Teaching Data Warehouse Systems in Computer Science Curriculum

1. Experiences in Teaching Data Warehouse Systems within the Computer Science and Software Engineering Curriculum Neum, 30. 8 – 6. 9. 2009.

2. Agenda • Scope and Prerequisites • Goals and Plan • Results • Experiences Neum, 30. 8 – 6. 9. 2009.

3. Scope and Prerequisites • Faculty of Technical Sciences • Department of Computing and Control • Curriculum • Computing and Control • Module: Computer Science and Informatics • accredited bologna program, type: 4 + 1 • Course • Data Warehouse Systems (DW Systems, for short) • I semester of Master Curriculum (actually, IX semester) • 3+2, 5 ECTS • elective course • the first performance: 2008/2009 Neum, 30. 8 – 6. 9. 2009.

4. Scope and Prerequisites • Curriculum • general background (fundamentals) • mathematics, physics, electrical engineering, electronics, theory of systems, automation and control systems • "strong", and "classical" approach • a wide room reserved for such courses • constant organizational intention and "pressure" to extend it • Computer Science and SE fundamentals • computer architecture, operating systems, computer networks, • algorithms, programming techniques and paradigms, databases, computer graphics, • software engineering, information systems, etc. Neum, 30. 8 – 6. 9. 2009.

5. Scope and Prerequisites • Curriculum • closely related courses • Software Modeling • VI semester, mandatory • Software Design • VII semester, mandatory • Databases • VII semester, mandatory • Information Systems • VIII semester, elective • Data Mining • IX semester, elective Neum, 30. 8 – 6. 9. 2009.

6. Scope and Prerequisites • Implementation aspects • lack of real knowledge / awareness about • organization system theory • management of organization systems • ERP, CRM, HR, financial management, etc. • project management • business process modeling and WfMS • quality assurance in organization systems • performance measurement and analysis of organization processes Neum, 30. 8 – 6. 9. 2009.

7. Scope and Prerequisites • Implementation aspects • prior students' experiences • approximately a half of students are already employed or contracted for a job • most of them believe that they "perfectly know" in advance • what knowledge they will need in software industry • what are the real circumstances in software industry • what will be the real circumstances in the future • most of them believe that • they are very good in database design, but • information system design is an easy and intuitive job • they are usually strong and confident in their belief, but • the reality is much different from their belief, and • some of them are not so strong in proper completing their duties Neum, 30. 8 – 6. 9. 2009.

8. Agenda • Scope and Prerequisites • Goals and Plan • Results • Experiences Neum, 30. 8 – 6. 9. 2009.

9. Goals and Plan • Data Warehouse Systems • Goals • recognize wide variety of DW topics, and their usage domains • recognize organizational, engineering (particularly SE), and technology issues in developing a DW system • practice how to successfully specify and build a DW system in a given application domain • become able for further self learning • become able for team working • Methods • ex-cathedra, but motivating the students for a discussion • group exercises • practices trough a project in a selected application domain Neum, 30. 8 – 6. 9. 2009.

10. Goals and Plan • Data Warehouse Systems • Topics • Fundamentals of DW, classifications and terminology • Planning, requirements and development of DW systems • Types and structures of database schemas for DW systems • Data management and ETL process in DW systems • Data aggregation in DW systems • Physical data organization in DW systems • Fundamentals of Business Intelligence, Data Mining and On-Line Analytical Processing (OLAP) • OLAP functions and queries over a DW Neum, 30. 8 – 6. 9. 2009.

11. Goals and Plan • Data Warehouse Systems • Score system Neum, 30. 8 – 6. 9. 2009.

12. Goals and Plan • Data Warehouse Systems • Score system • Min. 30 points required from in-term requirements • Min. 55 points required to pass the whole exam • Final Exam, as any other requirement, is not mandatory Neum, 30. 8 – 6. 9. 2009.

