COSC 304 Introduction to Database Systems

Fall (Winter Term 1) 2019 - University of British Columbia Okanagan

Overview

The COSC 304 course covers everything a computer programmer needs to know about databases (ER/UML database design, SQL, database programming). This course trains students on critical industrial skills.

On-line Resources

• Syllabus

Student Performance

Of the 197 registered students who started the course, all but five got a D or above. The average GPA was 3.39. Charts showing the mark breakdown are below.

Comments

This class has been offered many times and continues to deliver high value to students, especially the labs and project. (instructor rating: 4.86). This year the project was streamlined due to the increased number of students. More group programming and lab activities were done instead of individual exercises. This offering the class size was the largest ever and required using a microphone during presentations. The class room was FIP 204, which is an excellent but very large room.

Strengths of the Course

• "An amazing professor who places students as the top priority. Challenging course content but very beneficial and applicable in the real world. Great course."
  


• "This has been the best course I have been enrolled in at UBCO thus far. Lawrence is incredibly knowledgeable and enthusiastic about the subject matter covered. I am more interested in back–end database related programming now then I thought I would ever be. I look forward to taking all other classes taught by Dr. Lawrence."
  


• "The course was taught incredibly by Dr. Lawrence. He is incredibly knowledgeable about what he's teaching, and he cares a lot about his students' success. The content he teaches is very engaging and it helps tremendously that he is is enthusiastic about the material. Dr. Lawrence is an absolutely amazing professor at UBCO."
  


• "Ramon is easily one of the more engaging profs I've ever had. Encouraging class discussion, extremely fast marking (assignments and exams), difficult but fair assignments and exams, and interesting lectures. Highly recommend!"
  


• "Dr. Lawrence went above and beyond to support learning in this course. As much as handing out candy in class is appreciated, I was pleasantly surprised when he would show up to some labs as well to help out the TAs when there were a lot of questions. Although the course content is challenging, the fact we worked through so many questions in class and all slides and answers were posted online made it a lot less intimidating."
  


• "I have taken 60+ classes at UBC and this is one of the best taught courses I've taken. Specific strengths:
  • Lecture slides were great.
  • There were lots of relevant practice questions. The content on the labs and assignments were useful and helpful in solidyfing my understanding.
  • The preamble at the start of the class i.e. talking about general events going on, life tid–bits etc., mental health. I really loved this. Most professors go straight into course content and do not mention other events. Including this preamble makes this course more relateable somehow. Also, when I was super stressed about midterms or assignments the little talk about mental health made be step back a bit and realize professors care, and these stressful few weeks don't actually matter all that much."
  
  

Weakness of the Course

• "The schedule was pushed back which really impacted the last two assignment due dates. Will have to sacrifice quality to be able to finish quicker and study for finals (which for this course is the first slot of final exam week)"
  


• "I think the setup documents for labs could contain a bit more detail. It somehow became the most frustrating and time consuming portion of the lab."
  


• "Trouble with course project and seemingly similar problems between lab groups meaning the TA was fielding similar questions constantly and didn't have time for other more specific questions."
  

Most Enjoyable Part of the Course

• "The project. I think as far as the computer science program is concerned at UBCO it should be way more focused on working in groups and creating software projects. It is the reality of software development that you end up working in teams, and I think students would benefit from more difficult assignments or projects."
  


• "I loved the project. I really liked that Ramon let us pick what we sold and was always available for help. He gave us a lot of freedom but also kept the project well structured."
  


• "He dressed up as Batman on Halloween and that's an incentive that not many professors go with. Although not a major aspect to the course itself, it made the students more comfortable with connecting to the prof."