COSC 304 Introduction to Database Systems

Fall (Winter Term 1) 2008 - University of British Columbia Okanagan

Overview

The COSC 304 course was successful this semester (instructor rating: 4.78 out of 5). The course content was unchanged from the previous year. One minor change is the course changed from 3 classes per week to 2 classes per week.

The course had 9 students. The course involved the lab assignments, two midterm exams, a final exam, and a major project. The marks were significantly lower than previous years with weaker student performance on the exams. The project was to build an online store, MyAmazon.

The class was in Fipke 239 from 12:30-2:00 p.m. Mondays/Wednesdays with a 2 hour lab on Tuesdays from 9:00 to 11:00 a.m.

On-line Resources

• Syllabus

Student Performance

Of the 9 registered students who started the course, all got a C or above. The average GPA was 3.11. Charts showing the mark breakdown are below.

Comments

This class is well-tuned. Some material may need to be cut or edited (specifically the XML/normalization), but overall there are few changes expected in the future. The labs and the lab instructor were very good. The programming labs and project were very interesting to most students.

Strengths of the Course

• "It is awesome ; Very interesting/relevant material ; Useful! ; Fun class ; Notes were great ; Participation ; Free textbook"
  


• "Broad coverage of many interesting database topics. All were relevant to my degree and future career. Interesting assignments."
  


• "Everything ; Best course ever ; Found my new favorite subject and possible career."
  

Weakness of the Course

• "Lots of work"
  

Most Enjoyable Part of the Course

• "The Hickerson Optimizer ; relational algebra and class design were fun too"
  


• "Great teaching style, keep it up"