This was my first offering of the TCP/IP Networks course.The course went well with a solid instructor rating of 4.63 out of 5. As my research expertise is not networking, there was a lot of material to master to convey effectively to the students. As a class, we covered an entire textbook, which is good and bad. It was good because of the amount of material students were exposed to which gave them excellent depth and breadth in the area of networking and the Internet. It was bad because the sheer amount and low-level complexity made it hard to understand and remember. Less material should be covered in the future. The lab times were used for assignments which were mostly written in nature, although there were two programming assignments that students really enjoyed. Future courses should have more programming in them. The workload was good, and besides the amount and complexity of the content, the course was delivered well. The course was "large" for UBC Okanagan (21 students) as it was a course not offered for a while. The course involved assignments, one midterm exam, and a final exam.
The class was in Science 396 from 2:00-3:30 p.m. Tuesdays/Fridays with a 2 hour lab on Fridays from noon to 2:00 p.m.
Of the 21 registered students who started the course, all got a D or above and 90% were C- of above. The average GPA was 2.76 or just above a B-. Charts showing the mark breakdown are below.
This class was solid but not spectacular. The presentation style was good, but there was too much material covered (as many students commented on). The labs, especially the programming, were really enjoyed, so more programming needs to be done in the future. The course suffered slightly because it was the first time I offered it, so it needs to be refined in the future to make it more interesting and streamlined.