Below are some of the suggestions that the graders pulled from your sites. In most cases I’ve added a comment, indicated by “JEM”. These comments are Prof. Mitchell’s – Prof. Dasaro may have other opinions.
“Instead of a website, use a blog to allow the teams to post updates about their assignments.”
JEM – as this site indicates, blogs are a great idea. Surveys of prior classes indicate that few view blogs regularly. I am considering experimenting with Google+
“As the first assignment of this course, it does a very good job of familiarizing the student with the required work that is expected throughout the term. This assignment could be improved if it contained a research section pertaining to the basics of building systems. I believe that it would be a valuable learning tool that would help jump start this course and help the student become more aware of the concepts.” -
JEM – you want MORE work in 2 days? 
“A suggested improvement for this assignment is the addition of a short tutorial for creating a website. Although I found that exploring Google Sites to be rewarding, it was not an efficient use of time since the process was not entirely intuitive. Most students revealed having no experience creating a website when polled in class. Spending 15 minutes in class could have saved time early in this assignments.”
JEM – Please ask in class if you want a tutorial on anything.
“...If the class database and the search tool could be explained in the directions then I think that would be helpful. The example of someone's work that I saw in class from last year answered any doubts that I had about whether my web page was done correctly.”
JEM – Yes, we should do that and hopefully will in future.
“...It took me a little time to figure out the sidebar on Google sites. I would suggest maybe putting a link to one of the YouTube videos on how to create a sidebar in Google sites. Also, maybe add a section where we could talk about the definition on a "system", because I felt like that was a larger part of our first class. “ –
JEM good suggestions. - I’ve made a note for spring.
“State which part of the course they are most excited about, and which they are not so much. These choices could be reviewed at the end of the term. Write about teamwork based on prior experience, and what they deem to be important. Give some examples based on the video of different buildings of how the most important systems vary with structure type.” –
JEM - All good suggestions. I always worry about adding too much workload.
“...instead of continuously making a new web page for each following assignment, would be to instead have this web page created to be a place to upload all of the following work. This way this assignment would not only be the tutorial, but also the backbone for all submissions. Also uploading assignments would be easier as the TAs would only need to visit each students page and see if there is a new attachment or not.” –
JEM – You are welcome to approach do this from now on. Please, however, give the link directly to the assignment page for the submissions. It makes the grader’s work easier – the work hard as it is.
“...having a link to a tutorial or a demo on how to use Google Sites. Once an understanding of the page creator is gained the assignment is not hard, however with no knowledge of how to work Google Sites, the assignment is very difficult. The more advanced features that are being asked to make a page look clear are not easily accessible without an introduction to the software.”
JEM – Understood
“...organize the BBVista site in a more organized fashion with regards to the assignments. If all of the resources necessary to complete the assignment were presented on the same page, there would be less confusion...”
JEM – Heard, but not necessarily agreed with. I believe breaking them up as we have will enable easy reference throughout the term.
“Having had no experience with creating websites before and with the first week of classes and scheduling being as hectic as they are, having some more time to complete this assignment would be a huge plus. Even an extra day or two would suffice.”
JEM – understood and appreciated, but I’ve not been able to find the time in the rest of the term to make this work well.
“I think it would have been helpful to show examples of successful websites in class to help the students know what is expected...The criteria was very helpful and descriptive, but specifically I mean the visual expectation of the web page. I think it also would have been helpful as to why we are completing this assignment in the form of a web page...I was not sure what this had in relation to the rest of the class or if it was simply just a creative way to ask students to submit their assignment. I do think it was a great idea to ask students the questions that are in the criteria because I really did learn a lot about the course in the process, which will in turn help me prepare for the course.”
JEM – We did point you to past examples. In fact the visual expectations were very low. Most people added their own expectations – which weren’t required for a good grade, but would assist in future sites.
“Because students can review the website that were created in the past, it will be helpful to add a page at the end of the term that looks back the term and briefly address what skill is actually gained or developed and vice versa. By having this page, future students can have better view of what to really expect to get out of this course.”
JEM – Good suggestion, one that I hope you follow for yourself. In fact we do that at the end of AE-391
“Since this class is focused a lot on teamwork I think that the collaboration of the team should start at the beginning with the first assignment. Each person should still individually design their own website but they should work together in doing so and also brainstorm ideas for what they think is important in having a successful team.”
JEM – good idea, but I believe it’s too much to ask for a 2-day assignment.
“Students should be required to revise their sites at the end of the term and update them with what they have done so far in the term. At the end of the 390/391 series, students should create new sites showing their completed projects as if they were trying to sell their project to an investor.”
JEM – Great idea – I hope you do it for yourself, but we ask enough of you already that adding this requirement would be a problem
“This assignment can be improved for the next class by learning more in depth about LEED certification. Because we were introduced to LEED buildings in the ‘Performance by Design’ video and how their design complied with the nationally accepted benchmarks, this assignment should learn about the benefits of LEED. Similarly, the assignment could have also asked about what the person thought of LEED, if it is worth it or not.”
JEM – We will talk about LEED throughout the class.
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