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The Beauty and Joy of Computing public resource repository.
https://beautyjoy.github.io/bjc-r
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17. Besides Blocks: Data in Python (LA Review - Sp15) #529

Open lmock opened 9 years ago

lmock commented 9 years ago 
Your Name:

Overview of Lab Comments: i.e. Was this lab good or bad? Too fast? Too Slow? Does it need something new?

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      Type of Issue: i.e. (code) bug, grammar, typo, lack of clarity, etc
      Severity: i.e. "prevents students from continuing", "minor inconvenience", etc
      Comments: Description of the problem, what can be done to fix it, etc.
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      Type of Issue: i.e. (code) bug, grammar, typo, lack of clarity, etc
      Severity: i.e. "prevents students from continuing", "minor inconvenience", etc
      Comments: Description of the problem, what can be done to fix it, etc.
18epedersen commented 9 years ago

Emily Pedersen

I found this lab really interesting about natural language processing. I like how it exposes students data science. However, I found this lab a bit random at the end of the semester. Maybe we could create a lab that is a bunch of practice problems for the final? I do like the idea of exposing students to new material, but I feel that students won't receive it well because it's not material needed for the exam and material not fully explored in the course.

Justin-Kim72 commented 9 years ago

Name: Justin Kim

Overview of the lab comments: It was kind of interesting to learn about the lyrics, but I don't see the point of this lab. I would rather say that lab could be dealing with more python coding and teaching students more techniques to python coding.

Page Link: http://inst.eecs.berkeley.edu/~cs10/labs/cur/programming/python/outro-survey.html?topic=berkeley_bjc%2Fpython%2Fbesides-blocks-data.topic&course=cs10_sp15.html&noassignment&noreading&novideo       Type of Issue: bug       Severity: minor       Comments: When you click next after this page, it takes you to a non-existent page. Maybe clear out the next button so it doesn't allow you to go to the next page

anushasyed commented 9 years ago

Anusha Syed

I also agree with the above comments that this lab is definitely random. I think it is really cool to have the option to learn about data analysis using an easy to understand example, however I think this lab would be better off as an extra credit lab like the finch lab. I also think this lab could overall be a lot more helpful/relevant to students if the students had a few exercises where they actually had to write a couple python functions.

jessej-luo commented 9 years ago

Your Name: Jesse Luo

Personally I had been interested in NLTK prior to this lab so I was very interested in the whole breakdown of word processing and used it in my final project. However, in a broader scope, I feel like they could have done something more applicable to most people since reading about text processing isn't the most exciting thing that can be done with programming. I remember that getting checked off for this lab was very pointless so it feels like this time could be spent better doing something more relevant, or maybe allow everyone to sort of choose their own topic and give a quick presentation about it at the end, because NLTK is an acquired interest and shouldn't be forced upon all students.

sayabe commented 9 years ago

Your Name: Satoko Ayabe

Overview of Lab Comments: i.e. I think that the video is time consuming and the explanation about lyrics and the words in it might confuse/stress out the students. I think that it would be better if this lab was a reading assignment, and instead students get more practice with coding and python. We could have a lab on for loops and recursion using python, since that comes up a lot in CS61A.

mikomwang commented 9 years ago

Your Name: Michael Wang

Overview of Lab Comments: Lab was interesting and a good way to see how data analysis works, but it's pretty overwhelming. There isn't much hands-on that the students get to experience for themselves, as most of it walks them through step by step. I agree with Satoko about possibly doing a lab on recursion in python instead, which would be useful for not only solidifying concepts for the final but also good preparation for 61A.

michen-ml commented 9 years ago

Your Name: Michelle Chen

Overview of Lab Comments: I personally didn't really understand the point of this lab back when I first did it, and I'm still confused about the purpose of it now. I think there's not a whole lot coding wise that can be taken out of this lab, and it should be reserved for a reading assignment instead since reading assignments are where we learn more about the social implications of coding. I think having a lab that delves more into python would be a better use of time for the students.

ilinabg commented 9 years ago

Your Name: Ilina Bhaya-Grossman

Overview of Lab Comments: I found this lab overwhelming and seemingly unnecessary when I took CS10 last semester and though there have been modifications, I'm still not sure this lab communicates a clear point. I find it to be really excessive. I can understand how it shows the extent that programs can help with certain tasks and the cool ways in which we can manipulate and look through data but I still feel like this lab could be done in a way that is more accessible to students; maybe something that isn't so dense with information? The integration of contemporary culture is a step in the right direction but I think it can be improved. I agree with all the comments before mine, maybe switching this lab to some other topic would be a good idea.

megancarey commented 9 years ago

Megan Carey

Overview of Lab Comments: This is one of my least favorite labs... I just think it's overall a little convoluted (or maybe just too wordy for my taste!).

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danielduazo commented 9 years ago

Daniel Duazo

Overview of Lab Comments: This lab is pretty interesting but can come off as pretty dull to some students. It's a lot of reading and not much actual work being done which I know some students may not like. I also think this is the kind of lab that some students might not actually complete and instead just go through the motions. I liked how they used hip-hop and Jay-Z references during lab - it was something that I think might get students more engaged than say a corpus of Jane Austen's works. I feel like this lab is scheduled at a strange time - but then again I wouldn't know where else to put it. Overall a good - albeit long - lab.

cynthiaha commented 9 years ago

Name: Cynthia Ha

Overview of Lab Comments: This lab introduces some interesting ideas, but is overall quite confusing. I still remember when I did this lab last semester, I was quite confused about the relevance of the lab and how it related to the other content introduced in the course. There also aren't many exercises in the lab, which makes it hard to put concepts into practice. Personally when I did the lab, I found it quite hard to follow what was going on. So it would definitely be helpful if a few more exercises or practice questions were added to the lab. Also there doesn't seem to be any check off questions for this lab.

eurieoh commented 9 years ago

Your Name: Eurie Oh

Overview of Lab Comments: I thought that this lab was an interesting application of Python, but it was a bit difficult to get through. The material is a bit dense and even though most of it is just doing what the lab tells you to write, it can get a bit overwhelming, and I found myself easily forgetting the point of what I was supposed to be doing.

-- [ ] Page Link: http://inst.eecs.berkeley.edu/~cs10/labs/cur/programming/python/python_data_5.html?topic=berkeley_bjc%2Fpython%2Fbesides-blocks-data.topic&novideo&noreading&noassingment&course=cs10_sp15.html Issue: Unnecessary information Severity: minor Comments: Towards the top, there is this line of code. [fileid[5:] for fileid in Albums[:14]], that is used to adjust the file name for mining. However, that ability to adjust the name isn't really that imperative in understanding data mining. It might be better to change the file name before hand somehow so that the students won't have to adjust it later. With all the information being thrown at the students in this lab, trying to keep it as focused as possible might help in understanding what they are doing.

amy97 commented 9 years ago

Name: Amy Vatcha

Overview of Lab Comments: This lab is definitely an unexpected ending to this course. It is filled with paragraphs of writing but doesn't give the students much opportunity to practice Python. Since students have had only 2 Python labs before this, maybe a Python review lab would be a better idea. This lab doesn't really link to the other concepts learnt and comes across as very random.

rwason commented 9 years ago

Your Name: Rishabh Wason

Overview of Lab Comments: I think that this lab does a great job of helping the students understand that what they’ve learned in snap is great in parallel to what they’re doing in python. When I personally did this lab, I saw the similarities between snap’s lists and python’s lists and the logic transferred over—it should do the same with most students who do this lab. This lab was very long in my opinion especially because of all the examples and how the student has to look at both the snap code and python code and then understand the similarities between both. Although it does take a long time to do, it is very worth in terms of understanding how their logic that they’ve learned in snap! can be translated to other programming languages such as python.

mayaah commented 9 years ago

Your Name: Maya Angelica Hernandez

Overview of Lab Comments: I can see the purpose of this lab to show students the power of what they've learned and as a substitution to the data project we had a few semesters back, but it feels pointless somehow. I don't see any of what this lab is teaching applicable in the future 61 series courses except for the concept of libraries.

