I400/590 Class Structure?

1. I400/590 Class Structure? Geoffrey Fox April 7 2014

2. 4 Topics • Topics covered including depth and breadth e.g. say Criminal Justice and Sports should be added. Coverage of clouds should be strengthened etc. • Use of Google community postings. Helpful or not? Should be increased/cut back? • Use of in-class sessions. Are they useful? • Ease of use of Google Course Builder Site; quality of videos; comparison with Coursera or other MOOC's.

3. a) Topics covered including depth and breadth e.g. say Criminal Justice and Sports should be added. Coverage of clouds should be strengthened etc.

4. Summary on Topics Covered • Organize as tracks with perhaps a programming/data mining track, and 2-3 choices of topics • Topics should include sports, politics, security, criminal justice. (Undergraduates) • Physics should not be first; start with 51 use cases (done in less detail) and recommender systems • Some topics should be covered in greater depth (undergraduate) • Detailed execution/programming of use cases outside scope but could take examples – Hadoop, NoSQL -- and show how they are implemented on a cloud in IaaS, PaaS SaaS • Graduate students uniformly want more technical content • Improve discussion of clouds with real examples • Business applications (job related) • Overlap with other courses?

5. a) Topics Covered I • I think it would be interesting to add sports.  Analytics has become a point of emphasis in many professional sports and it would be interesting to dissect some of that in a class setting.  I think also going more in-depth on specific business/industry analytics would be interesting and serve to be quite useful beyond school. • I think that there should be less topics covered with each one going more in depth. I enjoyed hearing and learning about the different topics, however I feel like I did not learn many details about each topic. Maybe at the beginning of the course, the instructor should survey the class on three main topics to discuss over the semester. For example, my opinion would be to cover health, criminal justice, and sports informatics and big data applications because they interest me. That way, we can go more in depth about strengthening cloud capabilities in these areas.  •  I think that sports should be covered because it is a very interesting subject that most people can understand. I also feel like less topics should be discussed throughout the semester and maybe get a little more in depth about fewer topics. •  I enjoyed the topics covered in this course (e.g. Higgs Boson, recommender systems, Amazon, e-Commerce, etc.).  However, there are a couple topics I would have liked to cover.  For example, I would like to have learned more about big data in politics.  I know Obama used "Project Narwal", where big data was used to increase his votes, and more about that in general would have been interesting.  I also believe any negative consequences of big data should have been mentioned, if any, and how we could overcome those negative aspects of big data.

6. a) Topics Covered II • I would like to see more coverage of data mining.  I enjoyed the case study part of the class.  It would be interesting to take one of those cases and do a more in depth study of it. • I think adding criminal justice and sports would be a good idea. I also would be interested in more material on forecasting using Big Data. • I was nervous at first that the focus seemed to be solely on LHC. I was glad to see other topics introduced. • More focus centered around ideas stressed in assignment B.  It was interesting seeing the use of Python along with statistics to come to a conclusion about data.  It was a good way to stress the DIKW paradigm using technology and math •  I enjoyed the broad range of topics we were able to cover in regards to Big Data. It was very interesting trying to understand the complexity behind the recommender systems that we all use on a mostly day to day basis. When we use these recommender systems, it is so easy to use that we do not think twice about the algorithms and complex processes behind it. • The topics were interesting, and covered a wide array of different fields. Perhaps, the class could benefit from just focusing on a few topics so that students could go more in depth in these areas.

7. a) Topics Covered III • I think the topics that were covered overall were pretty interesting in big data.  For me the ones about particles were kind of boring just because that’s not what I am interested in.   • I thought the topics covered were very interesting and relevant to recent technologies and real-world situations. I liked the idea of exploring different ares where Big Data is used. I liked the topics of recommender systems because they are so widely used. I thought the Physics studies were also interesting but not as relevant in comparison to the other fields. I thought that Security could have had it's own unit since it is very important with today's technologies and Big Data is a crucial part.  • I feel that some topics such as sports and criminal justice would be a good addition to the already covered topics.  I thought the topics were very interesting but I think more real world applications such as these would be interesting as well.  • The topics covered were incredibly interesting and have taught me a lot about Big Data and what it's used for. Recommender systems have peaked my interest. We could've talked more about security though.

8. a) Topics Covered IV • I  thought you had a good basis for Case studies throughout the course including physics, e-commerce, web search, health, and sensors/radar. However, possibly adding a few more cases with more popular subjects would more easily connect with some students, such as adding a sports study care or so on. Also, spreading out the cases more evenly throughout may strike more interest. But overall I felt that you covered a very broad range of interesting topics • I found the topics covered to be interesting, in depth, and relevant to what people are studying outside of class.  • I Found all topics were relevant to the class although the physics was somewhat difficult to understand without a physics background. Cloud computing was definitely interesting to learn how it is constantly development and becoming a larger part of big data. I would like to learn more about how big data applies to statistical analyses in sports • I really liked the breadth of the class. I feel I have a good grasp of the big data analytics and applications as a whole. It would be nice to have more class time devoted to the specific applications. To me it would have been especially helpful to have an example problem that you might tackle with big data and go through the steps of using the applications to clean the data, choosing a program to run the data, and interpreting the results. This was in a general way with hadoop, but it would be interesting to see the steps a data scientist, in some domain, follows in his/her job and the application decisions they might make.

