Faculty of Information Technology
Caulfield Campus
MAIT and MIT
Student/Staff Meeting
Meeting 1/2004 of the
Present: Mr
MIT Student Reps: Mohamed Ahmed, Jamil Al-Shagsi, Rahul Shah,
MAIT Student Reps: Brian McLachlin,
Professor
Srinivasan began by welcoming everyone to the meeting. Staff introduced
themselves to the students. Professor Srinivasan asked the student
representatives for their feedback.
Mr
Ahmed reported that he had difficulty borrowing library books as there is a
wait of three or four weeks for a library book.
Professor Srinivasan explained that at Masters level,
there are no prescribed texts. Mr Ahmed clarified that he was referring to recommend texts
that provide valuable information.
Mr
Jamil thanked staff for this opportunity to provide feedback. He reported his concerns that he was offered
a place in a degree that will not lead to PhD.
Professor
Action: Dr Wilson and Dr Indrawan to discuss these concerns with the Faculty of Information Technology Marketing Team and the Faculty Admissions Office.
Mr
Shah expressed his concerns about the lack of 24 hour labs available. He noted this was particularily
a problem last Sunday the 9th of May. Professor Srinivasan explained that this last
Sunday was a problem because of re-connection of network due to major Network
changes. Professor Srinivasan suggested
that Dr Indrawan contact Mohamed Bekir in regards to
getting more 24 hour labs available.
Mr
Shah explained that in general it was difficult to get time in labs as there
were so many tutorials scheduled.
Professor Srinivasan reported that there are space issues out of the
school or faculties control. Mr Avram suggested that
having WI-FI (Wireless) added to labs would free up PCs. Dr Indrawan agreed to
discuss this with Mohamed Bekir.
Action: Dr Indrawan to discuss these issues with Mohamed Bekir.
Mr
Ahmed reported that he had issues with two of his IMS units: OLAP and Data Warehousing. He felt that the tutorial was too short for
the amount of practical work. Mr Barnden
agreed to look at this issue and consult with lecturers.
Action:
Mr Barnden to take up these
issues with unit leaders.
Mr
Al-Shagsi expressed his concerns in relation to the
qualifications of tutors in the school. Mr Avram answered that if you have a problem with a tutor,
this should be reported to the lecturer of the unit and if they are not able to
help, students should contact the course coordinator. The students felt that the perception was
that if they complained about the tutor or lecturer they would fail. Mr Avram explained
that this is not possible, as all failed exams are marked by a second
examiner. He also encouraged students to
come and look at their exams and if they have concerns and to go over the paper
with the lecturer. Mr
Avram explained that currently there is no re-assessment policy, but warned
that if exams are re-marked there is a risk the mark could go down or up.
Dr
Indrawan raised the issue of late timetabling of units on behalf of a
student. Mr
Avram explained that the timetable is only provisional as there are too many
factors that make it change in the weeks leading up to the beginning of
semester and the first few weeks of semester.
Students
raised concerns in regards to library rules on book loaning in regards to
prescribed and recommended texts. Staff
suggested that it would be useful to have a library rep at the next meeting to
clarify these questions.
Action: Ms Muller and Ms Matthews to invite Mr Dixon from the library to the next meeting.
Mr
Wong reported that since the last student/staff meeting there had been some
improvements, such as the timing of assignment due dates. He reported that this semester he discovered
some issues with the Security units he had taken, CPE5002 and CSE5210. The
issues were with Pre-requisite knowledge. Staff felt this it would be a good
idea to look at the pre-requisites for these units.
Action:
Dr Wilson to discuss these units with Mr Carpenter
and Dr Le.
Mr
Dickinson raised concerns about many of the MAIT units assuming some kind of
computing background, when in fact this is not the case. He also felt that the
9000 series units are not structured well, except for CSE9000. He suggested
that the core units structures should be looked
at. He also explained that he does not
buy the textbooks as he can’t afford them.
Dr Mitchell suggested that students could get texts from the library. Mr Avram reported
that all prescribed texts should be available at the library and that the list
of textbooks for units should be sent to the library.
Action: Ms Matthews to send textbook list to the library.
Mr
McLachlin said overall he was happy with his course, but felt that there was
not enough information in regards to units and therefore found it hard to
choose units. It was suggested that
there should be links on the MAIT website.
Action: Ms Matthews to add courseware links to MAIT website.
Mr
McLachlin explained that he could not do Java units on the list as he does not
have the background. Dr Mitchell
suggested that CSE9000 could have Java in it.
It
was suggested that the CSE5910 unit title is misleading,
staff requested this be looked at.
Mr
Mclachlin also commented that he thought that CSE4881
tutorials were unstructured and the fact that CSE5501 does not have an exam is
bad as this does not give students any motivation to attend lectures.
Mr
D’Silva asked about CSE2318/CSE3318/CSE9801, he
wanted to know which unit should MAIT students
take. Dr Wilson stated that they should
take CSE3318 and this unit would now be available in both semesters.
Mr
Wong expressed concerned that many of the lecturers names in the hand book are
not up to date. Mr Avram recommended that this be
bought up with Associate Professor Hurst.
Action: Dr Indrawan to contact Associate Professor Hurst about lecturer names in Avatar.
Mr
Dickinson raised concerns that some tutors did not appear to possess adequate
levels of English.
Meeting
closed: