This document presents a phenomenographic research study examining the teaching methodologies of basic database courses across three universities: Duhok, Mosul, and Nawroz. It highlights differences in course structure, teaching effectiveness, and student experiences, revealing that student satisfaction varies significantly based on instructional quality and year of study. The study recommends enhanced teacher-student interaction and emphasizes the importance of prior knowledge for effective learning in database courses.

1. UOZ–FS-CS
Database Teaching in Different Universities
Karwan Jacksi
Faculty of Science
Computer Science Department
University of Zakho
A Phenomenographic Research

2. UOZ–FS-CS
Introduction
• Databases are an important part of computer sciences
• Different teaching methodologies practiced in the basic
database course taught in different universities.
• Suitability of the course to the class-level is a critical task.
• The study is based on research conducted through a
questionnaire about university students in three different
universities.
• The investigation was performed with a phenomenographic
research approach among university staffs that have been
graduated from Duhok, Nawroz and Mosul universities.
• It investigates how and how well they have learned the basic
database course during their bachelor degree.
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3. UOZ–FS-CS
Problem Statement
• Teaching staffs come from different universities
– They have different background and understanding for the
database course
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4. UOZ–FS-CS
Goals
• Emphasize on how different background influence different
ways of teaching, learning and thinking.
• The relations between teaching and learning.
• The way to improve both of them.
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5. UOZ–FS-CS
Different Education Systems and Evaluation Standards
• University of Duhok
– The basic database course is usually given in the third level
– There are 2 hours of class lessons and 2 hours of lab works
each week
• It lasts 25 weeks
– They use MS access as the DBMS and Visual Basic as a
programming language
– Small practical exercises are given in the labs
– No assignments are given after labs
– The final result of the course is given according to two semester
exams and a final exam
• All exams have theoretical and practical parts but a higher
percentage of the marks go to the theoretical part.
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6. UOZ–FS-CS
Different Education Systems and Evaluation Standards
• University of Mosul
– The basic database course is usually given in the fourth level
– There are 3 hours of class lessons and 2 hours lab works
• It lasts 25 weeks
– No assignments are given after labs
– Various developing tools are given.
• E.g. some use Oracle as the WebServer and PostgreSQL as the
DBMS, while others use Oracle and MySql as the DBMS.
• All use PHP as the programming language.
– Project are given
• Students have to form small groups for the projects
• The final result for the project will be given according to how well the
students have done the project.
– The final grade of the course is an average of the written exam
and the project.
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7. UOZ–FS-CS
Different Education Systems and Evaluation Standards
• Nawroz University
– The basic database course is usually given in the second level
– It has 2hours of class lessons and 2 hours of lab works weekly
• 13 weeks each semester
• 2 semesters each year
– They use Visual Studio.net as developing tool, Visual Basic as a
programming language and MySQL as the DBMS
– Small practical exercises are given in the labs
– No assignments are given after labs
– The final result of the course is the average of the final semester
marks
• Written exams have 65%
• Lab exams have 35%
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8. UOZ–FS-CS
Data Collection
• Discussion with a number of experts in the fields of
psychology and pedagogy regarding the methodologies to be
used in the study
• Phenomenographic approach was decided
– Phenomenography is a qualitative research methodology that
investigates the qualitatively different ways in which people
experience something or think about something.
– It is an approach to educational research
• The questionnaire is designed with the help of experts
concerning the basic database course. (next slide)
• Then, four graduates from each university has been asked to
fill it out.
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9. UOZ–FS-CS
The Questionnaire
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Question
1 Name of the University
2 In which year did you take the course? (1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th)
3 Which programming language did you use?
4 Did you like the course? Why / Why not?
5 What are you able to do after taking the course?
6 Which developing tools did u use for the labs / assignments / projects?
7
Did you pass the exam with a low/middle/high grade? How did you get your
final result? (Practice/Theo)
8 How many hours do you spend on the course after class every week?
9 Suggestions for teaching/ lab working/ anything else

