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options©1998 W James updated 1998-05-11 |
William James Here are the latest unexpurgated and complete "official" (from the University evaluations) and unofficial (from personal emails) comments on my courses. Please bear in mind that in the latter group adverse comments are less likely to be made. All names have obviously been withheld. My reason for posting student comments is to help you evaluate the likely value of the course: the set as a whole may be used as part of the larger set of potentially helpful resources. For example, note that my courses may all be found on the web or Internet. Also my idea is to encourage critical and informative web pages - so, if you can contribute to this evolving collection, please email the details to me. In this vein I have added an anonymous and probably facetious poem that appeared in our Engineering Student newspaper shortly after the start of my hydrology course.
05-437 Urban water systems unexpurgated and complete official comments, May '98:
COURSE #: 05-437 Should have started the design at the beginning of the semester; started to learn the programs earlier.
Great course & prof; encourage more profs to use the web.
Always available (even weekends); his enthusiasm & eagerness to share his knowledge is wonderful - inspirational.
This has been by far the most practical class I have taken yet; James' method of placing everything on the web is really helpful; he is always around when help is needed; I don't know any other profs that would spend 1.5 hrs trying to figure out a program; I wish other profs were more like him.
Very enthusiastic, this is a great asset; sometimes, however, his excitement clouds his clarity and everyone ends up asking a lot of questions which should have (but weren't) answered in class.
Excellent course presentation - ie: web information; it enables the student to do work any time they want as well as reviewing lecture notes; outstanding Prof. James.
At times the course seemed to be very separate from the design; I didn't like the way the design was marked.
Dr. James did a lot of "extra" work helping us with designs and organizing field trips; thanks!
05-437 Urban water systems unofficial comments from personal emails, May '98: Hi Sir! I won't be writing the final exam. Thanks for a fun course! Hope you have a great summer and a successful James Bay trip! I'm just writing to inform you that I do not intend to write the final. The course has been extremely valuable and many of the things I've learned will relate to the real engineering world. The way in which you presented the material was excellent and the use of the web was outstanding. I was able to keep up with the work even when I was away through use of the web. As far as the final design it was a great learning experience and the marking was beneficial but it would have been nice to have some lee-way on the marking to be able to mark the overall content of the report, organization, presentation of material, intro/conclusions etc. But overall the experience was enjoyable. The exams on the computer worked remarkably well even though I lost my information. It is definately cutting edge teaching but it is the way of the future. I commend you on the effort and time you put into your courses. I wish all profs would work with the students like you do. It was a excellent having you as a prof. Thanks
Thanks for a great course,
In terms of the course itself, I enjoyed getting some hands-on experience designing the water distribution and collection system for the proposed subdivision. The marking scheme could have been better distributed however I am sure you have heard this before. With regard to possible changes for next year's course, more time should be allocated towards the design and more marks for the design itself. Working in the computer lab also proved to be a good decision as it allowed us to follow the lecture at our own pace and should be kept next year. I'm leaving this course with a much better understanding of water systems and now have a working knowledge of SWMM and EPANET. If you ask me it sounds like you did a good job. Have a good summer,
Thanks very much for teaching what was a great class. The main project I found to be a challenge from which I ended up learning alot. Your willingness to try and use new technology in the teaching added a extra dimension to the course. Most importantly your approachability and willingness to spend time with students and genuine caring for the students is an attribute rarely seen in university professors.
Thank-you very much for the course! I have learned a great deal (and have an idea of how much I still have to learn!) Have a great summer - I will probably see you around campus!
I found your course quite interesting and informative. The design project was very helpful and taught me a lot about EPANET and SWMM which I had no clue about. I would recommend this course to any student who asked me about it. Have a great summer.
I have enjoyed your course in Urban Hydraulics this semester and felt that I have learned a great deal of new useful information and applications (EPANET, SWMM). I even had a person at a job interview ask me about my knowledge of these program the other week!! Hopefully I impressed him!! I feel, unfortunately, that I didn't get as much out of the design process as I would have liked. The idea of peer evaluation is a good one and I enjoyed marking the design and seeing what other people did however I feel that it took away from the overall design. In setting and giving out the marking scheme beforehand people tended to produce only what was required by the scheme. I think you should keep the peer evaluations next time but it will be better with the changes that you were telling me about. (two page report on the design) On another note your trip to James Bay sounds very interesting and I would like to be kept up-to-date with any other info. I found you course very informative and insightful. It is a course which offers the students a more realistic approach to design. Having knowledge of SWMM and EPANET will be a useful asset for me and many other students when we finally graduate and find jobs. Once again thanks for the great year, hope to see you in the future. I think the idea of having the option of writing 2 out of 3 exam is a great idea, and more professors should follow your example. I also found your course extremely rewarding and very informative. Thank you for another great course, I think I have the hang of your quizzes this semester. I enjoy the weekly quizzes because it forces me to stay caught up on my textbook reading as well as a high attendance to your lectures. I mostly enjoyed hearing about your personal excursions (i.e. Greenland) and your professional comments and opinions. I will not be writing M3, but thank you for another good course, I enjoyed it better than hydrology, the material was more practical. Again, I'd like to tell you how much I have enjoyed this course. It has certainly opened my mind to career possibilities that I hadn't considered. The design project was interesting and enjoyable. I hope to gain additional and more varied experience with SWMM and EPANET before my studies are through. Thanks, I