Conference heron::euro_swas_ai

132.0. "VDEEX TTT Course Feedback" by MUNSBE::BRITTAIN (The boy stood on the burning DEC...) Tue Sep 05 1989 16:45

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  |     Report on the European "Train-the-Trainer" Course for            |
  |             	VAX DECISION EXPERT                              |
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   by: Peter MUNSBE::Brittain @UFC (using the Student Opinion Forms)


   Dates: 28-aug - 1-sept-1989
   Instructor:  Malin ESIS::Goodwin 
		(Ed Serv. Intelligent Systems Group,Marlboro)
   
   Students:
   EDU		Antony Madeley  @RKA    Uk
		Hamadoun Dicko  @EVO    Fr
		Peter Brittain  @UFC    Gy
   FS
		Jaak Leen	@BRO    Be
		Leopold Ngamby	@PAO    Fr
                Richard Wood	@UVO	Uk
   SWAS		
   		Juan Escudero	@SQO    Sp
		Bernd Jung	@COO	GY
   		Alexandra Boek  @UNT    Gy

   IS		Michel Saez	@FYO	Fr/Eur
   ETG/SSM      Robert McKeating  Ayr    Uk
   SSG		Gernot Loeffler   Vienna  Au


   THE COURSE:

   	The Course materials were marked very highly by all students (all
   Strongly Agree or Agree).  They show a clear, logical strucure, have
   sensible incremental examples plus a mini-project, are very well
   presented and leave no essential topics uncovered.

   	Slides in the European sense were lacking, the instructor showing
   pages of the students guide instead, as is the American norm.  However
   the developer (= the instructor) made excellent use of graphics, and
   there were no complaints about slides.


   THE INSTRUCTOR:

   	The Instructor, Malin Goodwin, was also marked very highly on all
   counts: knowledgebility, helpfulness, clarity, didactic skills and
   efficient use of time.  She was conscientious in helping  the students
   with there exercises, and shows a genuine committment to the quality of
   the materials.

   THE FACILITIES:

   	The facilities, in particular the workstation cluster, were marked
   only fair. One Student's workstation crashed frequently.  The
   classroom also lacked a barco for screen projection and a microphone for
   the instructor to make herself heard above the workstations.  The
   workstations themselves were rather too slow (Paging over Ethernet ?).

   THE SOFTWARE:
   	
   	The EDU opinion forms have no slot for evaluation of the software.
   Generally VDEEX lacks the "look-and-feel" of the DECWindows environment,
   and it can be painfully slow (on a VAX Station at least) to enter and
   'compile' facts and data - eg. Forcing one to use menus to enter single
   characters in an If-Then-table.  Having said this, the software gives a
   basically solid impression ie. serious bugs were not observed.


   OVERALL IMPRESSION      (11 Opinion sheets returned)
   	4 X Excellent
   	2 X Very Good
        4 X Good
   	1   (No Entry)		
		
   All but one student would recommend the course (Strongly agree or Agree)
   to others.


   OTHER COMMENTS:

   	One student was of the opinion that the coursse should have been
   held in less time (3 days), but I do not believe that this was thought
   generally (personal impression).

   I would like to thank Malin and the ESIS group for giving us an
   excellent course.