An old saying I know goes: "When in trouble, when in doubt, run in circles, scream and shout"
Might help, might not.
Dumont
· 3 years ago
After grading CS4 for 5 weeks I'm already doubting the effectiveness of our CS program. I had a CS3 student ask me why his constructor couldn't return data and I've had more questions that the students should already know the answers to than I could ever imagine. Its going to be a long rest of my RIT career as a grader......
Harezga
· 3 years ago
Noah, I am sorry that we did this to you.
Paul Solt
· 3 years ago
I think it's time to ease up a bit, or have 2 C++ programming courses so that you don't hit them so hard with the big CS4 project.
We're expecting a lot out of them and I think theres problems with switching from java to C++ and there are problems with the conceptual solutions that you're asking them to produce. Granted your almost giving them the psuedo-code, however it doesn't mean anything if they can't understand it.
noah
· 3 years ago
Very much true, Paul. When we asked Sidney to change it, we meant we wanted a different project, but not a vastly more difficult project. Of course, "difficult" to Sidney and "difficult" to the rest of humanity are different beasts.
I also agree on the two C++ courses. Originally, they did have two - CS4 and SE. The SE department changed this without informing the CS department, and the CS department was left up in the air about it. I understand that learning a new language poses difficulties, and learning the new paradigms of C++ is equally difficult.
I'm not entirely convinced that the problem is that of the courses or the content, though. I've watched a steady decline in first project grades in the past 3 years, while at the same time watching Sean spend more and more class time explaining the project. During this time, the project didn't get any harder. I don't know that it is statistically meaningful, but it does scare me.
Paul Solt
· 3 years ago
Is the problem also a result of RIT accepting too many Computer Science majors who aren't prepared to problem solve? Or are the students too lazy to think for themselves?
All Comments
Might help, might not.
We're expecting a lot out of them and I think theres problems with switching from java to C++ and there are problems with the conceptual solutions that you're asking them to produce. Granted your almost giving them the psuedo-code, however it doesn't mean anything if they can't understand it.
I also agree on the two C++ courses. Originally, they did have two - CS4 and SE. The SE department changed this without informing the CS department, and the CS department was left up in the air about it. I understand that learning a new language poses difficulties, and learning the new paradigms of C++ is equally difficult.
I'm not entirely convinced that the problem is that of the courses or the content, though. I've watched a steady decline in first project grades in the past 3 years, while at the same time watching Sean spend more and more class time explaining the project. During this time, the project didn't get any harder. I don't know that it is statistically meaningful, but it does scare me.