CMPS 376 Spring 2013 Assessment Report

Embedded Exam Questions:
Q5.  (CAC PIa1 and PIa2) Apply Shannon's Law and Nyquist's Theorem to given scenario 
Q14. (CAC PIi3) Choose appropriate interface for IP address using static routing table
Q15. (CAC PIa1) Apply appropriate statistical formulas to given scenario

Lab Assignment:
L4.  (CAC PIi1) Write the select() loop for a client-server application using C

                  Q5             Q14            Q15            L4
               CS    CIS      CS    CIS      CS    CIS      CS    CIS
5 (A)           5      2       9      7       7      2       1      1
4 (B)           5      4       1      5       4      6       7      9
3 (C)           5      6       4      5       1      4       3      2
2 (D)           0      6       1      2       2      5       2      1
1 (F)           0      1       0      0       1      2       0      0
0 (No answer)   0      0       0      0       0      0       2      6

Avg Score     4.0    3.0     4.2    3.9     3.9    3.1     3.1    2.6
Avg % Max    80.0%  60.0%   84.0%  77.9%   78.7%  61.1%   61.3%  51.6%

% 4 or 5     66.7%  31.6%   66.7%  63.2%   73.3%  42.1%   53.3%  52.6%
% >= 3      100.0%  63.2%   93.3%  89.5%   80.0%  63.2%   73.3%  63.2%
Rating          E     CM       E      M       M     CM       M     CM

Rating scale
   E   Exceeded expectations          (>=90% scored 3 or higher)
   M   Met expectations               (>=70% scored 3 or higher)
  CM   Conditionally met expectations (>=60% scored 3 or higher)
   F   Failed to meet expectations    ( <60% scored 3 or higher)


CIS students still struggle with mathematical questions (Q5 and Q15), even
though an additional lecture on how to use mathematics for networking has 
been added and similar questions were on both homework assignments and the
midterm exam. The solutions to the midterm questions were covered in class
and the solutions to the homework questions were posted on the course website.
The review session also included covering an example of Q15. 

The instructor cannot see how to add additional mathematical support for the
CIS students without impacting another area of the course. The CS students are
scoring much better on these questions, likely due to their stronger math
cognate. Hopefully, the stronger mathematics requirements for the CIS track
in the new catalog (MATH 192 or higher, instead of the current MATH 190/191) 
will help alleviate this issue with future CIS students.

Additionally, a greater proportion of the CIS students did not turn in the
laboratory assignment on programming for the socket API. This lowered the 
overall average for that pool of students. The instructor will emphasize 
the importance of completing all programs for the course the next time the
instructor teaches the course.