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soham14 commented 9 years ago

Your Name: Soham Kudtarkar

Overview of Lab Comments: This was a very fun lab to do and I feel like a learned a lot about how to sift through data using python! It was a bit weird getting used to the lab's author's use of personal pronouns (especially "I") as this is definitely a break from the usual format of the labs. This lab had both interesting content and a good pace. Overall, it was a very engaging and instructive lab.

juliaalcaraz commented 9 years ago

Julia Alcaraz

Overview: I really like how each page in this lab has a heading that lets us know what that page is going to cover. I did think it was a little dense because it introduces the student to so much new information, and even though it is not necessarily information they will need to learn, I think it just makes the lab harder to understand. The main idea of the lab, which is to present a way in which computer science can be applied in the arts, is fascinating and I think it is the best goal for the last lab of this class. I think this lab definitely improved from last semester, when I took CS10, in terms of clarity and presentation of the information.

http://inst.eecs.berkeley.edu/~cs10/labs/cur/programming/python/python_data_2.html?topic=berkeley_bjc%2Fpython%2Fbesides-blocks-data.topic&novideo&noreading&noassingment&course=cs10_sp15.html Minor issue; grammar mistake. The first paragraph on the page says "going to used the artist" instead of "going to use the artist". There's also a couple more grammar errors on this page.

tcabs17 commented 9 years ago

Tori Cabot

This is a challenging lab conceptually. It walks students through most of the steps very clearly but the challenge is for students to absorb all of this information. Doing this lab should be pretty straight forward but in no way easy. I liked the feature of the embedded article on the first page.

mfujimoto commented 9 years ago

Your Name: Mason Fujimoto

Overview of Lab Comments: While I thought this was an interesting lab, I did not find it engaging to click along as it told me to. I feel it would be very easy to get frustrated with the amount of text present and want to click through this lab. I anticipate some very memorized sounding answers to the lab check offs. I feel the best way for these concepts to be taught is through demonstration (perhaps in lecture or discussion). This allows the student to focus on the concepts instead of the new syntax used that the student is asked to copy down.

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KamikazeTomato commented 9 years ago

Your Name: Henry Chung

Overview of Lab Comments:

I have doubts regarding the strength of this lab. While I appreciate the concept and the attempt to link together something of relevant interest to CompSci, data analysis of lyrics seems to me to fall quite shy of that mark. The lab also covers an expansive array of new topics such as accessing libraries, importing functions, accessing data through programming, etc... none of which has really been taught to students before. I feel like this would an overwhelming, tedious, and frustrating experience for students who would spend more time copypasting code from the pages, rather than bother trying to figure out what is even going on. As the focus of the python lessons has primarily been on data structures, making the final lab incorporate them in a meaningful fashion might prove to be more rewarding and engaging for students. Something fun like creating a "Clue" game simulator where instances of individuals are linked to some kind of data structure like dictionaries to hold their various sensory data (exp: {hair: red})

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lizapraprotnik commented 9 years ago

Your Name: Liza Praprotnik

Overviews of Lab Comments:

While this lab covers an interesting topic, it kind of feels like it was randomly thrown in at the end. I think that a continuation of the previous lab would be more useful to students. There are probably better ways for students to apply what they learned in the data structures lab, because I remember this lab as being pretty difficult and somewhat tedious to get through.

nzoghb commented 9 years ago

Your Name: Nicolas Zoghb

Overview of Lab Comments: I personally found it an interesting lab although I had difficulties determining any takeaways I could use that would apply to the course. I think the lab stresses a lot of people out where it should encourage thought about the everyday applications of CS and data science as they're worried about the upcoming final. Maybe it should be made clear that this is meant to be a fun lab and the amount of text should be cut down to be less intimidating. Another suggestion is to assign this as a reading as it requires very little interaction on the part of the student.