9. a) Topics Covered V • I like the wide arrange of topics that we discussed, especially the Recommender Systems and E-Commerce. Other topics, such as Sports and Criminal Justice, could be an interesting addition. In order to simplify the class, perhaps you could gather the students' opinions about which topics the would want to learn more about, and focus on those few topics throughout the semester. Being able to choose the topic for our final term paper is a good quality as well. • More coverage on clouds with more hands-on IaaS, PaaS and SaaS projects. (Instructor note: That’s a different class) •  I really enjoyed the wide array of topics talked about in this course, although I do think sports big data should be talked about more. I know me along with many other people love sports, so that could make the course even more interesting. •  I wish the development of cloud applications, recommender systems and analytics systems was explained more in depth •  I found the topics all to be very interesting, the physics example was difficult to understand exactly what we were looking at however and may suggest either more time spent on this. • I think the material is interesting when related to the student in the right way and I think it should be a point of emphasis for the class. I think it's important for students to see examples of big data to really get a good idea. 

10. a) Topics Covered VI • The breadth of topics covered was the right amount for this course in my opinion. I do think that the depth of some of the topics could have been a little deeper, but I do understand that there is a lot of information to fit into just one semester. I wish that we had covered more topics in the realm of criminal justice such as national security, etc. I think that’s a topic that a lot of people would be interested in and is definitely another a current topic that could be added to the list.  • A lot of topics in Big Data is covered in the course and many are given specific examples (51 use cases). However, I think it will be great if the class could focus on two or three areas and discues more about them during the class. Also, I believe it will bring students a lot benefits if Professor Fox could share his experience in Big Data area and talk about what project he is/was involved in. •  I would like to see the coverage of clouds strengthened considering this is a big part of where we are headed in the future and it is very relevant.  • Given that this was an overview class, the depth and number of topics were reasonable in my opinion. •  I would just be interested in a little more software implementation and practice within the course.

11. a) Topics Covered VII • I felt like the breadth of the class topics was fairly good. However, like others have stated, I would have liked to see a bit more depth to the discussions. I felt like the first few weeks of this could have been summed up as "Lots of things generate lots of data" because much of the same material was just revisited. • I think the topic of the class is pretty good and we've learned a lot like use cases, pros and cons for different areas that big data could be applied to. So I think this class has proper depth and breadth in topics. But I do think we can focus on one or two specific topics that are popular this year. • I thought that the amount of coverage of big data topics was sufficient. I can't really think of anything that I would want to add to the list. • The implementation of cloud into businesses should be more in depth. And also more analysis of the future of cloud should be given as a direction for those who want to explore their career possibilities • I really enjoyed all of the topics that we discussed in class. It is hard to talk about all the aspects of big data, but this overview was very helpful! • It is difficult to cover such a broad topic. There are so many subcategories to big data that it would be impossible to focus on every individual subject for extended periods of time. I do believe the cloud should be covered more in depth seeing as it looks as if that is the future. 

12. a) Topics Covered VIII • I really liked all of the topics we covered and I didn’t really think anything needed to be added. • Topics seemed reasonable to me and served as a good overview for big data. Actual practice within big data could be a valuable addition to the course. • I feel that topics on Web Search and Data Mining can be expanded a little bit to talk about the recent more advanced algorithm updates that are being used by modern search engines such as Google. • I think the topics discussed in class were useful and relatable to our generation. I definitely learned a lot about big data and new things that I did not know before. I would have liked to talk about Sports more as it is a very important subject to our generation and definitely a topic that is being evolved everyday due to big data.  •  I think the topics covered were good. However, I would like to see us talk a bit more about the Sports and Big Data applications and the Web Search as well. But overall the topics were good and very informative. • As a whole, the topics covered  were perfect for the level/intensity of the course - not so much running analytics on the data, but more examining the theories/topic of data science at a general/basic level - and covered an even larger range than I would have expected. I do believe the class might benefit from focusing less on the use cases, maybe  replacing the time spent on them with team/group based collaboration time regarding the paper, or maybe the the cases could be better explained/presented to make them easier to understand as far as why they're being taught, how they apply, not so much what they are?

13. a) Topics Covered IX • Topics covered during the class were very informative. It was very useful and I personally learned a lot about big data. Even though I am informatics major I did not know much about big data but the topics including criminal justice and especially sports interested me a lot. However, I wish we could discuss more about sports some days. • I liked the range of topics we covered in this course; however, as new topics become popular or prevalent, they should replace older topics. • I believe that more topics and examples of projects that are commonly used today by college students should be added or further discussed. • One of the growing topic which is not considered or ever discussed is "Big Data in Education" educational data  which is taken from students by  use of interactive learning environments, computer-supported collaborative learning, or administrative data from schools and universities, it often has multiple levels of meaningful hierarchy, which often need to be determined by properties in the data itself, rather than in advance. Issues of time, sequence, and context also play important roles in the study of educational data. • It is not possible for a single course to cover all the materials applications for Big data but specific modules like cloud computing and High performance computing ,Statistical learning should be taught in depth as they are the basis for Big data analytics.   • Use of Pipelining tools such as Rapid Miner, Knime, Pipeline Pilot(Accelrys)  is not being discussed at all in the course which is the middleware for every Big data industry.  • Thanks Prof Fox ,for the awesome course and foundations you have made for Big data MOOC. I hope in near future this course will lead potential for industry people to collaborate with students for their projects. 

14. a) Topics Covered X • Use of python was nice. I started python with this course, so it was a bit difficult for me in the beginning to cope with all of that. However, the postings were sufficient to catch with the pace. I would still love to have that component a bit slower • I feel big data is a very large and vast field and most of the topics were covered but there should be have been some more programming and more analytic procedure regarding the same. It was great learning about various algorithms and case studies so overall the course structure was very good. • The course itself is well designed and there are a lots of contents to be digested. More effort has been put to make sure that the topics are covered. I felt that the Physics Case study could have been kept brief and more focus on technologies that supports big data. The 51 use cases were useful to understand the use of big data in various fields. • I think the course was nicely structured covering all the aspects of Big Data Applications. I am from a CS background and so for me the physics part was quite lengthy. It could have been brief. Instead, it would have been great if I could understand how the real world actually solves the problems by using different tools. I also have interest in cloud computing systems so it would have been awesome if I could learn the cloud frameworks in big data perspective.

15. a) Topics Covered X • I feel this class has been quite comprehensive with regards to theoretical knowledge and awareness of big data. I feel that it should have a little more coverage of Hadoop. • The overall course structure was very good covering almost all the areas Big Data is used in. I feel it would have been good if we had worked with some Big data tools. Also working with NoSQL is something that should be introduced. • I think big data is such a huge and big topic. It is difficult for professor to cover all the topics in the class. • The theoretical topics were considerably covered in the class. However there should have been more stress on the practical topics like the technicalities of Cloud and Big Data Technologies. For example an exercise analyzing a large data set as one of the assignments. • Clouds becoming more and more popular should be without a doubt strengthened. If a topic helps in better understanding a concept at hand, it should be definitely included. • A lot of topics were covered, but more emphasis should be given on analysis and programming related tasks of those topics. • The topics and lectures in the course were very informative and cover all the aspects of big data and the applications. The course offered insights into increasing trends and applications of big data. An opportunity to learn more technical aspect would have added value to the topics learnt in the course. • Big data is a very vast paradigm. It is difficult for the professor to cover all topics in the class

16. a) Topics Covered XI • Big data is a vast topic. Its not possible to cover all the topics involved in depth in a semester's time. I felt the course covered what could be covered in a semester on what all comprises Big Data and also the technologies associated with big data. In short the breadth of the topics covered was more compared to the depth. For further in depth understanding, its the effort we students put in. • I feel that the topics covered in class were very interesting overall. However, I would have liked to seen sports and criminal justice areas added to the topics. I also feel that the security topic was not covered as well as it should have been. In my opinion, security is the most important topic when dealing with big data and technology.  • This class has been quite useful to learn about the extensive usage and applications of Big data in X-informatics and dealt mostly with the theoretical aspects of Big data. The coverage on the Clouds topic is crisp and not too deep. More information on Hadoop and Map reduce would be a plus. • This course is designed as an introductory course to bigdata and its applications in different fields ("X-informatics"). I think the professor did justice to the aim of the course by covering a wide range of topics. Had technical details on how to analysebigdata been provided, it would have been even better. The 51 use cases topic was very interesting and helped us get a better idea of the applications of bigdata in various fields. Also, the topics were well organised.

17. a) Topics Covered XII • As an introduction class to big data concepts, I feel that the topics covered in class gave a very broad overview on the most common applications of BD. However, I think that an emphasis on topics like healthcare and sports would be very interesting as well. Some of the topics were very vague, or I had never heard of them before so It was a little hard to keep up.  • The topics covered in the class were much less important to me as to how they worked. Personally, I care more about the processes than the topics. If you cover sports data, great; recommend systems, fine. I felt like i relearned a lot of what I already knew from being a child of the internet, I was expecting to learn how those processes work. • Lastly, I think that security, sports, and business use/implications of data analytics could have been covered to a greater extent in the course.     • I feel that the topics that where covered in this class are beneficial to me and what I want to do in the future. They where overall very thought provoking and they all required some additional research besides the resources that were provided to us from class. • I think that overall the course had a broad range of topics that were relevant to this course and to our futures in the technology field.  • I found the material covered in this course to be intriguing. 

18. a) Topics Covered XIII • I think the course as whole did a great job in breaking up the various topics of big data into "bite sized" pieces that were easy to understand and easy to access yet thorough enough to end up feeling that you learned something useful. • The course covered everything almost, but it should have stressed more on topics like clouds as they both are closely related. • The depth and breadth of the topics covered was appropriate. Having the final as a term paper allows for more in-depth research on topics of interest to the individual. The inclusion of a topic on Big Data in freight/logistics or inventory control in large retailers would be welcome as would one in criminal justice or smart-city planning/administration.   • I would have appreciated fewer topics and more in-depth discussion on each topic. I would have preferred more hands-on technical sessions importing and working with large data sets. • I strongly feel that for Computer Science students, there should have been more programming involved with more practical aspects of big data.

19. b) Use of Google community postings. Helpful or not? Should be increased/cut back?

20. Summary of Use of Google Community Group • Some mixed opinions but majority consider useful and helpful for homework. Graduate students uniformly positive • They clearly can be coordinated more precisely with homework and lectures • Encourage comments on posts e.g. ask students for posting and 2 comments • Make links to different communities clearer

21. b) Use of Google Community Group I • Use of Google community posting is helpful.  I think if anything it should be increased.  I think its a great way to show understanding of topics but also as a way to look at others' points of view. •  I think the postings throughout the semester are helpful. I like how they allow me to see other points of view and opinions and compare them to mine. It is always helpful to receive input from a lot of people because I believe people are more productive when working collectively. I think they should be neither increased nor decreased; the amount of posts required were sufficient.  • I did not really care for the postings and honestly thought that they were considered busy work. Now after saying that I did appreciate seeing everyone else's opinions on the unit we were studying at the time. • I found the Google community postings somewhat helpful.  Basically, it made me review course topics/material better to be able to post an educated comment.  I think requiring us to post comments on other people's comments would have been beneficial. • I am fine with the community postings.  However, I would recommend that students be required to provide meaningful responses to at least two other postings. • Overall, I think the community postings are helpful. I think the number of postings was appropriate.

22. b) Use of Google Community Group II • Yes, it is really helpful. When you read other students posts, you understand the opinion of others on a certain topic. It helps share knowledge and user opinions/ feedback. • There was not a lot of exchange but I like to have exchanges with other students. • I think students should have a little more debate and discussion with each other, besides writing a post, they must respond to 2 posts as well • Personally, I liked the Google Communities discussion posts since I had never used them prior to this class. To really make use of it though, I would recommend requiring comment replies to other posts as sort of a participation grade. • The google community was an interesting aspect to the class. It was not necessarily vital to the class experience, but made communicating as a class simple. • The group postings were not that helpful, but they did bring up some interesting points I never thought of.   • I thought the Google Postings were helpful and effective. When I read the other students' postings, that would spark more debate and discussion used and would also help influence my own postings. So I thought the amount of postings was sufficient for this course.

23. b) Use of Google Community Group III • I thought these postings were helpful because they made me focus more in depth on some of the topics that we're covered and helped me to better understand.  I also enjoyed reading my peer's responses to see how they responded to the topics.  • The google community postings were a nice way to help me understand topics and would also help me understand perspectives to topics that maybe i wouldn't have thought of before. It also sparked some debates between students which was nice  •  I felt that the Google community post were useful when we looked over them in class and where able to see other students opinions. These items should be posted so we could look at them more closely. Also, the post made me look tend to look at the area of study in a new way which I really enjoyed.  • I think the postings were a nice thing to add, otherwise many would not do anything for the class until it came to the term paper. It's easy to take the mentality that you don't have to do anything and the postings were a way to keep our minds fresh. • I believe the google postings were great because they allowed the students to have input in terms of what would be discussed in the classroom and understand different viewpoints. It really gave a full picture of where big data is and where peers think it is going. • I feel the amount of postings that were required seemed about right.

24. b) Use of Google Community Group IV • I enjoyed the Google community postings. It allowed everyone to express their thoughts on the topic on a weekly basis. Additionally, adding comments is very easy to do, but also forces us to actually think about the topics, form an opinion, and thus expand the discussion • I felt the postings were sufficient. • I liked the google postings. It allowed for you to hear from everyone and address all the comments while letting us to read other people's thoughts/views on the different topics. • There was a time when an assignment was posted on the community group but not on oncourse. This was really confusing an I wasnt sure what to do for it. If the community group is to be continued it would be helpful to designate if a post is for the graduate section only (Instructor: Hopefully now corrected) • I really enjoyed posting in the community and would suggest using this as much as possible in the class the postings by other students really helped me understand the important points of this class. •  I enjoyed the use of the google community site and course builder to stimulate discussion and intrigue. I do think instruction on how to use all the tools should be much clearer or more useable.

25. b) Use of Google Community Group V • I do believe that the Google community postings were helpful. I retained the information better because I would go back through the PowerPoint and sometimes even re-listen to certain sections to get a better handle on the topic for the posting. It also had us researching topics that we otherwise would not have learned about if we didn’t do the postings. I think there was a good amount of postings throughout the semester and none need to be added or decreased.  •  Personally, I don't think the Google community posting were helpful. The only time I use it is when a posting is due. • The use of Google community postings was helpful, I thought it made me reflect on the videos and think about them, I think it shouldn’t be increased nor cut back it should be kept at the same quantity. • I liked the use of the Google community posts.  It was a interesting way of keeping up with the class. • I felt like the forum posts were a good addition to this class. It was an easy way for us as students to expand our thinking about how Big Data would affect the world around us. • Google community is new to me, I never used it before this class. I think it's easy and simple to use, but it's not that helpful. Using it only for posting is fine.

26. b) Use of Google Community Group VI • I thought that the online discussions were good. It would have been good to maybe get feedback on the posts rather than get a general feedback of what the class said. • The Google community is useful, but it can definitely be improved. Pretty much the only time I use it is when a post is due. If the assignment includes making conclusions/observations on others' posts I will use the community more often. • I think the google posts were good, I wish there was more of a forum discussion maybe using on course. This could stimulate discussion more. • The use of google postings was quite helpful. It was interesting to see other people's perspectives and will be helpful with the final paper. •  I think the Google postings are helpful. Reading what other people have to say is helpful for getting different points of views on subjects. • I found the discussions valuable. No need to change anything here.  • Yes, I find the Google class postings useful and I often read what other people post, which sometimes helps me gain more information on the topic. • I think the community postings were helpful because it gave the class a good way to share their opinions before we met in class. They were very helpful in learning what our classmates had to say about the different topics.

27. b) Use of Google Community Group VII • The Google community postings were helpful in the sense that it allowed me to see what others in the class were thinking and just get a view of the class as a whole. I think they should continue. • Making it a more regularly occurring, consistent way to check-in and ensure people understand what has been taught, why, and how it relates to things  that were taught and that will be taught. •  I think Google community posting is very helpful. Because I can see what others write on their post and what they think about the topic. since everyone has different idea, it is a good idea to have google community. • The Google Community is a great idea but I only visited this site to complete the homework and did not read other students posts. Maybe interacting with other users as a requirement would fix this problem • I believe Google postings are very helpful, BUT it is VERY hard for me to locate certain communities. Maybe provide direct links to each posting? • The posting Experience was really good and I feel it should not be cut back.We came to know various aspects and prospective about each and every topic through the posts of various people.It was a good way of expressing what each and every person felt about the topics.

28. b) Use of Google Community Group VIII • The posting were helpful to understand what other student thought about the topic. There were some really good ones in some discussions. Since this is more of an online course, it would be good if we can increase the frequency of these discussions. Students should make use of the feature to share more on what they learn or come across about big data. • It was a brilliant idea to post thoughts on the community website. It actually reflected the point of views of others who had taken this course. I think there could have been few more postings so that people could share what they understood. • The community postings are very useful in that they help to balance out the understanding of the entire class through sharing of views on a particular assignment. I feel they should definitely be increased. • The in-class sessions give a chance for students to discuss about topics offline and share their views which is good. • Great idea of posting the inputs of individual students on the community website. It help me in learning the understanding of each student on a particular website. It would be better if students would comment on each other posts and hence making the discussion interesting. • I think it helps me to learn what my colleagues are thinking on a topic.

29. b) Use of Google Community Group IX • Google community postings are very helpful. I feel that they should be increased. And the posts should be mandatory on a weekly basis. • Google community postings are an innovative way wherein variety of ideas are put forth and made public. It may sound trivial but it is of great use. Lets you think of various aspects a problem may be solved or a topic may be covered. • Use of Google community postings was quite helpful. As it allows us to view the comments posted by others and understand their perspective. Also we can discuss by commenting on others comments. • The community posting were a good innovative technique. It helped us to understand to take efforts to understand related concepts and think of innovative ideas and our perspective to those concepts. • I think it helps in active participation. So it must be increased. • So many students' views were getting shared here. A particular subject was seen in so many different angles. I felt it was very helpful because not only posting we all got to read what other students thought about it. • I think that use of the Google community posting was very beneficial. They helped to show what other classmates views were on certain areas. I think that the Google community posting could be improved by commenting on other posts and maybe allowing for students to posts on current articles and topics that are in the news about big data.

30. b) Use of Google Community Group X • The community postings we have every week on google plus has been a very effective means of communication and knowledge sharing. We get to learn and understand everybody’s views and perspectives on various topics. • Using google posting was an innovative and good option as this gave us a chance to share our views on different aspects of the field. It was interesting to know that a topic can be viewed from so many different angles. • Overall, I think the postings were fine, not too much or too little.  • Use a "comment on others posts" system. I felt no drive to look at others posts, but when I did, i enjoyed reading them. Some people had good things to say, but unless I have a reason to look at it, I won't.  • I certainly have to agree  that having students comment on each other’s postings is a good idea. It would make students read and react to what their colleagues have researched. Simply put, it would encourage interaction between classmates. I will also say that I thought the postings were usually quite interesting. Generally, my favorite postings were those that allowed us to choose from a series of topics or concepts.  • These post to the community were great as well because it gave students a chance to engage with other students in the course and to see everyone else thoughts on subjects that were being covered in class. This is vital because not every student is outspoken on their thoughts on a subject and these post gave them the opportunity to still be expressive without being in the spot light.

31. b) Use of Google Community Group XI • I think that this Google community should be used more than it was. I like when we had to post on here and I feel like it gave me a good understanding of where people were in the class. I think it is good for collaboration as well. I feel like the power point slides and videos were useful as well.  •  I have never been involved in using the google community and I really enjoyed it. I think the Google community could be used a lot more than it was. I think more discussion could be done on the google community making it more of a completely online course. • The use of the Google Community posting were helpful and a new, interesting experience. • The breakdown of material was largely aided by the Google community that we've used.  Between the community and the course site I feel it would be very possible to move this course to a full online layout, and even without it may be beneficial to add in a more "interactive" aspect to the community and add some sort of incentive for responses to other posts to fuel discussion online. All things considered it may be p • It really helped a lot as we got to know different things and had a platform to discuss with the other students. It was good as it was every week and need not be increased or decreased. It is possible to move the class to being entirely online. 

32. b) Use of Google Community Group XII •  I found some of my peer's postings quite interesting and useful but would have welcomed peer comments on what was posted. Perhaps requiring each posting to end with a question or requiring everyone to at least respond to one posting could promote discourse. • The Google community was more beneficial once our section was separated from the others. • I think the google community was useful in knowing the opinions of others in class. However it can also be used as a medium to encourage discussion. For example, we should be able to and encouraged to post on another's post.

33. c) Use of in-class sessions. Are they useful?

34. Summary of Undergraduate In class sessions • Broadly viewed as unsuccessful although some say have some value • Note for a flipped class like this (i.e. lectures are separate), it is not totally clear what they should be used for • Discussion of videos • Discussion of postings • Discussion of Homework • Nifty other topics • Class could be • All online • Better in class material • Shorter in class time • ? Replace in class by hangout so you don’t have to come to class • Note 30 minute weekly hangouts for online section viewed positively • Shorter time • Smaller more interactive group

35. Result of Undergraduate in-class discussion of this topic • Class should be taught online only • Community group postings should be included • No need for fancy video • In class should be shorter and optional – preferably in afternoon – and perhaps allow virtual (Hangout) equivalent • In class would be a group office hours and discuss homework, videos, additional topics, postings

36. Result of Graduate in-class discussion of this topic • Positive. More going through exercises

37. c) In class Sessions I • Use of in-class sessions are, in my opinion, less useful than the postings or the MOOC.  The reason for this is because of the extensive notes and videos available to us on the course site.  Most of the knowledge I gained was from these resources and reading the community postings. •  Most classes were semi-effective. The ones that were not occurred when the instructor didn't really discuss homework assignments, requirements, guidelines, etc.  • The in class sessions were in my opinion pretty ineffective as well. I feel like most people were coming to class to sign the attendance sheet and that was about it. I would recommend keeping the class more engaged. • I believe the in-class sessions were the weakest point of the class.  There was very little debate or conversation (besides the professor of course).However, it was useful, but could have been a little more engaging. • Yes,  think the Hangout sessions are useful.  One idea would be to alternate the time and day of the week for the in-class sessions.  • The hangouts? Yes, it is good to have this open forum. Always a little stilted due to technology. Sometime I could not participate verbally because the hangout had 'achieved max connections' or some such error. •  I found the hangouts to be useful • Yes, they are useful. Any questions/ issues are solved during the in-class session.

38. c) In class Sessions II • The in-class sessions are helpful. The classes provide time to ask questions to classmates and the professor. • I did not feel that in-class meetings were always necessary. These could easily be supplemented with more postings/participation/check-up assignments through Google or even Oncourse. • Overall I thought the in class sessions were not that helpful, there was not much pertinent content in them to add to the class all that much.  • Overall, I did not find the in-class meetings particularly effective. They were usually just a reiteration of the Google Postings and most times the classes did not go the full time length. Making this a 100% online class could be a possible option in my opinion. • I wish the in class session covered more of the videos and went more in depth into the topics we were covering.  I think that more conversation would have made it easier to retain what we were learning on the videos.   • In class sessions didn't really help all that much. It was just a review of the video sections we had to go over, which is pretty much straight forward. If there was like maybe instead of meeting once a week there would be an optional class meet every like 2 weeks to help with questions students have or anything that would be good, or maybe even have it all online. 

39. c) In class Sessions III • However, I felt that although the class time was somewhat useful it either needed to be shortened in length or needed some sort of activity to add substance to the class. • I wish the in class sessions took up more time. I have a long walk to get to class and when we're only there for five or ten minutes, it feels like a waste. Not to mention I'm paying thousands of dollars to be taught and while I do learn, it's not in class as much as I would like it to be. • I believe the in-class sessions were somewhat useful to clarify assignments and discuss some of the postings. I wish the class sessions were a little more interactive with an activity. • I liked thehangout sessions. It was nice to have a way to ask questions that were not covered in the class videos.  • With the use of Google community postings and the Google Course Builder Site, it seems as though this course could easily be made into an online class. Most of the information is available online and is simply reiterated in class. Although we only attended class once a week, we usually were dismissed early. • Hangoutsare useful. I would suggest to record the video of the hangout as I've missed several times and would really appreciate if there is some recording of it to view later.

40. c) In class Sessions IV •  I felt like some classes were useful, many others seemed pointless. I feel like this course should either be made completely online or just keep it all in the classroom. The class discussions did work though in hearing other opinions and expanding my thoughts on different topics. • I personally didn't find in class discussion particularly useful. I thought it would be more beneficial if the class meetings were used to expand upon the ideas in the youtube lectures. • The in-class sessions seemed to get less and less important as the semester went on, they might be more usefull if in-class meetings weren't as frequent that way we would have more to talk about in-class. • I think that in-class sessions could be more useful than they have been. I haven’t learned as much from the in-class sessions that I have from the videos and PowerPoint presentations, but everyone learns differently. I honestly am not sure that the in-class sessions are necessary due to the great tools and other resources we are given for the class.  • Since many of the in-class discussions are basically summarizing students’ post in community group. To make the in-class discussions more interesting, I think student could ask one question they have regarding to the assigned video every week so that students will have much more to discus in the class. 

41. c) In class Sessions V • The in-class sessions are useful when you have a question, an assignment is unclear, etc. But, I also think that is what office hours should be used for. What we talk about in class is all covered in the videos, so the class is not really necessary. • I think the class sessions are very important, it offers the chance to learn what other students thought of the topic, more importantly listen to professor Fox’s comments on the posts and the topic. • I think the in-class sessions could be a bit more useful with an addition of content that wasn't in the MOOC. • The way the class was set up, I don't think the in-class discussions are necessary. I think if students are expected to meet on campus for an hour each week that it should expand on the material and not simply restate it or be an opportunity for questions. There have been plenty of weeks where the class only lasted 15 minutes, which I feel says something about how necessary they are to the class. Class time would be more beneficial if it involved the students through problem solving or mini-assignments. • I learned things in in-class sessions, like what other people think on this topic which because I will not check other people's postings. Also what Professor Fox thinks and his suggestions. Unlike other lectures, this in-class sessions make me feel more relax compare to most lectures in IU.

42. c) In class Sessions VI •  I thought that the in class sessions were essentially useless. Anything that we could have learned we could have learned from the online videos. I'm not sure if that was the point, that is, to not have so much learning done in the classroom but to use that time to ask questions. I personally don't like this style of learning. • The in-class sessions should involve more interactive activities because now it is most answering the questions on assignments which should be covered in office hours. • The in class sessions are good but could be improved with more activities or applications. • The use of in class sessions were helpful when questions needed to be answered, but since most of the course was online I believe the length of meeting time should be cut down to fifty minutes instead of one hour and fifteen minutes.  • To me I think this class should be all online. We don’t do much in discussion but answer questions. I feel all of the information and post are all online so that is where the whole class should be. • In class discussions were somewhat helpful. Could be made more valuable with more discussion over class material rather than single topics. Or possibly showing new examples to further explain class topics. 

43. c) In class Sessions VII •  I thought that the in class sessions were essentially useless. Anything that we could have learned we could have learned from the online videos. I'm not sure if that was the point, that is, to not have so much learning done in the classroom but to use that time to ask questions. I personally don't like this style of learning. • The in-class sessions should involve more interactive activities because now it is most answering the questions on assignments which should be covered in office hours. • The in class sessions are good but could be improved with more activities or applications. • The use of in class sessions were helpful when questions needed to be answered, but since most of the course was online I believe the length of meeting time should be cut down to fifty minutes instead of one hour and fifteen minutes.  • To me I think this class should be all online. We don’t do much in discussion but answer questions. I feel all of the information and post are all online so that is where the whole class should be. • In class discussions were somewhat helpful. Could be made more valuable with more discussion over class material rather than single topics. Or possibly showing new examples to further explain class topics. 

