Teaching Philosophy
 Harry Delugach

In the Classroom
Instructor Responsibility
Student Responsibility
Grading
Disagreements
Comments students have made about me

Education is what survives when what has learned has been forgotten. -- B.F. Skinner

In the Classroom

I believe that face-to-face classroom time is important. For a variety of reasons, much of my course material can be clarified best in a live presentation or discussion. I call some class sessions "lectures" but I assume always that students will have questions, comments, or reactions that ought to be included. I encourage students to ask questions and offer opinions during class. Ideas in a course are not supposed to be dry items for memorizing; they are supposed to involve the student. I welcome the chance to better organize my thoughts and to adapt and modify my ideas based on involvement with students.

Class attendance is not generally a requirement of my courses; that is, I do not take attendance or base grades on whether you attended or not. It is probably possible for a student to attend no classes at all and still get a good grade; however, such cases are extremely rare. I try to make class periods valuable, informative and generally useful for students. Students who miss many classes usually do poorly because they are not prepared, are not fully engaged or involved, and have not been fully exposed to the materials and ideas of the course.

I tend to lean toward informality in class, both in my lecture style and in class dicussions. Some students may have difficulty adjusting or understanding this. If you have any suggestions, criticisms, or other comments about my teaching style, please let me know privately -- I promise that your opinions will not be held against you.

About classroom distractions: Cell phones ringing/buzzing/vibrating, students eating in class, audible alarms, personal converations, students entering/leaving the room, etc. are ALL distracting to some degree, regardless of how "anonymous" or quiet you think you are. While some of these can't be avoided, you are expected to keep these interruptions to a minimum. If you know in advance that a crucial phone call or event may occur, it is best to sit in the back of the room or near the door where you can absent yourself discreetly.

A special rule applies during in-class examinations, whether closed or open book: Unless specifically permitted, you are not allowed to have accessible a cell phone, camera, recorder, personal digital assistant, calculator, music player, headphones, personal computer or any other device that could be used to record/playback/display course content or communicate with any person or network. I reserve the right to enforce this rule as necessary. Protect yourself by placing all these things completely out of the way.

Instructor Responsibility

Good teaching is the ability to show something new in things that are familiar, and the ability to show something familiar in things that are new.

As a university professor, I have a responsibility to start/end classes on time, use class sessions effectively, be available to answer student questions, evaluate students fairly and assign their grades, based on their performance in the class. As a teacher in general, I have a responsibility to create and foster an environment where students are challenged, encouraged, and supported in order to learn. I take these responsibilities seriously.

Student Responsibility

The mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be lighted.     -- Plutarch

Be qualified for the course. As a student, you are responsible for being prepared for the course, by having taken the prerequisites or otherwise ensuring that you have appropriate background for the course material. This is a primary cause of a student's failure to perform well. If you have any doubt about your qualification for a course, talk to the instructor.

Devote enough time to the course. Students sometimes overextend themselves, underestimating the amount of time they'll need to complete the coursework, or overestimating how much time they will have available. Most students think they are the exception and can make up work when they are behind, or independently learn background material they should already know. Few students succeed at this. If you are working full-time (or even part-time), you should carefully evaluate how much time you can devote to the class. True learning takes time and commitment -- it can't be rushed just because you are waiting until the last minute.

Be prepared. Once you have ensured you are qualified for the course, you are also responsible for reading all the materials handed out by the instructor (or made available over the web). You should attend every class if possible, and take notes on the material covered in class. There is usually a reading assigned prior to a class period; if so, you should go over the reading and be familiar with its basic concepts.

Participate! This doesn't just mean attending class (and staying awake!). It means paying attention, asking questions, and listening to others' questions and answers. If there are things you do not understand, don't wait and hope to figure them out before the exams -- ask questions in class and pay attention to the answers. Students who are engaged in their own learning will do better in the course.

