- 202101-CMSC435-0101-SOFTWARE ENGINEERING - James Purtilo - Instructor Report

202101-CMSC435-0101-SOFTWARE ENGINEERING - James Purtilo - Instructor Report - Spring 2021

Project Title: University of Maryland Course Evaluation Spring 2021

Number of Students Invited: 47
Number of Evaluations Submitted: 24
Response Rate: 51.1%

Report Comments This report presents feedback received from students for the course SOFTWARE ENGINEERING and for the Instructor James Purtilo in that course. Course means are calculated from all responses by all students in the unit (i.e., course section) on that item and exclude N/A (not applicable) responses. A grade table is included on the next page if available.

Indication is provided below for the Report Group if there is one affiliated with this course section, otherwise it is blank. The Report Group will be the lead section of a grouped course (i.e. multi-section lecture) and/or the primary of cross-listed courses. Subsections are found in the Instructor Subgroup Report.

Semester: Spring 2021
College: College of Computer, Math & Natural Sciences
Department: CMNS-Computer Science
Course #: CMSC435
Section #: 0101
Course Title: SOFTWARE ENGINEERING
Report Group:

Instructor: James Purtilo

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Grade Distribution

Grade A	Grade B	Grade C	Grade D	Grade F	Grade PS	Grade W
14	9	6	0	3	15	1

Grade distribution is current as of May 26, 2021 and includes students receiving a W for the course. Some grades are not included (e.g., Cancel, Incomplete).

Administrator University-Wide Course Items Applied to All Section Instructors
Results for use by faculty/instructors and for administrative purposes.
N/A responses have been excluded from the following calculations.

By Score

Scale is Strongly Disagree (0) to Strongly Agree (4) with a Neutral mid-point

Table for By Score.
Question	Course
Question	Mean
The course was intellectually challenging.	3.4
I learned a lot from this course.	3.3

By Frequency

1. The course was intellectually challenging.

Table for By Frequency-1. The course was intellectually challenging..
Options	Score	Count	Percentage
Strongly Disagree	0	1	4.3%
Disagree	1	1	4.3%
Neutral	2	1	4.3%
Agree	3	4	17.4%
Strongly Agree	4	16	69.6%

Table for By Frequency-1. The course was intellectually challenging.-Statistics.
Statistics	Value
Response Count	23
Mean	3.4
Standard Deviation	1.1

2. I learned a lot from this course.

Table for By Frequency-2. I learned a lot from this course..
Options	Score	Count	Percentage
Strongly Disagree	0	1	4.3%
Disagree	1	2	8.7%
Neutral	2	0	0.0%
Agree	3	5	21.7%
Strongly Agree	4	15	65.2%

Table for By Frequency-2. I learned a lot from this course.-Statistics.
Statistics	Value
Response Count	23
Mean	3.3
Standard Deviation	1.2

How does this course fit into your academic plan or course of study?

Table for How does this course fit into your academic plan or course of study?-How does this course fit into your academic plan or course of study?.
Options	Score	Count	Percentage
General Education or CORE Requirement	0	0	0.0%
Major/Certificate/Minor/Program Requirement	1	24	100.0%
Elective	2	0	0.0%

Additional comments (e.g. about course content/materials, teaching style, etc.):

Table for Additional comments (e.g. about course content/materials, teaching style, etc.):.

Comments

What worked well:
– The group I was in was better than I thought it would be. I believe the guidelines that you used to put people into groups are working well.
– The lectures not as boring as other CS classes lectures. Loved it when the professor talked about your working experiences in the past.
– Weekly meetings with clients and the professor work wonders.
– Change is indeed inevitable

Project idea:
– Animation using facial recognition –– There's been a trend recently where people streams using a virtual avatar. Creating an simple app that could detect facial movement and translate into the virtual avatar would be cool.

Overall, I learned a lot and had more fun in this class than I thought I would be. Thank you so much.

I wish that this were a 4 credit class instead of 3. Everyone in my group worked a good deal of hours outside of class and we did learn a lot, I just wish it were reflected in the weight of the course.

I really do appreciate that Dr. Purtilo cares about his students and genuinely wants us to succeed. In that way, I think he is a great teacher. However, I do feel like his political views bled the line of being inappropriate in the classroom. During his ethics assignments, we were tasks to watch videos from Fox News and a lot of materials that just feels like fearmongering and biased. It seemed pretty biased for someone that kept asking for objectivity in the students' responses. He constantly complains about bureaucracy and just in general craps on the UMD CS department. He's not wrong that the department is flawed, but it did detract from class time. The course is just infused with his personal views more than I'd like.

