COSC 304 Introduction to Database Systems

Fall (Winter Term 1) 2020 - 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 180 registered students, all but 10 got a D or above. The average GPA was 3.16. 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: 4.94). Given COVID-19, the class was completely online this year. Also, there were no scheduled labs. Labs were replaced with virtual office hours that anyone could drop into. All assignments were done in pairs, and the project assignments were done in groups of four. Pre-recorded videos were produced for all lectures. Scheduled times were recorded and repeated lecture material with more focus on questions. The scheduled times were very similar to what would have occurred if the class was in person.

Overall, the course reception and student performance were not negatively affected by the online delivery. Students appreciated the recording (and pre-recording) of lectures which should be kept when the course goes back in person. Although virtual breakout rooms are not as ideal as in person breakout activities, they generally went well and students used them. The combination of Canvas quizzes for the clicker questions and the live clickers worked out okay. The live clickers are more engaging, but the Canvas quizzes allowed participation of students at any time and from any time zone. The labs work well, and labs 2 and 3 are getting closer to being auto-marked using a software solution. The programming labs moved to Docker, which was not perfect but much better than installing software directly on the machine. Using Docker allowed for the cosc304 server to be used less. The performance on the exams was a little lower (especially midterm 1), but that is most likely due to getting used to writing online exams and time management. Open book exams are good (with Proctorio), but many students ran out of time on midterm 1. Writing the exam is actually slower online. In the future it will be interesting to blend the online elements with the in-person activities while trying to automate even more of the assessments.

Strengths of the Course

• "Ramon is the best teacher I've had at UBCO. This stems from a combination of teaching ability, over–the–top effort, and an awesome personality; no doubt, Ramon is the biggest strength of any course he teaches. A highlight of this course was the reinforced learning implemented by Ramon: short, informative online pre–lectures with an associated no–stress canvas quiz, followed by a quick review and question period in the next lecture. The remainder of the class would be spent on collaborative hands–on practice, and topped off with a practical lab due at the end of the week. From a course structure standpoint, this is the best–designed system I have encountered to date.
  
  Beyond the well–designed structure of the course, Ramon made the content itself flexible and applicable. Students were given options to choose the tech stack they wanted for the project, and starter code was given for multiple stacks. Furthermore, the course content was trimmed down and focused strongly on the most practical and critical parts of the course; Ramon clearly communicated which information was the most important.
  
  Finally, and maybe most importantly, was Ramon's attitude. He wanted everyone to succeed, learn the content, and get a good grade on the course. In fact, he went out of his way, spending unbelievable amounts of hours each week to attend extra help sessions, respond quickly to emails, and even create custom videos explaining concepts that students wanted more help with. There's also no overlooking the tremendous amount of work he spent to make the transition to the online format as smooth as possible, while capitalizing on the advantages of the new format (such as breakout rooms)."
  


• "If there are any considerations being made with regards to how to facilitate a course during these unusual circumstances, I would suggest speaking with professor Ramon Lawrence. The course was taught in such a fair manor and the professor brought so much passion and excitement into the lectures. Although the chat would often get slightly off topic, Ramon would look at it from time to time, casually make a joke about it, and steer the conversation back to the topic of the lecture. The professor made the class so motivated to attend lectures and do labs to the best of our abilities. I can't think of a class since I've been at UBCO where I've been more motivated to do well all the while enjoying the lectures and the course material. Thanks Ramon!"
  


• "Taught very well, clicker questions kept me accountable and encouraged me to actually wake up for my 8 am class. The professor is one of the kindest professors I have ever had, and I genuinely looked forward to lecture time for this class. The labs were helpful for understanding the content better, and it was nice to work with a lab partner. Exams were fair and prof did not play any tricks on us, but did not make them too easy so that anyone could do well."
  


• "I found the course to be very informational. Ramon has a great teaching style that worked so well for me. The quizzes, both live and in canvas, were a nice way to test my knowledge and keep me on track. The labs were great mostly, but I will address some problems in the weaknesses part. The drop–in labs worked so well for me, and the TAs and Ramon were very helpful, and they were also very necessary for me to go to because of my issues with the labs. Of all my courses this semester, the movement of this course to online was the best, Ramon did an excellent job of that."
  


• "Professor has a very broad understanding and passion for the subject matter which made it a very applicable course. Ramon actively tries to teach us applicable skills for the job market which I found super valuable. Assignments were helpful, midterms were fair, and all grades were returned weeks faster than other courses I am currently taking despite being the biggest class. All in all a very positive learning experience."
  

Weakness of the Course

• "Setting up Squirrel, Eclipse driver, and VS Code was a literal nightmare. This was probably a challenge because of online classes, but for future classes this process needs to be easier/more straightforward."
  


• "I think Ramon is doing an excellent job. My only concern was with the hours required for the final project. My team of 4 spent a combined nearly 200 hours on this project alone in the last two weeks of class. That is simply too much time for a full course load, especially considering we also had lectures and readings for COSC 304 at the same time (and 4 other courses!). I would recommend slimming the project requirements, or spreading it out over more weeks. To be clear: the project was an incredible learning experience, and a ton of fun! Just, too much work for the given time period."
  


• "My one and only problem with the course was the slight disconnect between some of the learning and the labs. I felt mostly prepared and able to do the labs after completing quizzes, reviewing the pre–recorded lectures, and attending live lectures, but sometimes I felt there were parts of the labs I was not prepared for regardless of how active I was in the course learning. My partner/group and I always needed to go to at least one drop–in session a week for parts of labs that felt like they should've been easy, but we didn't feel like we had been taught fully. This didn't happen all the time, and never for a whole lab, but it did happen. Wasn't the end of the world, because the drop–in help always cleared things up."
  


• "I am an engineering student so I have been in my share of group projects, and the only thing that this class is missing is some sort of way to encourage all students to participate in the group project. I think it would be a great idea to include an iPeer evaluation so that groups can rate their members, then scale the students marks so they are negatively effected by not working. I found that members of my group were not working since there was no repercussions due to not working."
  

Most Enjoyable Part of the Course

• "It's hard to pinpoint one particular thing. But, for me, the atmosphere of the class and Ramon's attitude made this course not only incredibly interesting and useful, but also a fun and relaxing experience. Rather than "getting through" lecture, I looked forward to it. And, despite the combined hours of COSC 304 pre–readings, lectures and labs exceeding the workload of any other class I'm taking, it always felt like it was the quickest material to complete every week (other than the final project). That is truly a testament to Ramon's exceptional teaching ability."
  


• "The general interaction between the class since it's online and also a very fun and engaging professor. Didn't take joke seriously and a very easy to talk to prof. It's the best class I've taken in UBCO so far in my life."
  


• "Ramon is an amazing human being. He approaches the course with both empathy and passion, and the course is so much better off for it. He is the only professor that I had that adapted their course to online learning and he was also the only professor that understood how hard this semester was. Seriously the man is a saint. He gives a 150% to ensure that everyone learns and excels. Also the dogs and cats."