Results of an anonymous questionnaire distributed in lab, Nov. 2, 2007.

39 students were present, 31 questionnaires were turned in.

Note: there are 45 students in this class, so this response represents

only two-thirds of the class.

1. Lecture attendance:

"almost always" --22

"more than half"--6

"less than half"--2

"hardly ever" --1

2. Reason for non-attendance:

"I can keep up with the class by following the lecture notes on the web" [checked by all non-attendees]

"The lectures are too easy" [checked by one respondent]

"The lectures are too hard" [checked by one respondent, who also said "Stop live programming during lectures. Live programming errors on your part are very annoying, a waste of time."

[My comment--it would be boring by comparison if I just opened up a completed, working project and demonstrated it.]

"Lecture notes are so thorough it's not necessary to come to class"

"I concentrate on the assignments"

3. I would come to class if

"more concrete examples"

"the lecture is more interactive"

"the lecture notes weren't the entire content of the lectures"

"deviated from the notes a bit more, or had more interesting examples"

"there were more challenging tricks or techniques"

[My comment--whenever I have tried this, I am overwhelmed with demands that the entire content of the lecture

should be posted to the web immediately. You can't have it both ways.]

4. Would you like it better if there were no lectures, and instead three labs per week?

No, 16

Yes, 14 (but two said two labs a week would be better).

Most of those who don't attend lecture regularly were in the "Yes" group.

[My comment--opinion is divided almost equally!]

5. Do you always write and run the programs that are demonstrated in lecture?

Always or almost always 24

half the time 6

almost never 1 (with an A on the midterm)

6. What about requiring students to submit the programs demonstrated in lecture?

Yes 8

No 10

No answer 4

The rest were more or less "maybe", with the sentiment expressed several times

that students should choose for themselves whether they want to be prepared

for the Friday labs or not. The sentiment was also expressed several times

that this would be good for those [other] lazy students who don't do it on

their own, but not for the one writing the answer.