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parsaattari commented 9 years ago

Your Name: Parsa Attari Overview of Lab Comments: Although I had many difficulties during this lab, I personally found it really interesting. One thing that I noticed when I was doing this lab last semester, was that I was really confused as to what we have to do and if there is any coding involved. I was really stressed out and didn't enjoy doing it. After asking many for help I realized that this lab was supposed to be a fun lab and that is What I believe should added. I think it needs to be mentioned that this lab is for fun. I also believe that the amount of description needs to be a lot less and personally I found some of the descriptions confusing. I think if those are fixed then this lab would be much enjoyable and fun like it is meant to be.

benlsmith commented 9 years ago

Your Name: Benjamin Smith

Overview of Lab Comments: Although this lab comes sort of randomly compared to many of the concepts that we have been working on so far, I thought that it was extremely interesting, and definitely helpful for students who are planning on continuing on in CS. However, this lab does seem a bit intimidating for students who have no prior knowledge of these concept. I personally never did this lab when i took the class, and i found it very wordy and therefore a bit off-putting. I loved that these concepts are introduced but i think that it may help to lower the amount of concepts brought across in order to make students more confident in completing the lab.

jesseearlin commented 9 years ago

Your Name: Jesse Moore

Overview: Overall, I found this lab to be a somewhat strange note to end the CS10 labs on. While most labs pride themselves on their interactivity, this is mostly just massive walls of text to read. This paired with the fact that it will not be tested leads me to believe that many students either don't do this lab at all or do the very minimum in order to get a checkoff. The concepts introduced are very interesting and important, but I feel that there should be a greater amount of coding exercises, perhaps with data that is not so large.

http://inst.eecs.berkeley.edu/~cs10/labs/cur/programming/python/python_data_4.html?topic=berkeley_bjc%2Fpython%2Fbesides-blocks-data.topic&novideo&noreading&noassingment&course=cs10_sp15.html Type of Issue: clarity Severity: moderate Comments: In the function definition of lexical diversity, the notion of a set is utilized rather abruptly. Students who are new to python may not understand that taking the length of a set constructed from a list of words will give the amount of unique words because sets have no duplicates.

ArielleSpencer commented 9 years ago

Arielle Spencer

Overview: This a great last lab and really gives a good view of what Python can be used for. It seems a bit random compared to the rest of the labs but on it's own it's super interesting and useful. It's well guided and well explained and I really liked how it explains why it is important. Also, the overall conversational and fun tone of the lab made it a great last lab (plus it has Jane Austen, so it obviously has to be great!)! Other than a bunch of small typos on the second page, I think this lab is great!

Specifics: Page: http://inst.eecs.berkeley.edu/~cs10/labs/cur/programming/python/python_data_2.html?topic=berkeley_bjc%2Fpython%2Fbesides-blocks-data.topic&novideo&noreading&noassingment&course=cs10_sp15.html Issue: Typo. In the first paragraph it says "For the sake of simplicity, I am going to used the artist." This should be "going to use." Issue: Confusing wording (same page). It says "So if 16 by 3 = 48, and 48 goes into 35000 gives approximately 729 songs." You may want to reword to something like "16 times 3 is 48 and 35000 divided by 48..." Issue: Unclear directions (same page). "Go ahead an unpack this file to our PythonDataLab folder. Take a look inside, you will see its made up of a bunch of text files" Might be helpful to tell them how to unpack the file. Issue: Typo (same page). "Take sometime and go through," should be "Take some time." Issue: Typo (same page). " Go ahead a fire up python in terminal." Should be "Go ahead and fire up." Issue: Typo (same page). "have to put the nameofpackage followed a '.' ," should be "followed by a '.' "

jesslarson commented 9 years ago

Your Name: Jessica Larson

Overview of Lab Comments: There wasn't enough interactivity, and overall I think it was a confusing lab.

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Omarb62 commented 9 years ago

Your Name: Omar Buenrostro

Overview of Lab Comments: I agree with some of the prior suggestions about this lab. This lab is a lot of reading and little code, and it may seem intimidating to students who have not been exposed to any type of data science before. Because it is not actually being tested on, I think this lab should be optional(for those who are interested) and extra credit. Still, it teaches students an interesting application of computer science that is not really code heavy, but more think-heavy, which I like.

migugalde commented 9 years ago

Your Name: Miguel Ugalde

Overview of Lab Comments: I appreciate the fact that this lab is application based. It gives a little insight into some cool stuff you can do with natural language on python and tries to spark imagination. That being said, I feel like this lab is overwhelming and rushed. I remember feeling that way last semester and I still feel that way now. I feel that the last lab could be used to go over more python stuff as it relates to CS61A, instead. Maybe a really simple lab on object oriented programming and class construction could be introduced instead. Or maybe a HOF lab with python by introducing lambda functions. I just think there are other things which would make a bigger impact than quickly glazing through natural language processing. There are a lot of technical terms in this lab that require more than just 2 hours to understand.

