Teaching Portfolio

(On-Line Version)

Richard Holowczak

Associate Professor
Department of Statistics and Computer Information Systems
Baruch College, City University of New York
1 Bernard Baruch Way (Box B11-220)
New York, NY 10010

Table of Contents

Teaching/Presentation History and Responsibilities

While at Rutgers University, I participated as a teaching assistant, part time lecturer and gave a number of seminars on various topics to fellow students, faculty and professionals from a wide range of disciplines.

As an Assistant and now Associate Professor at Baruch College, I have taught both undergraduate and graduate courses as well as assisted in the development of several additional courses.

Teaching

Baruch College CIS 4620 Financial Information Technologies
http://cisnet.baruch.cuny.edu/holowczak/classes/4620
This is an undergraduate course I developed in 2007 to bridge the gap between finance and information technologies. This CIS elective is oriented towards students with some programming and database background who want to learn how to apply those development skills in financial services. The objectives of the course are to teach some basics of financial instruments (equities, bonds, options, futures, foreign exchange, swaps, etc.) and then delve into the underlying technologies that support the pricing, trading, clearing, settlement and risk management of these instruments.Writing software that interacts with Reuters, Bloomberg, Interactive Brokers and other data networks are also a heavy component in the class.
Baruch College CIS 4550 Networked Information Systems Security
http://cisnet.baruch.cuny.edu/holowczak/classes/4550
This is an undergraduate CIS elective that I developed initially as a special topics course for the Fall 2003 semester. The objective of this course is to provide students with an in-depth understanding of the security risks and countermeasures evident in modern, networked information systems. The course includes a strong hands on component and group projects that require students to implement security principles in a network infrastructure. The course also includes modules on the management of the security function including development and implementation of organization wide security policies.
Baruch College CIS 9444 Electronic Commerce
http://cisnet.baruch.cuny.edu/holowczak/classes/9444
This is a graduate CIS elective that I developed for Spring 1999. The goal of the course is to teach the underlying technologies that support E-Commerce including networks, databases, web applications, payment menchanisms and encryption. Legal, ethical and global issues as they realte to EC are also covered. The course includes a hands on component and group projects that are require groups of students to develop a complete on-line store from scratch.
Baruch College CIS 9440 Database Management Systems II
http://cisnet.baruch.cuny.edu/holowczak/classes/9440
This is a graduate CIS elective. The goal of the course is to teach advanced database implementation including theoretical foundations of database design. The course includes a hands on component and group projects that are completed using the Oracle database management system and development tools.
Baruch College CIS 4400 Database Management Systems II
http://cisnet.baruch.cuny.edu/holowczak/classes/4400
This is an undergraduate CIS elective. The goal of the course is to teach advanced database implementation including theoretical foundations of database design. The course includes a hands on component and group projects that are completed using the Oracle database management system and development tools.
Baruch College CIS 9340 Database Management Systems
http://cisnet.baruch.cuny.edu/holowczak/classes/9340
This is a graduate business course requirement for MBA students majoring in CIS and for students in the MS/CIS program. The goal of the course is to teach the fundamentals of database design and implementation.
Baruch College CIS 3400/4300 Database Management Systems
http://cisnet.baruch.cuny.edu/holowczak/classes/3400
This is an undergraduate business course requirement for CIS majors and minors. The goal of the course is to teach the fundamentals of database design and implementation.
Baruch College CIS 2200 Introduction to Information Systems and Technologies
http://cisnet.baruch.cuny.edu/holowczak/classes/2200
This is an undergraduate business course requirement for all business majors. This course introduces students to the use of computers and other infrmation systems technologies in organizations. I participated in the development of the course including the development of tutorials for MS Access and PowerPoint.
Baruch College BUS 1000 Introduction to Business
http://cisnet.baruch.cuny.edu/holowczak/classes/bus_1000
This is an undergraduate business course requirement for all business majors. This course introduces students to a wide range of business topics. I participated in the development of the course by creating a lecture and assignment that incorporates the use of the Subotnick Financial Services Center.
Baruch College CIS 4650/9350 Operating System Concepts
http://cisnet.baruch.cuny.edu/holowczak/classes/4650
Operating Systems Concepts is a CIS elective course given at the undergraduate and graduate levels. This course covers all aspects of modern operating systems at a conceptual level. Through equipment donations I have developed a small Network Operating Systems computer lab where the students can gain hands-on experience installing and configuring real operating systems such as Windows NT, Linux and other UNIX variants. Concepts such as file systems, memory management and security that are taught in the classroom are reinforced through hands-on exercises in the lab.
Rutgers 29:623:375 Computer Network Applications
This is an undergraduate elective business course that I developed in the Spring 1996 semester. The goal of the course is to teach basic networking and network based information systems using Internet tools. All course materials are provided on-line in the form of WWW pages and the web is used extensively during lectures. This course stresses a hands-on approach and lectures are split between traditional classrooms and electronic classrooms.