Don't get me wrong here though: I think Dr. Purtilo is a good teacher. I hope he continues to teach this course. He cares about what he does and does it very well. Just try to keep the class more objective (which is difficult in this day and age for sure) and I think it would improve greatly.

I put a lot of effort into this course and I think it paid off. I can definitely tell that there are a lot of skills I learned in this class that I will use throughout the rest of my life in my work, and for that I'm super thankful.

In terms of class quality and learning, this was by far the best class I've taken at Maryland. Dr. Purtilo is a controversial figure, but a highly effective educator. It is abundantly clear he cares deeply about his students. He would often respond to emails in under 5 minutes and set up 1–1 meetings at a whim. I've even had some on Saturday at 6:30 pm.

The most valuable part of this class was the semester project. The instructions were unclear, and we were definitely thrown into the deep end, but I believe that this is what made it such a rich experience. Yes, it was hard. Yes, I got frustrated. Yes, I learned more about leading and software engineering than in any other course I've taken. This class was basically a "diet" version of the experience recent graduates get at their first year on the job, but condensed into one semester.

This being said, this class (assuming you're doing it right) is basically a part–time job. Realistically, it should be a 6 credit course. I put in 8–9 hours a day on some weeks, regularly put in 5–6 hours a day during a lot of weeks, and at least 3 hours per day most weeks.

The course material (i.e. textbooks) was nice? I guess? They felt like an afterthought. They made a good reference. They were not mandatory, but they were used as the basis of pop quizzes. This felt odd to me, kind of like an "attachment". This class is not about the books, nor the different kinds of tests software engineers write/perform, etc. It's about learning how to work on a team to plan, create, and deliver software. And it achieves this exceptionally well.

I wish that some of the course materials such as powerpoints were made available so we could just listen in class, and go back and review notes later. This would have been useful for quizzes, but I also think it would have allowed us to implement the practices from class more easily in our projects.

Many of my comments are already provided in the more extensive course evals collected in class. My main point is that fostering connections between team members is hard; no doubt my group could have seen much higher success earlier had we known each other well and had a level of trust.

The class was intellectually challenging, and would have to say it has been one of the most beneficial classes that I've had at UMD (i.e. practical). I found it harder to listen to the lectures being online, however I believe that it would be much more engaging if we were actually in person. I liked that the requirements for the class are set early on, and that there was no deviations unlike most other online classes this semester. I truly appreciated your concierge service response timing, it was much appreciated, and how involved you are with us this semester as most of the cs professors that I know usually don't bother, or want to be bothered.

I often said that lectures in this class were like a broken pencil (pointless). The capstone project was fine in my opinion, but the lectures did not relate to assignments at all. In most courses I can say that I at least learned SOMETHING, but in CMSC435 I can't really say that I gained any new knowledge or skills.

This course is definitely not a 3 credit class. I would say its 4 or even 5 (if that were a thing). It really felt like a full–time job and I spent hours everyday on our project. Although it was hell going through the class, I honestly would take it again. I learnt so much about team work and software engineering from this class that it was all worth it.

I have a lot of respect for Dr. Purtilo's teaching style and how he actually cares about our personal growth as a result of this course. My biggest complaint would be that the workload is far more than the 3 credits this course is worth. I probably spent more time in this class than my other 9 credits combined, and one of them is cmsc412. The best solution for this is probably to turn software engineering into it's own specialization and teach the things that are taught in this class throughout a CS degree. If someone in the administration is reading this, Dr. Purtilo has some good ideas on that.

While unorthodox in teaching style, Dr. Purtilo has clearly put in a lot of analytical effort and iterative improvement into the construction of this course. It’s build specifically for the UMD CS department, and on a smaller scale, for each individual in the class. The more engaged you are with class metrics the more you’ll be able to get out of this class. In addition, this class requires a large amount of SUSTAINED effort. You’ll learn a lot, but you probably already are aware that learning a lot in a short period of time comes with a price: hard work. I would recommend this class for anyone looking to build their resume, skill set, and grow personally, so long as their schedule isn’t already jam–packed.

Group work often makes workloads uneven, but this class had still a lot to teach about effective development to those who put in the work. Professor was knowledgeable and kind but very strident. Far be it from me to persecute someone for their political opinions, but making us watch Tucker Carlson clips for an ethics quiz is a bit much. This isn't a retirement home.

One of the most effective classes with applicability to the real world. Dr. Purtilo makes sure we leave each class as satisfied consumers and gives us insight not into just how to run a project, but how to effectively apply the lessons learned to life in general. One of my favorite professors at my time at Maryland.

