COSC 404 Database System Implementation

Spring (Winter Term 2) 2010 - University of British Columbia Okanagan

Overview

The COSC 404 course was very successful this semester (instructor rating: 4.93 out of 5). The number of students enjoying and engaged with the material was considerably higher. This may be partly due to the increased hands-on programming components of the labs and that the labs were done in pairs. The course content was very similar to the previous offering in 2008 except some content was dropped and the labs had more practical components. The student engagement was great especially since the material itself is quite complex and often hard to motivate. A key aspect is that students saw the connections with both research and computer science applications in industry.

On-line Resources

• Syllabus

Student Performance

Of the 16 registered students who started the course, all got a C or above. The average GPA was 3.48, a significant improvement from 2008. Three students took the course for graduate credit. Charts showing the mark breakdown are below.

Comments

This class went better as the content and labs were more focused. More work should be done on the labs. Although the SimpleDB system is a good idea, in practice it was hard to use with many issues. Considering writing our own DB for the labs for next time. The lab TA was just a marker, so I was there for all labs.

Strengths of the Course

• "Very clear expectations ; amazing lecture notes ; no $100+ textbook ; Dr. Lawrence is incredibly knowledgeable"
  


• "Excellent prof, interesting material, lots of info about current research and problems"
  


• "Very interesting, engaging lectures. Thank you very much for making the labs biweekly."
  

Weakness of the Course

• "Lecture slides sometimes outdated, consider spending a bit more time on preparation instead of using the same slides for many, many years. Sometimes feel kind of "cold" during office hours, as if you don't appreciate the interruption."
  


• "Maybe a little too much work and information given for one course. Too much memorization for examinations which is not one of my strengths."
  

Most Enjoyable Part of the Course

• "Related academic research to use in production systems very well. One of the best courses for preparing to use comp. sci. skills outside of class work."
  


• "Students encourages to ask questions and given time to solve problems."