Teaching Assistance

Rutgers 22:198:603 Database Systems 1993-1997
This is an MBA level elective course that emphasizes relational database design and implementation. It is typically taken by second year students. As a teaching assistant for three years, I helped prepare lectures, grade assignments, and proctor exams. In addition, I taught several lectures on the Oracle RDBMS used for class projects and provided support in the form of handouts and help sessions to the different student groups in the class. The student feedback I received from these classes and help sessions was overwhelmingly positive.

Rutgers 22:198:604 Computers and Information Systems 1994
This is a core MBA level course that covers a broad spectrum of topics including hardware, software, telecommunications, databases, basic system analysis and design. I helped prepare lectures and taught lectures on telecommunications and networking.

Presentations and Seminars

Database Technologies, Data Mining, Data Warehousing and Oracle
I have been invited on numerous occasions to speak on a wide array of database topics including database theory, data mining and data warehousing. I have also given a number of seminars regarding the Oracle relational database management system and the array of products offered by the Oracle Corporation.

Teaching Portfolios
I have been invited on several occasions to speak about the uses for and preparation of teaching portfolios. Slides from one such presentation are included as an attachment.

CIMIC Summer Computer Camp 1996-2003
The CIMIC Summer Camp program for inner city high school youths in Newark meets for three weeks in the Summer and every other weekend during the school year. Volunteer instructors teach the basics of using computers including word processing, file management, spreadsheets, various Internet tools, and more recently, the use of geographic information systems and environmental science. In addition, we offer more advanced topics such as WWW home page construction and creating web based businesses.

The camp has received grant funding and has been covered by the local news media. My experience with this camp has been very rewarding and the student and administrator's feedback continues to be very positive.

Internet Technologies 1993-1997
I have given several presentations on Internet technologies to a wide range of audiences. Some of these include: Information systems professionals at St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center in Patterson New Jersey, the American Association of Clinical Chemistry, and faculty and computing staff at Rutgers and Baruch.

I have also given a number of presentations to faculty, staff and fellow students on writing HTML, JAVA, the Oracle RDBMS and development tools, and Oracle CASE tools.

Database Design for Quality Assurance and Vendor Evaluation systems 1992-1996
While working for the CRAMTD project (now CORANET), I was given the opportunity to present our database designs and applications for Quality Assurance and Vendor Evaluation systems to faculty and staff at the CRAMTD facility and members of the US Armed Forces Defense Personnel Support Center.

Teaching Philosophy and Methods

Developments in the MIS/CIS/CS areas continue to move at a lightning pace. Students at all levels and in all disciplines must acquire computing skills in order to remain viable in today's job market. For many, a firm understanding of what goes on behind the scenes of modern information systems is a vital part of their professional career development.

At the start of each semester, I let my students know what I expect from them in the following way. I ask them to imagine a few years down the road when a senior manager pulls them aside to ask about computer technology X or Internet tool Y. My students should be able to engage in an intelligent conversation on the subject stating both well formed opinions and options for exploring the topic further. To achieve such a goal, students must:

It is my job then, for the remainder of the semester or seminar, to introduce students to new problem solving tools and techniques with sufficient background theory to enable them to apply the tools to new problems and situations.

Teaching Tools and Techniques

In my experience, students appreciate theory and retain new skills when they are immediately able to apply the current lesson to actual problem solving tasks. I have been fortunate to be able to teach in ``electronic classrooms'' where students have direct access to PCs during the lecture period. In the absence of such facilities, I rely on frequent but short (less than 30 minute) homework exercises geared towards boosting the student's confidence while reinforcing the lecture material. Longer homework assignments (1 to 2 weeks) are given which ask the student to assimilate several lectures worth of material to solve more complex problems.

In the classroom, I employ a variety of teaching tools such as prepared notes, overheads and (where available) on-line presentations. Since 1995, I make most of my course notes and tutorials available on a World wide web home page and encourage the class to print out the day's lecture notes (in outline form) prior to the start of the lecture. I have found that this gets students more involved in the course as they take an active role in acquiring the materials. They invariably end up skimming the notes before class time and make notes directly on the printed copies as I provide more details during the lecture.

