Nailing Your Thesis - Dirk Riehle on research and teaching

2020-10-132020-10-12

Does Basic Research Need to Have a Purpose?

The short answer: This question is click-bait and was written to incite reflexes rather than reflection. The long answer: The question is a red herring, because a researcher arguing that research shouldn’t have to have a purpose is actually complaining about society not seeing the value of their research as they do.

2020-10-112020-10-11

How to Prevent Efficient Creation and Grading of Written Exams

Want to know how to make it hard for professors to create and grade written exams efficiently? Learn from the best, the Bavarian ministry of education, which oversees the handling of the state-wide written exams for budding high-school teachers of computer science. A thread.

2020-08-212020-08-27

Announcing Open Course “Software Product Management”

Software product management (PROD) is a course that teaches students software product management using the case method.

2020-08-202020-08-17

Announcing Open Course “Free/Libre and Open Source Software”

Free/Libre and Open Source Software (FOSS) teaches principles, practices, and economic underpinnings of free/libre and open source software.

2020-08-192020-08-17

Announcing Open Course “Agile Methods and Open Source”

Agile Methods and Open Source (AMOS) teaches agile methods in a university context using semester-long projects. The class sessions of 90 min. each cover half a semester to leave room for guest speakers.

2020-08-182020-08-17

Announcing Open Course “Advanced Design and Programming”

Advanced Design and Programming (ADAP) teaches principles and practices of advanced object-oriented design and programming using a semester-long project.

2020-08-172020-08-17

Why Informatics is Everyone’s Business in Academia

Informatics (worse: Computing science; even worse: Computer science) is the discipline of automated data processing (where automation is both human independent and dependent, and data in context becomes information). The non-IT industry has learned the hard way over the last few decades that informatics is part of their core business, not just some support function. Financial institutions, automotive suppliers, advertising agencies and so forth are all recognizing that informatics is a key business aspect for them.

2020-08-062020-08-06

What is Meant by “Teaching Fundamentals”?

In my previous post I noted how students and professors are often talking past each other, where some the former want to learn immediately applicable knowledge and the latter want to teach long-lasting fundamentals. I also noted that there is no contradiction here, which begs the question what professors mean when the say they want to teach fundamentals? Students may hear “irrelevant stuff nobody cares about” but that’s obviously not it. So let me explain.

2020-08-052020-08-16

The Place of Professional Certificates and the Significance of an Academic Degree

My Twitter feed is alight with comments on Google’s six-month “career” certificate, which, according to this SVP, Google will treat as equivalent to a four-year Bachelor’s degree. Predictably, a large number of comments are from students who conclude from their own disappointed experience that all college programs are crap. They cheer on Google. Also predictably, I didn’t see a single academic professional join and comment in the discussion.

2020-07-272020-07-26

The Art of Inviting Industry Speakers to Class

Over the last 10 years, I have consistently invited industry speakers to class, to talk about their experiences, to change the pace, and to lighten up the teaching. We recently passed the 100 external speaker mark! (Also includes some academic speakers.) Time to reflect on what makes a good industry talk that enriches student learning.