the
answer format used in the term tests. |
| 4. Yes, I
am very concerned about the class. I hope that the class
will not be cancelled in the future. I hope that there
will be more tutorials so that I can understand the
lessons better. Perhaps more questions can be introduced
next time so that I can practice more. |
| 5. - |
| 6.
Sometimes it is not that I do not want to ask question
but I do not know what to ask. And I am quite bad at
writing proofs i.e. question that say show that "this
correct" or "this is X". I understand that this is the
basic that is taught in other courses but I just could
not properly write them down. Or is there a way to show
my answer without writing formal proofs like drawing
diagrams etc? |
| 7. No major
concerns. Just hope to learn something from the class
and obtain a acceptable grade. |
| 8. none
actually |
| 9.
Sometimes students do not understand but shy to ask.
Most of the time actually. |
| 10. No
major concerns :) |
| 11. so far
ok |
| 12. Yes.
The lecturer needs to draw parallels between the things
taught in lecture to some problems. Even though some of
this has been done, most of it is done briefly in
tutorials. It would be best if the lecturer explains how
to understand the topic better -> slowly. |
| 13. No. |
| 14. The
classes are fine :) |
| 16. no
concerns |
| 17. nil. =) |
| 18. a bit
overwhelmed by lots of algorithm... able to understand
everyone generally but sometimes not 100% sure of what 1
or 2 lines in the algo mean... any advice? =) |
| 19. no |
| 20. No
|
| 21. nope |
| Skip: 21 (50%) |
|
CS3243 will never be cancelled. AI is a fundamental course that
will be taught every semester. I did try to ask the Department
to cancel CS3243 this semester so that I can teach a networking
class instead, but they didn't agree.
Students who didn't do quite so well on the midterms, please
don't worry too much. The midterms aren't worth all that much.
If you put in the effort, it is possible to make up for it in
the Finals. The Finals will be of the same standard as the
midterms, so people who really know their stuff will be able to
demonstrate convincingly that they are better than the other
students, even if they had messed up on the midterms.
Re: point 6. There are many ways to prove things. Some things
are proven with equations. Others can be proven with diagrams.
There is no general answer to your question. It all depends on
the actual statement that you are trying to prove.
As for the "I got question, but I'm shy to ask" problem, I
don't really have a cure. Those who are truly shy can consider
sending me anonymous emails via IVLE? I guess if it's anon, then
I can't respond directly, so likely what I can do is to reply on
the IVLE Forum or something. Generally, it will do students good
to overcome their fear of public speaking. In life, those who
can talk (or dare to talk) have a distinct advantage over the
shy folks. You can either choose to learn how to speak up while
you are in school, or you can choose to suffer when you go out
to work. Your choice. Pick your poison.
Re: point 18 on understanding algorithms. Actually,
understanding the key ideas is most important. To understand
complicated algorithms, the easiest way is to simulate the
algorithm. Come up with a simple example and run the algorithm
on it. See how the data structures change and it should be clear
after one or two examples, what's going on.
|
Essay
Final question: tell us more about anything else you
have to say about the class that is not already covered
by the previous questions. Phew. :-) |
| 1. None. |
| 2. As
lecturer said, I come here to learn something.
Hopefully, I can reach the goal at the end of semester.
^_^ |
| 3. This
course has a lot of people who really know stuff about
AI beyond what this course is teaching. It is
disadvantageous for the students who are totally new to
this course. |
| 4. The
guest lecturer, Mr. Martin Henz, was very intimidating.
I do not understand what he was talking about. I feel
inadequate when he was asking questions about his topic.
Possibly this is due to the fact that I was still
stunned by the midterm test. Perhaps it would have been
better if his talk went before the mid-term test.
|
| 5. Not in a
position to comment due to lacklustre performance and
poor attendance. Hard to follow class if not motivated. |
| 6. I think
in general the material covered till are quite good and
useful. The project really helped me understand how
alpha beta and minimax works. No complains. |
| 7.
Basically, the class is interesting and i managed to
take away with me some interesting AI concepts that
would allow me to explore further into the area.
|
| 8. More in
depth? |
| 9. phew...
the survey was long :-) a nice gesture from the
lecture.. i hope the feedback will actually be read. i
have always wonder whether lecturers actually read the
surveys or not. So if you are reading this.. you will
post a difficult question on some AI topic that we have
covered in the forum with the topic - "Something for You
guys to think about" |
| 10. To
improve, either we adapt to lecturer's style or lecturer
learns our way. |
| 11.
everything is covered ... |
| 12. Nothing
much. Just slow down a bit and the lecturer will be
fine. |
| 13. None.
=p |
| 14. It is
an introductory module on AI. Can't really expect much I
guess :-) |
| 16.
interesting course. Should there be tutorial questions
modeled after the mid term examinations? |
| 17. Which
other classes do you teach? =) |
| 18. keep up
the gd work doc! dun be too concerned with malicious
comments! dun think they are based on solid arguments |
| 19. no |
| 20.
Hopefully, only key ideas and understanding will be
tested in exam. The reason is that the lecture didn't
actually go in to much depth (and that's fine as those
stuffs are mainly theoretical, i.e., too general) while
the projects have been taken a considerable amount of
time. |
| 21. nope |
| Skip: 22 (52%) |
|
| Re: claims that there are students who
already know AI and therefore it's disadvantageous to the other
students. One, I have no idea why students who already know AI
are taking this class. Two, so what if they know some things
already? I believe that it is possible for those who come to
class not knowing a thing to catch up and be even better if they
put in enough effort. Quit complaining lah. It's not going to
change things and there's nothing the lecturer can do about it.
Cannot possibly ask these folks, even if I can identify them, to
erase their memories right? If these students know more,
it only means that they had spent the time and effort earlier
learning the stuff. Good for them. You do the same, you'd be as
good.
Sorry about the poor student who got intimated by Martin. I
must admit I was pretty shocked myself when I saw him prancing
among the audience like a talk show host. :-) Consolation:
material on guest lecture will not appear on the Finals. That
lecture was purely for your edification. I do not however
renounce the right to set a question on applying CSPs to game
scheduling.... as long as anyone who did not attend the guest
lecture can be reasonably expected to solve the problem. :-P
Tutorial question modelled after midterm questions? You will
see some tutorial questions in the future weeks that are past
year Final exam questions. Fair enough? Again, I must emphasize
that it is not possible to provide you with the entire of
possible questions that can appear on the exams. Tutorial
questions are chosen to illustrate specific teaching points for
the class. Also, I only have one hour of tutorial a week and so
I have to be judicious about what exactly is important and worth
emphasizing. Students who want more practice questions can find
them in the text and also on the websites of other schools that
also use AIMA as the text.
Re: point 20. You bet I will try to set questions on the
Final Exam that are pure application questions such that
memorization cannot possibly help. People have to understand the
concepts before they can solve the questions. Truthfully, the
concepts that people need to understand for CS3243 are quite
simple and shallow (I did tell you guys this at the first
lecture did I not?). Nevertheless, they are very fundamental and
they are the basis for more advance AI classes and for other
Computer Science classes.
What classes do I teach? For now, the only class that is
confirmed my baby for the next two or three years is CS1101S
(Scheme). I suspect that this will be the first and last time
that I will be teaching CS3243 for a while (but one never
knows). My area of research is networking and distributed
systems and it is very likely that I will be teaching CS2105 and
CS3103 at some point in the future. I think I'm teaching CS1101S
next semester (2007/2008 Semester 1). :-P
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