CS @ GW



8 action(s)
1.	Why has CS301 (Research Methods) been removed from the 2006-7 schedule of classes? The Research Methods course is an essential component of any modern doctoral program in the sciences or engineering. Please reinstate the course, and make sure it is useful, engaging, and reflects the universality of The Scientific Method and the consistency of modern nomenclature and knowledge representation, independent of application domain. >Action: If sufficient students (>=6) are interested in taking this course, they should apply to the Chair (Prof. James Hahn hahn@gwu.edu).
2.	Scheduling the Doctoral Prelim exam at the end of each semester during final exams puts a HUGE extra load on the student, and provides no reasonably free period to study and prepare for it!! Why not schedule the Doctoral Prelim once per year in the week JUST BEFORE the Fall semester begins? The profs can prepare questions anytime before that, and the students can study for it over the summer. SEE ACTION >Action: The faculty is currently conducting a complete review of the scheduling policy for the Preliminary Exam (as well the other Doctoral Progam exams). This review will take a few months to converge to a reasonable solution. There is no perfect, one-size-fits-all solution to this.
3.	I agree that it is quite stressful to study for the Preliminary Exam during the semester. As an amendment to the previous issue about this, however, I would recommend scheduling the exam just before the beginning of BOTH the Fall AND the Spring semesters (late August and early January), so that students would not have to wait a full year to retake the exam. SEE ACTION >Action: See the Action for Issue 2
4.	Other universities allow exceptional Doctoral students with an interest in teaching to design and teach an approved single-semester course related to their field of study or an area of interest. Such a program would benefit also benefit all students by broadening the subjects covered by the standard courses. SEE ACTION >Action: This is already available to our graduate GTAs if they have demonstrated exceptional teaching skills. They may be invited or themselves request to teach a course. Their advisor, if supportive, will seek approval from the Chair. As an example, a highly experienced and talented doctoral GTA will be teaching CSci174 (Introduction to Artificial Intelligence) next semester (Spring 06). The department recommends both this course and this teacher highly!
5.	Some professors who use the Blackboard site do not know how to utilize it properly or to its best advantage. This often makes it very confusing for their students to understand what is expected of them, when things are due, and how they need to be submitted. >Action: The Chair of the department is planning to find out which of our instructors need training in the proper and effective use of the Blackboard system, and then provide an appropriate training course.
6.	Course evaluations with hand written comments about the professors should not be given directly to the professors, even if they are given at the end of semesters. Many students may not feel comfortable writing truthful comments and suggestions about the instructors. They might recognize the student's handwriting, and if the student has to take a class with the instructor again, that would be painful for the student. SEE ACTION >Action: This has been corrected. No further original handwritten comments will be released, only the equivalent text.
7.	There are not very many different courses to choose from in the CS Department. Limited course options make students to struggle to choose a course. SEE ACTION >Action: In both the MS and DSc programs, students are encouraged to take several courses outside their CS major. In the MS program, this promotes breadth in related topics; in the DSc program this provides needed research tools (e.g., statistics) and specific application domain knowledge (e.g., medical imaging).
8.	Teaching assistantship should be given by default to doctoral students whose advisers do not have any research grants. SEE ACTION >Action: Such a rule would fail to take into account each student's ability to teach or the other means of support available to them. TA assignments are made very carefully on the basis of both ability and means.