Students often have a difficult time ``thinking on their feet'' which is to say, given a novel problem, they will often be at a loss for a solution approach especially under time or social pressures. Often, this discomfort is rooted in cultural differences. To give students some practice in this regard, and to stimulate class discussion, I have 2 or 3 students per lecture summarize aloud a relevant news article. I will occasionally ask them one or two questions possibly relating the article to topics covered in the class. This has several purposes:

Relating theory and coursework to the ``real world'' is an ongoing challenge especially in the CIS area where there is strong temptation to teach only software tools. Each of my courses contains a hands-on component where students work with the latest software tools in the computer labs both individually and in groups. This gives them a chance to apply what they have learned in a direct fashion and provides encouragement in that the tools used are those in heavy use at corporations.

In addition, I have introduced a novel assignment in the advanced database classes where students compare two commercial database management systems (such as Oracle, Sybase, Informaix, etc.) with respect to the topics covered in the class. This semester-long assignment serves to reinforce the connection between the database theory and how it is implemented in commercial software. I have received numerous positive comments about the assignment such as:

`` ...I really want to thank you for setting the research assignment. It has opened up a world of reading and learning that is way beyond what one could learn in a limited lecture hour. It has made me very interested in learning more...''

Student motivation is often a reflection of instructor motivation. I feel my consistently positive attitude coupled with a high enthusiasm for teaching sends a strong message to my students. Motivating students to become self-learners is also a prime concern. I encourage the use of course materials that require students to think critically about issues and to take a step beyond what is printed in the pages of a textbook.

To summarize, I employ a variety of teaching techniques designed to involve students in the class, to challenge them at the appropriate times, to relate theory and course materials to real world problems and to inspire student's confidence in themselves and the subject.

Evaluations and Audience Feedback

Baruch College

Teaching evaluations from my students in the Database Management Systems I and II courses and the Electronic Commerce course have been consistently high with most scores in the 4/5 or 5/5 range (5.0 being the highest score). The ratings for Fall, 1998 and Spring, 1999 are calculated as the average response for the surveys. Ratings for Fall, 1999 to the present reflect the score for the following question: "Overall, how would you rate this instructor in comparison with other instructors you have had at Baruch?"

The Baruch College student evaluations do not permit free form comments at this time.


* Indicates a double or overloaded class section (> 40 students)

Rutgers University

Teaching evaluations from my students in the Computer Network Applications course were above departmental averages in all categories. Some of the comments given by students include:

Complete copies of Teacher evaluations are available upon request.

Self Improvement

Staying current with both academic and industrial developments in the information systems field is one of my top priorities. I am a member of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) and the American Association for Artificial Intelligence (AAAI), and stay current with research developments through their publications and sponsored conferences. I keep up to date with industrial developments via weekly and monthly periodicals such as PC Week, Information Week and PC Magazine and gain inspiration from creative sources such as Wired and The Economist magazines.

I am a firm believer of ``practice what you teach.'' I bring substantial professional system development experience to the classroom and the implementation side of my research keeps me up to date with the latest programming languages, tools and systems.

I have been fortunate to be able to take advantage of the resources of the Rutgers Teaching Excellence Center. The TEC holds yearly training seminars on teaching and research ethics, syllabus writing and classroom dynamics among other topics. It is my intention to pursue this form of continuing education throughout my teaching career.

In summary, improving teaching skills requires a combination of staying current with research trends in both academia and industry, honing practical skills to bring to the classroom and pursuing continuing education opportunities in the teaching field.

Under Construction

A teaching portfolio is a continuous work in progress. Please check back for future additions and refinements.

Appendicies

Note: Not all materials are available in the on-line version

  1. Course Home pages for most of my courses and other CIS courses at Baruch
    http://cisnet.baruch.cuny.edu/holowczak/classes
  2. Syllabus for Computer Network Applications
  3. Example On-Line Class Notes for Computer Network Applications
  4. Additional examples syllabi and notes for CIS 3400 Database Management Systems I, CIS 9440 Database Management Systems II, CIS 9444 Electronic Commerce and CIS 3650 Operating Systems Concepts
  5. Tutorials for Oracle, RSA Public Key Cryptography and Reuters 3000 XTra and Tradestation
    http://aux.zicklin.baruch.cuny.edu/sfsc/tech/tutor.htm
  6. Teaching Evaluation Summary from Computer Network Applications
  7. Letter from the Newark Public Schools

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Last Update: 4/6/2009