Summary of mid-term course feedback#

Is the pace of the lessons too fast, too slow, or about right?#

27 responses

  • In general, the pace is about right to slightly too fast

  • Too much material is presented in individual lessons and maybe some could be cut to focus on the basics

  • More time for some of the demos would be good

  • It can be too fast sometimes, but rewatching with the lesson videos and pausing them helps

Is the content of the lessons too simple, too difficult, or about right?#

27 responses

  • Seems to be about right for many

  • Some more time to understand the concepts could be helpful

  • Nice to work at the same time with the teacher

  • More about principles and concepts would be Nice

  • Students with earlier programming experience feel its a bit simple

  • More examples would be helpful

  • More time to learn about the course tools (GitHub, Slack, etc.) would be helpful

  • Sometimes it feels like there is a bit too much material in the lessons

  • Easier than the exercises

Is the content of the exercises too simple, too difficult, or about right?#

27 responses

  • Some new programmers feel they are pushing being too hard, others find them about right

  • Too difficult to complete on my own

  • Slack helps with getting answers to questions

  • Maybe a bit too hard. I know what to do on some level, but the answers don’t come to me.

  • It might be nice to start with a ‘warm up’ exercise from the previous week before going into the new material

  • Shorter and simpler problems (and maybe more of them) would be better

  • Challenging, but not too challenging

  • Way more difficult than the material in the lessons. I need help from others in the course to complete them.

Which aspect(s) of the course is/are most helpful to you?#

27 responses

  • Website is good, but part of lesson on functions and variable names was not as good as the rest of the lessons

  • Slack

  • Lessons and optional readings

  • Having an experienced programming partner :)

  • Refreshing git practices and learning new tools (JupyterLab)

  • Learning new Python tricks (e.g., f-strings)

  • Good coding practices

  • Lesson videos

  • I did not like the idea of having a partner at first, but now I am enjoying it

  • Exercises

  • Teachers and course assistants

  • How to use Python in GIS

  • The way the course prepares for working with files in a scripted manner

Which aspect(s) of the course is/are least helpful to you?#

21 responses

  • Lessons are a bit slow, I just use the website

  • Exercises are too difficult

  • Interactive part of the lessons. I just prefer to read the course page.

  • Slack

  • Online teaching

  • Many new sites and tools

  • The lessons

  • Strict rules for the exercises, such as no copy/paste of the exercise cells

  • The exercise groups

  • The schedule for the course. It would be nice to be more flexible.

  • Weeks when I am not the driver for the exercise

Useful parts of the course#

On a scale from 1 to 5, how useful do you find the different elements of this course? (1=not at all useful, 5=very useful):

  • Interactive lessons in Zoom: 4.05 ± 1.24 (21 responses)

  • Recorded lesson videos: 4.24 ± 1.00 (21 responses)

  • Exercise sessions in Zoom: 3.63 ± 0.92 (8 responses)

  • Pair programming: 4.74 ± 0.56 (19 responses)

  • Slack: 3.46 ± 1.24 (26 responses)

Do you have any other general comments about the course?#

12 responses

  • Many positive comments, thanks!

  • Great introductory course!

  • Great course for my future career!

  • Nice to have exercise sessions available in person, and working in pairs

  • Would be nice to do the final exercise in pairs, if possible

  • Nice online course and good teaching

  • Comments on the exercises would help with the learning

  • Well organized course

  • Thanks for making all of the materials available online!