Introduction: As you probably know, the TeachScheme! Workshop in which you participated last summer is part of a multi-year Project in computer science education, funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF). In order for NSF to continue to fund TeachScheme! from year to year, they require that TeachScheme! receive independent evaluation and assessment. This questionnaire is part of that evaluation project.
The purpose of the questionnaire is three-fold: 1) to ask you to reflect on your Workshop experience and the consequences of that experience for your teaching; 2) to get your feedback concerning the different components of the Workshop, now that you've been back to school for at least a term; and 3) to ask for suggestions about how future Workshops can be modified, augmented or otherwise improved.
Your responses to the following questions will not be seen directly by the teachers of the TeachScheme! Workshops; rather, they will be read and synthesized by the Evaluation Team and presented to the Workshop teachers in a meeting in March. That meeting is designed to help the TeachScheme! Project Team prepare for the Summer 2002 Workshops. If you wish to send a copy of your answers to your Workshop teacher you are welcome to do so; but, be assured that you can offer reflections, criticism and advice in whatever form you like here, and that your responses will remain confidential. (The results of this questionnaire will also be summarized in the Year One Evaluation Report to the NSF, which is expected in April.)
You may respond to this questionnaire by copying this page into your favorite word-processing program, writing your answers there, and then sending the document (in plain text or as an e-mail attachment) to rog@mendele.com. Alternately, can use either a PDF or a Microsoft Word (actually it's an "RTF" file that can be opened in Word) version of the questionnaire if you prefer, responding either electronically (i.e. by saving the document, editing in or attaching your answers, and sending the response as an attachment to e-mail) or by mail (i.e. by printing the document, typing, writing or attaching your answers, and mailing it to: Roger B. Blumberg, Mendele Education & Technology, Box 942, Providence RI 02901). Please respond as soon as possible and no later than March 4, 2002.
Finally, we understand that this questionnaire will take a significant amount of time to answer carefully (roughly 1-2 hours), and we very much appreciate your devoting as much time to this as possible. The overall purpose of this phase of the Evaluation of TeachScheme! is formative (i.e. to help the Project Team improve the program), and be assured that your contributions to this effort are critical to its success. On behalf of TeachScheme! and the National Science Foundation, we thank you in advance for your consideration and time, and we look forward to your responses.
Roger B. Blumberg
1. What is your name, age, and professional title?
2. What is your content area, where do you teach, and how long have you been teaching (if you have taught multiple subjects please give the number of years you've taught in each one)?
3. Where did you attend the TeachScheme! Workshop and how did you come to enroll in it (i.e. how did you hear about it, what were your reasons for enrolling, and what did you hope to gain from it)?
4. Having completed the Workshop, how would you characterize its goal(s)/objective(s) for a colleague who asks you about participating in the 2002 Summer Workshop?
5. In light of your answers to questions #3 and #4, did you accomplish what you had hoped to accomplish when you enrolled in the Workshop (please explain)?
6. The five days of the Summer Workshop were divided into lectures and laboratory exercises. Please comment on the general balance between lectures and labs, noting whether you thought the combination well-suited to the goals of the Workshop and/or well-suited to your own needs as a student.
7. Did the Workshop include skill-building, conceptual learning and professional development components? What were the relative values of each of these components for you as a teacher?
8. Which components of the Workshop (i.e. which lectures, exercises or discussions) were most memorable and/or important, and which were least memorable and/or important?
9. Did your participating in the Workshop change the way you think about either the subject(s) you teach, or the way you think about yourself as a teacher of computer programming (please explain)?
10. Did your participating in the Workshop result in your changing any of your teaching practices this year (if yes, please explain with an example or two; if no, please explain why not)?
11. If you were designing the TeachScheme! Workshop for the coming year, (how) would you modify: a) the length of the Workshop; b) the teaching methods used; c) the scope or the depth of the material covered; and d) the amount of time devoted to lectures, labs, discussions, and extracurricular activities (you may address these issues separately or together in your response, but please try to address each one)?
12. As mentioned in the Introduction, your completed questionnaire will not be seen by the TeachScheme! Project Team, but only by the TeachScheme! Evaluators. In the event that the Evaluation Team authors or co-authors articles about either the TeachScheme! Program, or computer science education generally, would you allow us to quote (anonymously) from the responses you've give here?
We know that this questionnaire has been quite demanding of your time and patience, and we very much appreciate your having taken the time to help us refine and improve the TeachScheme! Project.
Thank you again,
Roger
© 2002 Roger B. Blumberg and TeachScheme!