I felt that we should have started the semester long project earlier. That would have given us time to really get some good work done. I felt that the class was taught in a way that is unnecessarily confusing, the questions asked in class could be more straight forward. The slides could be posted. The quizzes were all worded in ways that were confusing and it just seemed like they came from some obscure slide.

For a 3 credit class, the workload was extremely high. However, I know that this is dependent per team. To make it more fair to students, I think the course structure could change so that the workload is more aligned with a 3 credit course or it could be listed as a 4 credit course or there could be a very clear disclaimer that the workload is more than that of a 3 credit course.

I think Software Engineering should be required for all students in the CS department. This course was my first introduction from developing a full scale project from start to finish and it taught me a lot. In my opinion, computer science is easiest to learn by doing, and that's exactly what this course had us do. Jim is true professional and clearly cares for his students success. I cannot say enough good things about him. One thing that I particularly liked about this course was the guest speakers we had. Many of them were active professionals and past students who could talk honestly about post grad life. Not many courses give this opportunity to students and I thought it was very useful. Overall, Jim is the best teacher at UMD, give this man a raise.

Administrator University-Wide Instructor James Purtilo Items
Results for use by faculty/instructors and for administrative purposes.
N/A responses have been excluded from the following calculations.

By Score

Scale is Strongly Disagree (0) to Strongly Agree (4) with a Neutral mid-point

Table for By Score.
Question	Course
Question	Mean
The instructor treated students with respect.	3.3
The instructor was well-prepared for class.	3.5
Overall, this instructor was an effective teacher.	3.1

By Frequency

1. The instructor treated students with respect.

Table for By Frequency-1. The instructor treated students with respect..
Options	Score	Count	Percentage
Strongly Disagree	0	0	0.0%
Disagree	1	1	4.3%
Neutral	2	4	17.4%
Agree	3	4	17.4%
Strongly Agree	4	14	60.9%

Table for By Frequency-1. The instructor treated students with respect.-Statistics.
Statistics	Value
Response Count	23
Mean	3.3
Standard Deviation	0.9

2. The instructor was well-prepared for class.

Table for By Frequency-2. The instructor was well-prepared for class..
Options	Score	Count	Percentage
Strongly Disagree	0	0	0.0%
Disagree	1	2	8.7%
Neutral	2	1	4.3%
Agree	3	4	17.4%
Strongly Agree	4	16	69.6%

Table for By Frequency-2. The instructor was well-prepared for class.-Statistics.
Statistics	Value
Response Count	23
Mean	3.5
Standard Deviation	0.9

3. Overall, this instructor was an effective teacher.

Table for By Frequency-3. Overall, this instructor was an effective teacher..
Options	Score	Count	Percentage
Strongly Disagree	0	1	4.3%
Disagree	1	3	13.0%
Neutral	2	0	0.0%
Agree	3	7	30.4%
Strongly Agree	4	12	52.2%

Table for By Frequency-3. Overall, this instructor was an effective teacher.-Statistics.
Statistics	Value
Response Count	23
Mean	3.1
Standard Deviation	1.2

Overall Score

Averaging the following five scaled Administrator items (from above, repeated below) results in the Overall Score.

Scale is Strongly Disagree (0) to Strongly Agree (4) with a Neutral mid-point

Table for Overall Score-1st Scale.
Competency	Course
The course was intellectually challenging	3.4
I learned a lot from this course	3.3
The instructor treated students with respect	3.3
The instructor was well-prepared for class	3.5
Overall, this instructor was an effective teacher	3.1
Total Score	3.3

The standards the instructor James Purtilo set for students were...

By Score

Scale is Too Low (0) to Too High (2) with an Appropriate mid-point

Table for By Score.
Question	Course
Question	Mean
The standards the instructor set for students were...	1.2

By Frequency

The standards the instructor set for students were...

Table for By Frequency-The standards the instructor set for students were....
Options	Score	Count	Percentage
Too Low	0	0	0.0%
Appropriate	1	19	79.2%
Too High	2	5	20.8%

Student University-Wide Course Items Applied to All Section Instructors

Results for use by faculty/instructors and students.
N/A responses have been excluded from the following calculations.

