Evaluation Comments
Course:Object-Oriented Software Development
            (SE-450-305)

Quarter:Spring 02/03
Time: 01:00 - 01:00
Location: Distance Learning
James Riely PhD

Associate Professor
jriely@cs.depaul.edu
Instructor homepage

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Summary     1       2       3       4       5       6       

What are the major strengths and weaknesses of the instructor?


1.   Strengths - Extremely knowledgable. Willing to bend toward needs of class.Weaknesses - Sometimes doesn't make best use of time in class, ponders minor things.
4.   Professor Riely is extremely enthusiastic about the subject, which helps to make it interesting. He explains concepts well and is patient with students, attempting several perspectives when answering questions and thinking before he responds. It did seem that he was trying to figure out how to best present the course materials - still an evolution from the prior offerings as the objectives have changed a bit. With so much to cover and so many new tools, I think it was difficult to determine which subjects the students - with a wide array of backgrounds - would require the most instruction in learning.
5.   My experience was that Dr. Riely is excellent in all facets of instruction.
6.   The instructor's ability to provide analogy and detailed explanation for complex technical matters is excellent.

What aspects of this course were most beneficial to you?


1.   The goals force you to understand what is trying to be communicated.
3.   Work expirance
4.   For me, the design patterns were the most benficial. I have experience with a number of programing environments (though not ant or JUnit), as well as with many of the object-oriented concepts. These topic distracted from learning about the design patterns and how they are applied in the context of OO development. While we discussed them, I would like to have worked with more examples to see how they are applied in different situations.
5.   A lot was covered and all was pertinent. Patterns are a key concept.
6.   Examining different methods for the actual process of developing software, and attempting to apply those in the development of a project.

What do you suggest to improve this course?


1.   There is a LOT of information, almost too much to be able to become as skilled in all of it as what I believe is intended.
2.   Handwriting on whiteboard be more clearly.
4.   There seems to be a lot to cover in a ten week session. I kow this is a graduate level class, but with the number of topics covered, none seemed addressed in great detail. It seems the design patterns and java-specific implementation topics could fit into one course, while software development topics could easily take another. Also, once the course has fully migrated from the former SE450 objectives to the new, I am sure the syllabus and sequence of presentation will be improved upon.
5.   Introduce students to simple UML class diagrams and sequence diagrams in 211 and 212. Introduce students to patterns in 416. That would make this class much more paletable.
6.   Since developing a project that demonstrates a grasp of materials presented in the course is a large part of this class, a minimum of one code review would have been helpful in guiding the project development. Clearly such a thing would require a massive amount of time considering the size of the class, but would be useful nonetheless.

Comment on the grading procedures and exams


1.   Was done fairly.
4.   Grading and exams were conducted and completed in a fair manner. Everything was returned in a timely manner.
5.   Very fair.
6.   Grading seemed fair, and the provision for multiple grading schemes ( weighing elements differently based on student performance ) was more than fair.

Other comments?


1.   Very good class.
4.   A challenge that I faced with this course is the presentation as a DLWeb course. Personally, I dislike online learning because there are opportunities lost in asking questions during the lecture. As a result, I had a more diffucult time with this course than I would have otherwise. This certainly has an impact on the evaluation - however, it does not mean the points made should not be considered.
5.   This was an excellent class. Thank you very much.
6.   Granted this course covers a large amount of material, but several patterns seemed a little short-changed in terms of in-class analysis. Of course the student can read materials outside of class discussion, but they can do the same without taking the course at all.