Have a desire to learn. Find additional sources of information about the course subject. There are things you need to know that I may not mention in class, or may not write down in my notes. Do not assume that if something is not in my notes, that you may ignore it! After all, college is about learning -- if you're not in school to learn, you need to seriously question why you are doing it.

Personal problems. Occasionally students encounter personal (i.e., non-academic) situations that interfere with their ability to perform in the class. Please know that I am sympathetic to these situations; however, I am not really the best judge if you feel you need special consideration or special treatment, I am really only qualified to make academic judgements about your academic performance. Fortunately for me, there is an office on campus that can help you in such situations and they can guide me in how to handle your case. Tell the office of Student Development Services, UC 113, (256) 864-6203 that I referred you. They are good folks to know.

Grading

The best way I know to grade fairly is to clearly describe all of the activities for which you'll be graded, and clearly define how those grades will determine a final grade. I stick to my grading scale.

I understand every student's desire for a higher grade. Using my grading procedure, which I have developed over years of evaluating students. I adopt a scheme whereby each assignment is allocated a certain percentage, based on my belief about its importance in the overall course goals. Each assignment is graded separately, with me taking extra care to be objective and consistent so that all students are treated fairly and uniformly. I am not influenced by preliminary grades or incomplete grades until the end of the course. I assign each grade separately and independently. I sometimes add points to everyone's exam or assignment to allow for questions that may have been ambiguous. I can therefore feel confident that your final percentage is an accurate reflection of what grade I think you deserve in the course. I do not add points to final (overall) grades.

Your final grade ultimately reflects my judgment of your performance which I have developed in conjunction with every other student's performance and my own goals for the course. You are welcome to review your grades with me for clarification. Occasionally I have made a mistake in arithmetic, or have overlooked something significant which could change your grade. In general, however, I am usually satisfied that the grades I have given reflect an accurate evaluation of student performance, including yours.

We all understand that grades are an arbitrary evaluation scheme, adopted by the university in an attempt to compare student achievement uniformly. Obviously grades matter, so in my classes, grades are the result of a straightforward calculation based on individual grades. In nearly all cases, I believe the grade I've given is no lower than a student deserves.

Of course, professors are not gods. I make occasional mistakes in arithmetic, and occasionally overlook parts of your answers that may affect your grade. If you think you've found a mistake, let me know and if I agree, I'll gladly fix it. If you do not understand why your work was graded in a particular way, put your request in writing; if we need to discuss it in person, I will let you know. Your only obligation is that any such mistake must be called to my attention within one week after you've gotten the work back.

Contrary to any rumors you may hear, I am not under any obligation to give out specific numbers of A's, B's etc., nor is my performance in any way evaluated by the grade distributions of the courses I teach. My attitude is: If all students have earned an A, then they'll all get an A. If no student has earned an A, then no student will get an A.

Extra credit. I do not give individual extra credit assignments or have a student re-do work for additional points. I believe that is unfair to other students who have already done well in the same assignments. In rare cases, I may offer an extra credit assignment to the entire class. I sometimes recommend that a student re-work their assignment for their own benefit, and I may be willing to offer them comments and suggestions that may improve future grades.

If a student has special circumstances, unrelated to their academic performance or background, I am usually sympathetic and try to work with them. In general, such problems should be taken to Student Development Services, UC 113, (256) 864-6203, who are qualified to evaluate your situation and give me some direction. With their help, it is possible to delay or re-schedule some deadlines.

I do not give credit for work that has not been done.

Disagreements

Education is the ability to listen to almost anything without losing  your temper or your self-confidence.
    ---- Robert Frost

I do not take it personally if my ideas or concepts are challenged by students. I believe in the spirit of academic and intellectual discourse, where claims are supported by rational arguments. Disagreement is not really a conflict -- it is a mechanism for getting at whatever truth or agreement can be reached. As long as we are supporting or refuting ideas (NOT the people who hold those ideas), then we are arguing rationally.