13. Agenda • Scope and Prerequisites • Goals and Plan • Results • Experiences Neum, 30. 8 – 6. 9. 2009.

14. Results • Obtained from one year course performance • No. of students: 54 • No. of students that are selected Data Mining course at the same time: 24 • Attendance and initial requirements Neum, 30. 8 – 6. 9. 2009.

15. Results • Performance Neum, 30. 8 – 6. 9. 2009.

16. Results • Performance • "extremes" (10, 9) vs. (6, 7) are significant Neum, 30. 8 – 6. 9. 2009.

17. Agenda • Scope and Prerequisites • Goals and Plan • Results • Experiences Neum, 30. 8 – 6. 9. 2009.

18. Experiences • General • there are always well-motivated students • ready to learn something new and useful • ready to communicate well • ready to complete all the tasks in time • sometimes, a lack of discipline • a culture of proper exercise attendance is present, but • problems with lessons attendance • lesson attendance of 83.18% gives a false picture • in some cases, it is just fighting for points and nothing more Neum, 30. 8 – 6. 9. 2009.

19. Experiences • Students' comments • positive • everything is ok, nice to learn something new, etc. • in our circumstances, if something is performed in a proper way, it is not commented at all, because it is ok! • a very good experience with a student spending before a couple of months in Wien, Austria • working on SAP system, in a large-scale company • with excellent performance in her studies • with perfect perceiving of motivation factors for DW • a remarkable experience with self-motivated students • with excellent or very good performance in their studies Neum, 30. 8 – 6. 9. 2009.

20. Experiences • Students' comments • negative • We don't need such kind of knowledge in practice! • Why do you force us to learn something that we really don't need in practice? • The DW knowledge is applicable only in large-scale projects, and even we don't have such projects in Serbia! • May be, DW projects will be present in Serbia in a far future! • We need a practice, why do you force us to learn theory about DW? • Everything can be learned easily trough projects only! Why theory? Neum, 30. 8 – 6. 9. 2009.

21. Experiences • Students' comments • Unfortunately, very false pictures are perceived • DW systems are not necessarily large-scale • there is a plenty of "small" problems that may be resolved by means of DW approach • every day emerging opportunities for DW projects in Serbia and the region, and even more in EU • new software companies come with primary business interests in DW systems • a balance between theory and practice is a must in CS and SE • software and system development is not an easy job; • requires a theoretical knowledge and the abstraction principle • if you think that you don't need some knowledge, it doesn't mean that you really don't need it Neum, 30. 8 – 6. 9. 2009.

22. Experiences • Some issues • problems with perceiving a real importance of the topics and problems discussed throughout the course in an industry practice • there is a noticeable difference between students having and not having and industry experience • it seems that students mostly recognize as the important only the knowledge necessary for their first working years • they primarily think how to target their first jobs • they sometimes do not perceive that they must survive and be competitive on market for 40 years, not only for the first 5 Neum, 30. 8 – 6. 9. 2009.

23. Experiences • Some issues • a whole picture about the DW knowledge is "assembled" at the end of the course, or even latter • a significant raising of students' motivation at the very end of the course • a problem of having false pictures may be seen as a consequence of • constrained life experience combined with bad economical situation for many years • a lack of culture that "naturally" imposes respecting the organizational rules • weak recognition of the importance of knowledge about system organization and management in the course of engineering Neum, 30. 8 – 6. 9. 2009.

24. Experiences • What we may / should do locally? • better profile CS and SE curriculum • with a special care to the selection and design of fundamental courses • more oriented towards body of knowledge in CS and SE • more flexible and multidisciplinary oriented • create better opportunities for exchanging students between different institutions • give them a chance to exchange experiences, attend other universities and meet early highly developed economies • early motivate students to better • develop their capabilities for abstraction and adoption of common theoretical principles • differentiate between more and less important things Neum, 30. 8 – 6. 9. 2009.

25. Experiences in Teaching Data Warehouse Systems within the Computer Science and Software Engineering Curriculum End of presentation Neum, 30. 8 – 6. 9. 2009.