COSC 304 Introduction to Database Systems

Fall (Winter Term 1) 2023 - University of British Columbia Okanagan

Overview

The COSC 304 course covers key content 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 231 registered students, all but 14 got a D or above. The average GPA was 3.34. Charts showing the mark breakdown are below.

Comments

COSC 304 is a well-established course that had some new innovations this semester (instructor rating: 4.8). The course now has no labs and uses virtual office hours, which in general are very well appreciated by students. The content is delivered synchronously in hybrid mode (in-person and over Zoom) with live lectures recorded and released. There is also a significant amount of asynchronous content including pre-recorded videos, Canvas quizzes, and practice questions on GitHub. Videos and exams are on Canvas with the rest of the course materials on GitHub. Clickers are used for engagement during class.

The new techniques this semester included gamification of the practice questions done in class with deployment on PrairieLearn. These practice questions have always been done during class with students rewarded with candy for completion. Now, over 60% of them were migrated to PL allowing for automatic marking and feedback, which is critical in a class of over 200. More students were doing the questions with this technique, and the TAs and I were able to interact with more students. PL was also used more extensively to support the online exams primarily on Canvas. In addition to the ER/UML question, PL had questions on relational algebra and SQL. Although there were some technical challenges with the deployment at times, overall this was a positive experience for students that will be expanded in the future.

The other new innovation was supporting non-CS students by allowing a different project pathway for the last four labs. The project has always been to build an online store, which is very applicable for CS majors but requires web programming skills that are outside of the class scope and not known by many non-CS majors. The alternate pathway was to be a data analyst producing an analysis report on online store data. This pathway did not require programming and the efforts are focused on Excel and data analysis techniques. The alternate project was well-received with about 20% of the class selecting that path. The project was changed to be done in pairs like the other assignments rather than groups of up to four people. In addition, digital badges were awarded for both project pathways for students that got over 90% on the project. Digital badges were also awarded for the top marks on each of the exams.

Strengths of the Course

• The professor makes the course very accessible for learning with multiple opportunities to learn. The course material is presented in a way that highlights use in the industry, which is incredibly helpful for learning how what we are learning is applicable to our careers.
  


• The strengths of this course lie within three core areas:
  1. The labs: the labs were extremely useful in applying what we were learning in class and getting a hands–on understanding of some of the more complex topics.
  2. The interactivity: the clickers and live sessions made lecture content extremely engaging, which I always find that professors have a hard time achieving. This course should be a model for other courses in terms of what constitutes an interactive and engaging lecture.
  3. The instructor: the instructor is a large part of why this course was so successful. His care and attention to detail show through in his teaching.
  


• This course is very informative and useful in both general and applicable knowledge. The covered material connects and fits together well and the structure is very sensible. The iClicker and Prairielearn components allow for a more interactive learning experience, and notes and lectures are always available for review. All of these things together creates a very positive learning environment. Projects also allowed for good practice and applied learning.
  


• It is a good introductory course, heavy enough for its expected rigor, but light enough that even though it is a requirement for some, they don't go too hard on the theory, and instead focuses on the practical skills that are picked up.
  


• I don't believe any portion of the course should be changed, everything was made very clear and the instruction was the best I have experienced from a computer science professor at UBC Okanagan.
  

Weakness of the Course

• I would say that the [PrairieLearn] was not the most effective, rather the variation in answers (some of which were incorrect) actually hindered my learning at the start of the course, as it affected my confidence and my understanding of how the course worked. Otherwise, the course was amazing and I don't have anything poor to say at all.
  


• One of the hardest parts of the course was setting up the labs with how particular and sensitive much of the software is. Perhaps going over how to set up these systems up in a more detailed way would be helpful. Though office hours help with this, the majority of my time on labs was spent on setting up the software and not the actual course material.
  


• The quizzes are great for keeping up with the material and the clicker questions are great for getting people to class but the questions are all very broad True/False questions. These kinds of questions are not good for teaching the material in my opinion and should be changed to something that actually can reinforce the knowledge instead of confusing people more.
  


• There were a lot of moving parts for this course: canvas quizzes, clicker, PL, Docker, Astah, Squirrel, ...etc. It's a lot. Some weeks felt like a juggling act – where the focus on getting these systems working distracted from learning the course materials.
  

Most Enjoyable Part of the Course

• Fun and engaging classes, very industry oriented which is a big positive, plenty of positive reinforcement through candy and bonus marks to help incentivize
  


• The PROF! He is the strength; his motivation helps he cares! Probably the best CS prof I've had and one of the top 5 prof's I've had so far.
  


• I feel that the strength of the course is how straight forward it is. The course has absolutely no surprises or curveballs on any assignments or exams. The material covered in class is exactly what you need to know for exams and the clickers/labs/in–class activities are perfect practice for exams.
  


• The prof: he managed to turn something arguably boring (was not really interested in databases) into something that was quite interesting and at times enjoyable. The fact that Zoom was an option is great!