44. c) In class Sessions VIII • Yes, the in-class sessions were also helpful to me since they helped me understand what was not clear to me while watching the videos. Also, if I had any questions regarding the videos or any other problems in class, I could simply go and ask Professor Fox. •  In class discussions were helpful, however I think I learned more about the classes opinions of the different topics because students were more comfortable posting on the community than speaking up in class. • I think the class sessions were helpful at times, but for the majority of the time, they could have been done online. This could have been through a Google hangout or some other means. But, the class sessions were helpful, but probably could be shortened. • Definitely useful, I personally found them very helpful  in providing the in-person meetings with Dr. Fox and for clarifications of assignments and topics. • I think its somewhat useful and somewhat not. most of the topics we covered can be done by google community or hangout. however, face to face in class discussion is helpful for reviewing. • I did not like in-class sessions. If the only objective is to cover what students posted on the community the in-class sessions could easily be replaced with online ones. I also did not appreciate it when class only lasted 5 or 10 minutes. • I honestly don’t believe the in class sessions are useful. Maybe a few for presentations, but most things in the class are on the bigdatacourseapp • I second view on recording hangouts. Due to extensive travel I also missed many hangouts and it would be useful to have them ready for use later.

45. c) In class Sessions IX • The in class sessions was very useful as professor told us what we thought about a particular topic was correct or wrong. • In-class sessions are certainly useful as Professor kind of summarizes the thoughts of the students about the topics and his thoughts as well. It also gives an opportunity to interested students to discuss related topics that are not being covered in the course. • They are indeed useful. The professor aggregated the posts of different students and made us understand how it was right or wrong. It gave the students an opportunity to discuss the topics offline. • The in-class sessions are really useful. The professor summarizes the inputs of each and every student and also helped them solve various doubts involving the topic of discussion • It certainly helps as professor teaches, corrects and make us understand new concepts. • The discussions have been very helpful. However, I would like to see some practical exercises being conducted in the class. • In class sessions are useful to understand the professor's views and to solve any doubts the students may have. More practical exercises involving touching real world problems may be a better alternative to make the class more interesting.

46. c) In class Sessions X • In class session were quite useful and I think they should be held. As face to face interactions are more effective and we can directly communicate with the instructor and fellow class mates. • In-class sessions was very useful. It gave us the opportunity to discuss with the professor, various subject related topics and answering student queries. • I think it helps in active participation. So it must be increased. • The lecture videos were self explanatory. In case of any doubts, the professor was responding via emails. The students were interacting via the Community posting. So I feel there is no need of in-class sessions or at least no need to increase it. • I felt that in-class sessions were useful, however I would like to see more time spent on reviewing the material that was in the videos. I didn’t think that going over what people said in the posts were as important. I also feel that having class for only a few minutes was not very beneficial. Maybe we could go into detail more about what was talked about in the videos. • In-Class sessions are quite useful since the earlier postings are being discussed and we get to talk and clear our doubts with the Prof. But since most of the information is discussed online via the website and emails, I feel it is okay to have a class once in 2 weeks. • I took this as an online course and didn’t attend in-class discussions, so I am not aware of how it was and so unable to write anything here. • As far as the in class sessions, I thought a good majority of them were useful, but sometimes when they only lasted about 10 minutes or were just summarizing what people said on the blog, I thought our time could have been used better. I think that having a Google hangout/only having the class online would be a far more convenient and better use of time.

47. c) In class Sessions XI • Personally, I do not like online classes. having a physical meeting is good for me and similar students. However, if you keep video lectures, the class time really needs to be more of a discussion, and less of a review session.  •  Next, I think that in-class sessions still serve a purpose. They help to clarify issues and assignments. I think that only having class once per week is useful.  • One thing that I would like to see differently is the final project. 7 pages single spaced and rather long and time consuming. I think it should be 7 pages double spaced. Also, I would like to see more post on subjects we touched on in class. • However, I don't think in class time is necessary. I think that it could be optional once every two weeks to catch up on what is going on in the slides.  • I did not find much use of the in-class sessions. The Google  Course Builder Site was easy to navigate. I do not see the need for both the in-class session and watching the MOOC's. • Yes it was helpful, as even if we skipped reading other students posts, like undergrads and the other section. In-class sessions gave us a wide view of all the students posts.

48. c) In class Sessions XII • The hang-outs addressed any questions that I had about assignments and the course material well. Having weekly discussions based on the topic or material covered that week could enhance them. Alternatively, students could be asked to give related presentations during these with discussions following. • I enjoyed the few hangouts I was able to attend. It was good to hear other people's questions. • I think the in class discussions was useful to know the professor's views and the views of the undergraduates. However, this session should have been used to learn something new too. The discussion should have been used only as a part of the class period. I would have like learning more case studies.

49. d) Ease of use of Google Course Builder Site; quality of videos; comparison with Coursera or other MOOC's.

50. Web Site Technology Summary • Basic technology and class use of it effective • Videos are OK in quality but instructor bland at times • Instructor note: Note commercial MOOC’s would record videos in a more professional fashion – these were done in my office from a laptop • YouTube option useful (loads faster) • Improve analytics so we can track better • Need to improve site loading/response performance • Captioning would help foreign students • Support multiple Google accounts for a given user • The details do need to get worked out as far as the Unit #sand section #s, the mismatched numbers (basically meaningless) were incredibly confusing/aggravating.  • Add ability to comment on videos (allowed in YouTube?)