Prof Jogesh Muppala

Department of Computer Science

Course:
COMP252 Principles of Systems Software (216 students in two sections)

Format of Weekly Meetings:

• Three 1-hour lectures or two 1.5-hour lectures
• One 2-hour lab session

Preparing Materials

He finds it is important to be well-structured and pre-planned in a large class. He makes use of lab sessions to explain and elaborate difficult concepts. He also uses animation to explain abstract concepts by fostering visual imagination in students. Besides the animations, he also uses real life examples, current issues, popular topics, even humor and jokes that relate to the lecture to explain the concepts. These all can maintain students' interest.

Arranging TAs' Work

He believes a good TA makes a lot of difference, so he tries to communicate with them regularly, at least once a week, so that they can carry out their duties more effectively and share some of the burden. One of their main jobs is handling lab teaching. He usually sets an agenda, prepares materials one week prior to the lab session so that TAs can get prepared well in advance. To make sure they are working collaboratively, he has one demonstrator to be in charge of all TAs. As a teaching team, they also help grading projects.

Training TAs

He prefers to have TAs who stay for at least two semesters for the same course because they understand his and the students' needs better. He provides a structure of duties for the TAs to follow so they know what they are responsible. He always encourages TAs to take the student's perspective and to understand students' concerns. To enhance communication, he has weekly meetings with TAs.

Managing Class (Lecture)

"Personal touch" is lacking for any class that has over twenty students. So he tries to get close to the students by talking to those who come to class early to understand their problems better. This group of students develops a channel of communication for him to better understand the general progress of the class.

Managing Class (Tutorial/ Lab)

One major challenge is to motivate the students, especially to appreciate abstract concepts. It is hard for them to focus on the tasks assigned in the lab and it turns out that they are doing their own things during the session. So on one hand, he prepares exercises for students to follow strictly during the sessions. On the other hand, he also explains the homework assignments in the lab. These lab exercises usually contain questions related to their projects. He then gives them the solutions a week after. By doing this, even slower learners could follow because they have enough time to think. He found it works quite well.

To make sure students are following, he usually sits at the back during tutorial sessions, while giving TAs the lead.

Teaching Strategies

He always gives students appropriate amount of information in order not to overload them. He believes it is more important to arouse their interest than to merely give them information. Therefore, besides the required body of information, he also uses materials that contain real life examples and related issues in his lectures to maintain their interests.

Assessment

Other than examination, he also believes continuous assessment can help measuring students' achievements. For this reason, he designs one or two projects for each course, evaluates the students in the process of working, with an emphasis that process and product are equally important. Finally, he uses mid-term and final exams as the differentiating factors.