Noteworthy Points about my Courses
·
Studies show that those who do not attend lectures
do not perform as well as those who do. My own experience is the same.
·
My lecturing style and in-class
expectations:
o
I shall share with you what I know from the literature and from my own experience. I may differ from what a book
might say and will let you know of the exceptions.
o A lecture session is a two/multi-way street. Based on the points being discussed, two (or multi) way interactions lead to better learning for all. Participate, participate, participate!
o
No question or response is stupid.
Rather, silence on something you would like to, but (for some reason) are afraid
to, ask is (really) your loss. PLEASE ask in the
o
If I do not know the/an answer
to a question, I shall let you know and shall try to obtain the answer from external sources.
o I tend to give many examples on the points being discussed. These are most often “not” to be found in books or literature; they are based on personal experience, other disciplines, or simply common sense. Quite often, these examples are not described in the presentations slides.
I expect students to “get into it” when examples are being discussed. Those who do tend to perform better than those who do not. Some students do “not” like this approach; some do. While at times a given slide might take long to get through, my considered opinion is that students need to know what is being transpired; it gives them broader knowledge AND “understanding” of the issues in software engineering.
Admittedly, different students work or absorb at differing rates. That is why there is “enrichment studies” for those who want to take up this challenge.
The objective in my
course is “not” to rush through the slides/material; it
is to learn as much
as we can given the time we have, class configuration we have, and collective
experience we have. This varies from year to year. Otherwise, you might as well
do an on-line, remote learning course on your own. Software engineering is
“not” a pencil & paper exercise in a lab; we as a society increasingly depend on software,
much like air, water and heat. We need to talk!
o
Research & pedagogy are integrated as much as appropriate. That is,
o
Try to ask the following with
every point (the “WHAT”)
being made – as appropriate:
§
Why, Where, When, How, Implications on other types of artefacts and other project variables (listed
here), Cost, Quality,
User/Customer satisfaction
and issues, Performance, Tools
involved, Processes
involved, Time, People-roles, Product representations
(not only code!), Technical
vs. Managerial
issues, etc.
o If you happen to come late
to a lecture, please be considerate of the others. Slip in silently without
disturbing others.
·
The best time to catch me is
generally right after the lecture.
·
If you must phone/email, please
contact the TAs first for a faster reply (but send a copy of your email to me
so that I am aware of what is going on and can catch things falling in between
the cracks). I am usually swamped with emails from worldwide, teach several other
courses, supervise graduate students, have many other responsibilities and,
therefore, my responses
will most certainly not be immediate. If you are desperate or things are
rather “urgent”, then just come to my office.
·
I expect that you will have read the lecture material
BEFORE you come to the class. See the course outline
for the material to be covered in the course. Those who do perform MUCH better then those who do
not.
·
Those who read other sources for
the material on the same/similar topics generally perform better than those who
do not. Those who have practical experience in the relevant topics also generally
perform better then those who do not have such experience.
·
Those who perform well in my classes generally have
realistic or plausible EXAMPLES for virtually any
software engineering point or issue. Think deep, read
diverse sources, talk
to others, and experiment
with technologies and case
studies. You generally cannot know all there is to know only by attending
the lectures.
·
Studies show that “active learning” leads to
better performance than “passive learning”. So, take the notes down in the
·
Start your assignments and projects immediately, if you want to perform well in my
·
Have an EXPLICIT TIME-MANAGEMENT agenda. Be guided by it.
Cannot over-emphasize this!
·
Try to turn your time agendas around to see what works best for you. For example, working during early
hours in the morning, when your mind and body are well-rested, might work much
better than staying up late at nights when the mind and body are tired from the
day’s activities.
· Finally, I sincerely would like to help you succeed in my courses. If you have issues that are affecting you in the courses, please come and talk to me. We shall try to work around these issues as much as is reasonably possible.
Many students leave it till way too late for me to be able to help them. This is extremely sad. I know in may such situations that I would have been able to help them and their lives would have been much better. This is just very sad.
If you have learnt
things in my courses and, consequently, do well, then this is BIG achievement
for ME. Why we met here in this life, only God knows,
but I consider this as MY privilege to be the custodian of this course in which
we play different roles. We are all in the same boat, just remember that. We
are sitting in different places in the same boat – that is all.