Syntactic Analysis in Language Technology / Syntactic parsing

Mid term evaluation

This document summarizes the results of the mid term evaluation for 5LN455/5LN713/5LN717. The evaluation was done in class on November 21 and November 23.

General comments

Comments from students

  • I like the course
  • Fun and hands-on
  • Good structure
  • All is good
  • It is fine
  • Mostly OK
  • Well organized
  • The course is a bit difficult
  • Confusing with difference between bachelor/master
  • Have notes and examples in studentportalen

Sara's comments: overall the students are happy with the course and the structure. And the plan is to continue in a similar way for the rest of the course. The course does introduce some difficult concepts, the goal is of course to help you learn them in the best possible way. I tried to make the difference between the course versions clear, and they are also outlined on the course web page. As for notes, all lecture slides are available but not exercises, since they are interactive and not self-explanatory.

Lectures

Comments from students

  • Good and informing lectures
  • Good and educational with exercises during lectures
  • Mix of exercises and lectures good
  • The exercises ar helpful to help you understand concepts
  • More practical exercises would be good, to have a better understanding
  • Good explanations of concepts
  • Good lectures

Sara's comments: The mix between exercises and lectures seems successful. There is a balance between how much time could be spent on exercises though, and it would be hard to fit many more, given the teaching time on the course.

Assignments

Comments from students

  • Not good with same deadline for multiple assignments
  • Assignments explained in detail
  • Assignments a little hard for bachelors (no advanced programming yet)
  • Describe what the most common symbols mean

Sara's comments: it is unfortuantely too late to change deadlines now, but I will keep that in mind for the next time the course is given. I tried to help the bachelors with assignment 2 (and master assignment 1) during lecture 6 by showing and explaining alternative pseudo-code for CKY, and pseudo-code for the extraction of the tree. I have also made the programming part easier than last year for bachelor assignment 4, by removing the most difficult programming assignment. As for the most common symbols, I'm not exactly sure what you mean. I have tried to introduce them on the slides, I believe. But I might of course have missed some. You are always welcome to ask if there is anything that is unclear!