IRM Student Review
Alex Davies

Lectures

Alan's lectures were generally interesting and informative, and
amongst the best I have had in informatics. The two guest lectures
were also good, and added to the breadth of the course.

Supporting material on the course web page was comprehensive, and
interesting enough that I'm likely to go back and read some articles
that I didn't get round to during the course.

Lecture attendance seemed to be patchy - I was guilty of contributing
to this myself. I suspect this may be related to the course not being
examinable, and thus seeming less pressing than some others,
particularly at times of high coursework load. Attendance at student
presentations was particularly low. Despite generally disliking such
measures, I wonder if tracking attendance might be worth considering.

The room for lectures was not ideal, both in terms of distraction from
other students and spread out seating. I do however realise that this
is to some extent outwith the control of the course!

Paper Reviews

The paper reviews were a worthwhile exercise, and I am very much in
favour of the flexibility given by the 'best 2 of 4' assessment
method. Feedback was prompt and comprehensive. I found a large
difference in the difficulty and time needed to review the papers,
with the third paper in particular taking very little time. This could
lead to some students doing much more work than others for similar
returns, although as all the papers are available to view from the
start this should not be too big an issue.

Presentations

Again, a worthwhile exercise, particularly given the lack of teaching
and assessment of presentation skills in informatics. Feedback very
quick and relevant.

Project Analysis

Once again a useful exercise. Perhaps a marginally more fleshed out
description of what was expected would have been appreciated,
particularly given that the lecture on the topic was a considerable
time before this was due (and thus realistically before students were
likely to start work)! Feedback not yet available, so no comment as of
yet.

Other comments

This was overall an excellent course. Lectures were interesting,
coursework was well thought out, and feedback was prompt and
appropriate. I note comments from previous years has complained of
above average workload from this course; I would argue that this year
it was below average, taking into account the fact that there will be
no exam.