10. UOZ–FS-CS
The Phenomenography Analysis
• University of Duhok
– Most of the students liked the course
• Because they understood the goals and contents of the course
– They passed the course with high grades but they were not able
to create a complex database design.
• Because there are no projects and no assignments
– Suggestions from most participants were to increase the number
of hours spent on practical lectures and labs
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11. UOZ–FS-CS
The Phenomenography Analysis
• University of Mosul
– Most of the students liked the subject. Taking this course in the
fourth year made it easier for the students.
• Because they used some of the knowledge from the courses they
had already taken
– The students had to apply and practice what they learned on
their own.
– Having projects
• They were able to design and implement database systems with
different complexity and manage the relational DBMS with SQL
languages
– Suggestions indicated that if the teacher would have given more
examples and solved more exercises during the lectures, they
would have gotten the opportunity to learn more
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12. UOZ–FS-CS
The Phenomenography Analysis
• Nawroz University
– Most of them didn’t like the course
• Most of them mentioned that the teaching of the instructor was
“boring”.
– What have been noticed here is that after taking the course, the
students were not able to design a complete database system,
but they simply had an idea of it
– Complained about lectures in a lab room
• Using a computer connected to networks, the students can easily
start to surf the Internet or do other activities
– It was suggested that the teacher and TAs should keep in touch
with the students and interact with them
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13. UOZ–FS-CS
Findings
• The situations in the three universities are somehow different
from each other
– different teaching structures
• The basic database course is offered in different study
periods.
• The teaching methods are also different.
• Furthermore, the expectations and evaluation methods are
different.
• It’s interesting that the students are learning about the same
technology through different paths
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14. UOZ–FS-CS
Findings
• The sample group of Nawroz University students, it can be
seen that the teacher plays a very important role in their
study.
• The analysis shows that when students classified the teacher
as “boring”, they lost the interest in that subject.
– As a side effect, their results of the course will not be good.
• It could happen to any subject in any university
– Especially when it’s the sophomore year, the students need
more help from the teachers in the labs.
– The sophomores need more guidance from the teacher
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15. UOZ–FS-CS
Findings
• For the fourth year students in University of Mosul, exam
grades were relatively higher.
• The students had a very good understanding of database
concepts after taking the course.
• It can be seen that when it’s the fourth year of study, the
students know better how to approach a course.
• Moreover, they did not complained about the teacher, which
means they don’t rely on the teaching as much as the
sophomore students
• The students are eager to apply what they have learned in
theoretical lectures into practical exercises
– The seniors obviously already knew and understood what they
were studying and enjoyed themselves during the study.
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16. UOZ–FS-CS
Findings
• In University of Duhok, students take their first database
course in their junior year.
• They have already had enough knowledge to get a high grade
in the exam.
– However, the results were not excellent because, while the
students had a practical approach to the course, the exam was
focused on theoretical concepts.
• The juniors show their ability to study independently and their
desire of study
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17. UOZ–FS-CS
Conclusion
• Databases are an important part of computer science.
However, learning about databases requires some prior
knowledge of computer science
• Suggestions
– The teachers should give more attention to the students during
the lessons. Especially for sophomores
– The students should have a clear idea of what they are learning
from the subject. It’s better when they have their own study plans
and goals
• In this case, seniors can usually better plan their studies compared
to the sophomores.
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18. UOZ–FS-CS
Conclusion
– Having lab lectures is efficient to some extent. The students can
follow the instructor step by step whilst performing the exercises
• it’s not necessary to have internet connection for database teaching
– It’s more suitable to employ this course in the third year of
university study.
• This is because the juniors would have already gained enough
basic knowledge to support their database learning.
• They can plan well with their study and apply the knowledge
obtained from the course into future studies.
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19. UOZ–FS-CS
Future Work
• Further study concerning the research subject can be carried
out with larger number of interviewees and larger number of
universities.
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20. UOZ–FS-CS
THANK YOU!
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