knmcgauley commented 9 years ago

Katherine McGauley

I really like that this project is framed as essentially someone having a cool idea for a project and the process they used to follow through with carrying it out. That said, there are areas, a few I've which I highlighted below, where I think the wording gets slightly in the way. Especially since the language is so new to everyone, I would err on the side of more explanation--I'd be happy to offer more revisions if we're interested in continuing to edit this lab!

http://inst.eecs.berkeley.edu/~cs10/labs/llab/html/topic.html?topic=berkeley_bjc/python/besides-blocks-data.topic&novideo&noreading&noassingment&course=cs10_sp15.html Really minor wording thing, but in the "Big Ideas" box, the bullet point about learning more languages feels slightly awkward. Maybe change to something like "After you learn your first language, learning subsequent languages will be much easier. You're really learning 'how to learn.'"

http://inst.eecs.berkeley.edu/~cs10/labs/cur/programming/python/python_data_intro.html?topic=berkeley_bjc%2Fpython%2Fbesides-blocks-data.topic&novideo&noreading&noassingment&course=cs10_sp15.html Another wording thing; the second paragraph could be adjusted to "Art is something that we often believe is separate from the so-called hard sciences. As a result, some people who are gifted in or inclined towards the arts may shy away from the sciences because they fall prey to the false choice between the two." I think this could clear up some grammatical issues and make the intent more clear. Also on this page, would change "One of the reasons why python is loved is that it is a language that lends itself well to things like building webapps as well as "hardcore" computational science like calculatings the orbits of planets and stuff like that. " to something like "One of the reasons that Python is so beloved is that it lends itself well to projects ranging from webapps to "hardcore" computations like calculating the orbits of planets."

http://inst.eecs.berkeley.edu/~cs10/labs/cur/programming/python/python_data_2.html?topic=berkeley_bjc%2Fpython%2Fbesides-blocks-data.topic&novideo&noreading&noassingment&course=cs10_sp15.html In the purple bar, change the color of the Unix comand "cd PythonDataLab" red to match the other Unix command's coloring.

morganewing commented 9 years ago

Your Name: Morgan Ewing

Overview of Lab Comments: I think the idea behind this lab is interesting but I think it is too much for one lab and does not seem to be related to much of the recent coursework. I think the main reason why it is challenging is because there is so much text on each page and some people may get lost following the directions or trying to figure out how to use Wakari, ultimately distracting from the actual content of the lab. However, I really like that this lab tries to bring a connection between the arts and computer science.

carolinekim commented 9 years ago

Caroline Kim

Overview of Lab Comments: It seems like the lab has a lot of reading with not too much coding and/or new information that needs to be learned. The lab is great in the sense that it lets students apply the information that they have learned regarding the python programming language to a real world (music) subject that they are familiar with. It is also a great way for them to see how data can be organized and presented in python. However, as mentioned in the beginning, the lab might seem overwhelming to a lot of students due to the large amount of reading that is required in the lab (this also makes the lab seem to have a lot of new information presented-- this will overwhelm students). If the lab cuts out some of the longer contents, then the lab could become more precise and to the point.

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JiazhenChen commented 9 years ago

Your Name: Jiazhen Chen

Overview of Lab Comments: This is an interesting lab. The biggest problem I feel about this lab is the installation of the python library part. Some students may prefer to do this on laptop. And I feel it's necessary to further explain how to install the stuff. The lab contains a lot of reading. Some students may find it rather boring and maybe too much information. Since the material in this lab is not much required for the examn, I suggest this to be an extra lab or change it to be a brought home reading.

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yifatamir commented 9 years ago

Yifat Amir

Overview of Lab Comments: This lab is very interesting, but is also quite text-heavy. It almost seems like lecture material rather than hands-on material to some degree, but I'm sure there are also students who prefer to have less code-heavy labs. One thing I think is cool is how data structures are introduced and students are challenged to think about how what they learned in Snap applies to other languages and to real-life things.