An example of an irrational argument is when a student is challenging me personally -- such attacks are generally unethical, unprofessional, impolite, contrary to the goals of a university education, and in fact are a violation of the UAH Code of Student Conduct. Another example of an irrational argument is if an instructor challenges a student personally, rather than on the content of their ideas.

If a student has a serious issue with me, the best approach is to discuss it personally with me, preferably outside of the classroom. Telephone or email is probably NOT the most effective way to do this. If there are personal issues, for whatever reason, then these need to be dealt with as soon as possible. If there is a grievance that you do not want to discuss with me directly, there is a published procedure (part of the CS department's procedures) telling where to go with your complaint. I have never penalized a student just because they have gone through other channels.

Comments students have made about me

Get to the point. We are in the Computer Science Department, not philosophy. If more class time was spent explaining topics straightforwardly, more would get accomplished.

I admit I am sometimes guilty of needlessly embellishing answers with a story or a tangential point. More often, however, I try to point out larger implications and issues for a particular topic that might not get the attention they deserve. Too many software developers aren't aware of the overall impact of a particular decision, or the significance of a particular choice. Some decisions are more important than others. Some have unintended effects, or their known effects are more problematic than at first glance. Naive developers may trust to intuition, but professional developers need to know their work in depth.

Needs to buy a watch or use the one he has. He let us out late half the time.

I seem to have gotten lax about this in the past few semesters. Personally I consider it rude for a professor to start class early or end it late. Conversely, I consider it rude for a student to arrive late or leave class early. I will do my best to end no later than the official ending time of the class.

He deducts points for trivial things.

If minor mistakes are made, then I will generally deduct a small number of points. Of course, major mistakes will cost more points. If you do not understand why points were taken off, then first listen to my explanations in class, which usually answer most student questions. If that isn't sufficient then come ask during office hours. In most cases, something that you consider "trivial" is in fact important; that is why the points were deducted. If you're not sure of this, ask.

This class is different than the other Computer Science classes I've had. There's more discussion and writing in this class. In fact, it's more like a liberal arts class than a science class.

There are several ways I can interpret this comment. Since I hold a liberal arts degree (among others), I am pleased to take this as a compliment. If you are referring to the liberal arts skills of analysis, evaluation and communication, then you are correct. That means that you must be able to:

• observe and distinguish between different kinds of phenomena (not just measure them),
• determine their fundamental underlying principles,
• evaluate their effectiveness in whatever technical tasks confront you, and
• defend your reasons for pursuing whatever course of action you choose.

This is the worst instructor I have ever had.

Of course I hope that's not really true, but if you have problems with the way I conduct my classes, or how you yourself have been treated, please let me know. I strive to improve my effectiveness with every student. If you are really unhappy with the way I conduct the course, but you have never shared your opinion with me, it's unlikely that anything will change. On the other hand, if you have shared your opinion with me, I may be able to do something about it. I take all student comments seriously, but that does not mean I will always do what you want.

In Programming Languages: I feel the teacher was trying to be more wordy and abstract than actually teaching the material. It would have been better to teach some concepts then give an assignment, then back to more concepts; instead the concepts and programming felt too disjointed. I had a hard time understanding the concepts in the class so I'm afraid I'll lose much of it after the final. So what was the point of the class?

This particular class has much in the way of abstract concepts and fine distinctions; perhaps more so than other classes. Many students find it more challenging and rather different in character than a typical programming or problem-solving class.

As far as my specific style goes, I've used this comment to change the structure of some of my courses to reflect a more step-wise approach.

As far as a student is concerned, this student should have come and asked questions as soon as they began to feel overwhelmed or confused. Sometimes the material only seems disjointed; other times, it could in fact be presented in a more reasonable order. Unless I see obvious or widespread problems, I am not likely to change the structure of how I present material. The only way to let me know about these problems is to tell me about them.

This is the best instructor I have ever had.

Clearly this student knows what they are talking about :-)