22C:296 Advanced Database Seminar

Fall 2001 - University of Iowa

Overview

22C:296 was a new graduate seminar course for both myself and the University of Iowa. It was scheduled Tuesdays and Thursdays from 3:55-5:10 pm and ran from August 28, 2001 to December 13, 2001. The class size was 7 students, and it was organized in seminar-style. However, since there is no high-level undergraduate database course in the department, a significant portion of the course was teaching database implementation techniques including query processing, concurrency control, transaction management, recovery, and database architectures. The evaluation for the course was a programming project and research paper. There were many good programming projects including a web-accessible image database, a JDBC driver for text files, and web applications. The research papers included surveys of mobile databases, CORBA, multidatabase transaction management, image databases, and data mining in genome databases. The small class size contributed to an informal and interactive environment.

On-line Resources

• Syllabus

Student Performance

Of the 7 registered students who started the course, all passed the course. The average GPA was 3.90 or just under an A. Charts showing the mark breakdown are below.

Comments

• "The course gave me an excellent opportunity to develop a web-app that I am proud of - not because it is technically great - but because of the idea and its almost non-existence out there."
  


• "I enjoy[ed] the class. The small size allows [for] more open communication."
  


• "Overall, it is an enjoyable class. The material is up-to-date, well structured, & well presented; it is effectively taught."
  


• "The instructor is well prepared and able (and ready) to answer questions. He is enthusiastic about the material. Good work!"
  


• "[I would like to change] to more concentration on fewer topics and cover them with more depth" - a student expressing one of the concerns about the class as it was forced to cover some background database material which consumed precious time.