By Score

Scale is Strongly Disagree (0) to Strongly Agree (4) with a Neutral mid-point

Table for By Score.
Question	Course
Question	Mean
Course guidelines were clearly described in the syllabus.	3.3
The required texts (e.g. books, course packs, online resources) helped me learn course material.	2.4

By Frequency

1. Course guidelines were clearly described in the syllabus.

Table for By Frequency-1. Course guidelines were clearly described in the syllabus..
Options	Score	Count	Percentage
Strongly Disagree	0	0	0.0%
Disagree	1	1	4.3%
Neutral	2	4	17.4%
Agree	3	6	26.1%
Strongly Agree	4	12	52.2%

Table for By Frequency-1. Course guidelines were clearly described in the syllabus.-Statistics.
Statistics	Value
Response Count	23
Mean	3.3
Standard Deviation	0.9

2. The required texts (e.g. books, course packs, online resources) helped me learn course material.

Table for By Frequency-2. The required texts (e.g. books, course packs, online resources) helped me learn course material..
Options	Score	Count	Percentage
Strongly Disagree	0	1	5.0%
Disagree	1	3	15.0%
Neutral	2	6	30.0%
Agree	3	7	35.0%
Strongly Agree	4	3	15.0%

Table for By Frequency-2. The required texts (e.g. books, course packs, online resources) helped me learn course material.-Statistics.
Statistics	Value
Response Count	20
Mean	2.4
Standard Deviation	1.1

Based on the quality of my work in this course, the grades I earned were

By Score

Scale is Too Low (0) to Too High (2) with an Appropriate mid-point

Table for By Score.
Question	Course
Question	Mean
Based on the quality of my work in this course, the grades I earned were	0.9

By Frequency

Based on the quality of my work in this course, the grades I earned were

Table for By Frequency-Based on the quality of my work in this course, the grades I earned were.
Options	Score	Count	Percentage
Too Low	0	2	10.0%
Appropriate	1	18	90.0%
Too High	2	0	0.0%

Given the course level and number of credits the workload was

By Score

Scale is Too Low (0) to Too High (2) with an Appropriate mid-point

Table for By Score.
Question	Course
Question	Mean
Given the course level and number of credits, the workload was	1.3

By Frequency

Given the course level and number of credits, the workload was

Table for By Frequency-Given the course level and number of credits, the workload was.
Options	Score	Count	Percentage
Too Low	0	2	8.7%
Appropriate	1	13	56.5%
Too High	2	8	34.8%

How much effort did you put into the course?

By Score

Scale is Little (0) to Considerable (2) with a Moderate mid-point

Table for By Score.
Question	Course
Question	Mean
How much effort did you put into the course?	1.8

By Frequency

How much effort did you put into the course?

Table for By Frequency-How much effort did you put into the course?.
Options	Score	Count	Percentage
Little	0	1	4.2%
Moderate	1	4	16.7%
Considerable	2	19	79.2%

Student University-Wide Instructor James Purtilo Items
Results for use by faculty/instructors and students.
N/A responses have been excluded from the following calculations.

By Score

Scale is Strongly Disagree (0) to Strongly Agree (4) with a Neutral mid-point

Table for By Score.
Question	Course
Question	Mean
The instructor was effective in communicating the content of the course.	3.0
The instructor was responsive to student concerns.	3.6
The instructor helped create an atmosphere that kept me engaged in course content.	3.0

By Frequency

1. The instructor was effective in communicating the content of the course.

Table for By Frequency-1. The instructor was effective in communicating the content of the course..
Options	Score	Count	Percentage
Strongly Disagree	0	0	0.0%
Disagree	1	4	17.4%
Neutral	2	2	8.7%
Agree	3	6	26.1%
Strongly Agree	4	11	47.8%

Table for By Frequency-1. The instructor was effective in communicating the content of the course.-Statistics.
Statistics	Value
Response Count	23
Mean	3.0
Standard Deviation	1.1

2. The instructor was responsive to student concerns.

Table for By Frequency-2. The instructor was responsive to student concerns..
Options	Score	Count	Percentage
Strongly Disagree	0	0	0.0%
Disagree	1	0	0.0%
Neutral	2	2	8.7%
Agree	3	6	26.1%
Strongly Agree	4	15	65.2%

Table for By Frequency-2. The instructor was responsive to student concerns.-Statistics.
Statistics	Value
Response Count	23
Mean	3.6
Standard Deviation	0.7

3. The instructor helped create an atmosphere that kept me engaged in course content.

Table for By Frequency-3. The instructor helped create an atmosphere that kept me engaged in course content..
Options	Score	Count	Percentage
Strongly Disagree	0	1	4.3%
Disagree	1	1	4.3%
Neutral	2	4	17.4%
Agree	3	7	30.4%
Strongly Agree	4	10	43.5%

Table for By Frequency-3. The instructor helped create an atmosphere that kept me engaged in course content.-Statistics.
Statistics	Value
Response Count	23
Mean	3.0
Standard Deviation	1.1

End of Report