Hungukaroo commented 9 years ago

Elizabeth Steger

Overview: This is a great lab for demonstrating a powerful use of computer science in data analysis! I think students enjoy this lab as the content is playful and the tasks engaging yet not too challenging. I like that we keep the text variable as "the_corpus," instilling that term and underscore_case at the same time :) I think the last page (before the survey) is especially powerful (if perhaps a little too daunting in size) in displaying the large range of analysis the students can now employ.

Link: http://inst.eecs.berkeley.edu/~cs10/labs/cur/programming/python/python_data_2.html?topic=berkeley_bjc%2Fpython%2Fbesides-blocks-data.topic&novideo&noreading&noassingment&course=cs10_sp15.html

Issue: Preference? Severity: Minor Comments: So this really isn't a big deal, and I understand the purpose of first-person "I" in this lab to elaborate on common errors and misconceptions, but I found it a little odd that all the other labs use "we" and then starting on this page with no explanation there is an individual behind the text. I don't know, I feel like maybe a short opening at the beginning of the page would make this feel less out-of-the-blue, but I don't know that students will be particularly bothered by it, either.

thomaslee4 commented 9 years ago

Your Name: Thomas Lee

Overview of Lab Comments: I think that this lab is a good conceptual introduction to python and data mining, however, my biggest complain is that often times I felt like I was just going through the motions and copying and pasting the code they provide us. This lab is basically a set of instructions, but the students can't really understand the actions they are performing because of their lack of knowledge of computer code. I would improve this lab by having more room for students to generate their own code :)

Type of Issue: Capitalization Severity: Extremely minor Comments: Inconsistent use of NLTK and nltk; sometimes in all caps, other times all lowercase

Meghna15 commented 9 years ago

Your Name: Meghna Dasgupta

Overview of Lab Comments: While this lab covers an interesting concept (i.e. applying the computational sciences to Art), I think the lab itself is pretty boring and extremely text-heavy. The only thing that the students are really learning in this lab is how to use lists in python and download data to create a corpus. I think the second part is pretty useless / should be learnt only if students are really interested in that field. For lists, I think it would be more helpful to teach it to them in a more fun way, where they actually have to code themselves instead of just carrying out instructions.

KimiaG commented 9 years ago

Kimia Ghodoosian

Overview of Lab Comments: I like this version of this lab better than the Hiphopathy lab from last semester in general. But The Hiphopathy lab also include a segment on turtle graphics that was a reprieve from all of the reading and helped my partner and I with out final project. If possible, I think it would be helpful for students to incorporate that back into this lab.

siyingwang commented 9 years ago

Your Name: Siying Wang

Overview of Lab Comments: This lab is more likely talking about the general and bigger picture of Computational Thinking and Python. But this lab for me is little bored and pointless to the course. As a CS 10 students before, I prefer to learn and practice more python instead of just reading the paragraphs.

william0cheung commented 9 years ago

William Cheung

Overview: This is the last lab of CS10 and song lyrics is an interesting way to bring up data in Python! However, this was much more reading in this lab than usual. I understand how we want to use concepts for real world applications, but students might not be as interested in big data. There's not as much coding in this lab, because most is just reading what code has been written already. But this could be a great way for students to get inspired to explore and investigate how to use Python to break down and retrieve cool information from databases!

Page Link: http://inst.eecs.berkeley.edu/~cs10/labs/cur/programming/python/python_data_5.html?topic=berkeley_bjc%2Fpython%2Fbesides-blocks-data.topic&novideo&noreading&noassingment&course=cs10_sp15.html

Type: Aesthetics Severity: Minor Comments: Red text on purple background is a bit harder on the eyes. Just personal preference! Also maybe specify what "fileids" is.

Rshahatit commented 9 years ago

Your Name: Rami Shahatit

Overview of Lab Comments: screen shot 2015-04-17 at 6 50 30 pm screen shot 2015-04-17 at 6 50 30 pm

This has a lot of confusing words in it.

This lab was not very fun but was a lot of interesting point that students would never hear unless we put it in this lab. I think while some students might not care much about big data we should still introduce the topic so that those who are interested can learn that they are interested. I like the new stuff but maybe add more coding activities in order to engage the students more.