will not be writing the final exam for 05-437. However, I really have enjoyed this class and have found the web to be an excellent tool in the educational process. Having our notes on the web was like having an on-line text and course notes with examples and interesting subjects. I believe the web should continually used in this manner for this course. Regards, Hi Dr. James Your course has been great, but I feel I've done well enough on the two midterms that I will not write the final exam. Hi!!! Since I'm not going to do the final I'm more ore less done in this course now (yes I'm going to hand back my design report before Monday morning) I just wanted to give some comments on how I think the course could get even better. I think the design should start much earlier. Already the first or second week of school. I know that you can't force students to get started, but it would help if we learned SWMM and EPANET earlier. Perhaps by using the lab time for teaching the programs and tell the students to read more in the book as preparation for the quizzes. I would also really like to recommend a field trip to the site. I know we passed by on our first field trip but everybody did not recognize that (I know a student that thought that the railway track was a river...) [partner] and I went to the site by ourselves and that really help when we laid out our town. As for the evaluation I think that is a really great idea, BUT I don't think it really worked in the way it was thought. I got the feeling that many students just looked at the checklist and then looked at the headlines in the report to see if things matched. My suggestion is that the students hand in their reports a week earlier and then the students get a week to do the evaluation. The evaluation could be more about writing comments (a page or two) on how they think that design was done. When we're done with our studies we won't get a checklist and give them a 1 or a 0 when we have to evaluate a project. Since everybody has done their project they ought to know enough about how to make a design that they would be able to evaluate one. A last thing about the course. I think you spent too much time on the hydraulics. Correct me if I'm wrong but aren't we supposed have passed a hydraulics course to be able to take Urban?? If you have passed a course you ought to know at least the basic stuff and if you don't, too bad you have to learn it on your own. That's my opinion. (I don't mean that a repetition is bad just that you shouldn't emphasis on it) Well, I really like the course but everything can get better, right??? yours, :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-0 The course on the other hand has been handled well and it seems to me that you have put an great deal of work into the course your self. I must say that you are a leader in involving the web into the course and probably in the future more courses might follow your lead. I just wanted to share some of thoughts (and experiences) regarding 437 with you. First off, I must say that I have enjoyed the course immensely. Walking down the street in my subdivision will never be the same. I have enjoyed it so much, that I think that I may look for a related project for final design (W99). Please keep me in mind if you hear of anything. I also want to tell you about my son, [name]. I think that at some point I may have to send off to live you (kinda like the Jedis go to Yoda). This kid is facinated with water. He understands that snow is snow. No problem. But rain is definitely NOT rain. It is water. Plain and simple. When it is raining, he watches the water pooling on the ground and will follow it to see where it goes. He doesn't have a bath, he plays in the water. Washing machine and dryer: "water" and "no water". That is all that matters. This morning I stayed home to spend some time with him. We were outside and he discovered sewers. When I am still dreaming about flow patterns and sewers, I have to spend 2 hours looking down every storm sewer and manhole on the street (there really are two sets!). Of course, the most important thing was that there was WATER in every one! We collected stones and threw them down, noting the sound of the WATER. Finally, I couldn't take it anymore and we went into a field (with much protesting!). [son's name] starts talking about (surprise!) water, and pointing in the other direction. All I see is field. He wins (he is almost two, he can hold out longer than I can) and we head off in the direction he was pointing. Of course, we find WATER. It was a big storm drain for water coming off the corn fields. There was quite a bit of water and it was moving pretty fast. To [son's name] it was worthy of a dance. Of course, it was full of trash and people had been dumping illegally there. [Son's name] kept saying "oh no,a mess!" Eventually, I was able to get him to leave. Three hours later he was still talking about the water and the mess. I'll get him started on SWMM over the summer (just kidding!). Remember those posters in high school that say "Science (or math) is Everywhere"? I think that they should say: "Hydrology is Everywhere"!
05-365 Hydrology unexpurgated and complete official comments, Dec '97:
COURSE #: 05-365 Excellent job; much heart and enthusiasm.
Lecture notes were a little scattered.
Liked quizzes; liked field trips; would like a field course.
Course set up was great; good, fair exams.
I liked having quizzes rather than handing in assignments.
Quizzes worth too much compared to tests.
Very suited to teach hydrology; he likes what he is teaching & creates an interest in our learning; well set up course; great teacher.
Congratulations! You're a much better teacher of hydrology than fluid mechanics; your web page was much more useful; the list server was also good; your lectures were slightly rambling, but still better.
I enjoyed your enthusiasm towards the course; the quizzes helped me stay up to date with the material.
05-365 Hydrology unofficial comments, from personal emails. Dec '97:
Thanks for a very interesting and enjoyable course. I liked it's organization and it should be a model for other courses. See you in Urban! Your future grad student [name]. I would like to tell you that I very much enjoyed your lectures. Your style in class was much different than in Fluid Mechanics last year and your enthusiasm, passion for the subject and dynamic presentation made the subject matter much more interesting and entertaining. Nicely done. I am writing to thank you for such an enjoyable course this semester. I suppose that you imagine that I say that to all my professors around this time of year but that sir is not the case. If you are aware of who I am then I'm certain that you are equally aware of my class attendance and participation. My reasons for attending and becoming involved with your course are simple: I enjoyed it. Other students enjoyed it. It's true! Congrats sir, I look forward to learning from you next semester.
05-365 Hydrology unofficial anonymous poem, from EngSoc newspaper ca Sept '97: [I quote this to show that some students did indeed take note of faculty web pages- Bill]
For Whom the Bell Rings
How is one able to fully express
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