Experiences as a Short Term Visiting Lecturer

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Experiences as a Short Term Visiting Lecturer

• John Paxton
• IIMS Seminar
• August 24, 2004

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• Purpose
• To describe my visit
• To provide useful advice for future short-term
  visiting staff

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• Outline
• Background
• Accommodations
• Transportation
• University
• Culture
• Travel
• Advice

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• My Background
• I am a professor with the Computer Science
  Department at Montana State University.
• I have been there 14 years.
• I have briefly visited universities in Morocco,
  Mexico and El Salvador.
• I am very interested in international education

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• This Opportunity
• Guan Yue Hong advertised for a research
  sabbatical replacement in December, 2003.
• I am teaching two courses for Guan Yue while I
  am here.
• I arrived on July 6th and will be departing this
  coming Saturday. Fall semester at Montana State
  begins next Monday!

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• Accommodations

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• Accommodations
• Lucas Creek Village
• thank you Dianne Bailey and Jenni Galbraith!
• Brand new BuildCorp development
• 130 per person per week
• 25 minute, beautiful walk
• furnished
• 7 person and 3 person units
• Great short term arrangement

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• Auckland Transportation
• City buses
• Rental cars
• Taxis
• Rides
• Recommendation Buy a car, sell it back
• I should have listened to Dennis Viehland!

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• Massey University Albany
• An extremely beautiful campus!
• Good office with window
• thank you Martin Johnson!
• Printery
• Infirmary (related scaly zappings)

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• IIMS Department
• Biweekly teas (stunning room on 3rd floor of QB)
• Fresh produce
• Weekly departmental seminars
• Weekly postgrad seminars
• New semester banquet
• Thank you Michelle Herbert and Jo Ramsey!

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• General Logistics
• Computer Account and Support
• thank you Lorrie OBrien and Stephen Ford!
• Bank Account
• pay schedule (thank you Robert McKibbin and
  Merrill Bowers!)
• income tax
• Room Key, Swipe Card, Copier Card
• thank you Chris Scogings!
• Work Visa No worries!

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• 157.235 Networks and Client/Server Design
• 2 hours of lecture
• Jason Gerritz will teach the second half
• 1 hour of tutorial
• Binglan Han runs the tutorial sections
• Atrium 2 lecture hall
• 160 students
• Multiple choice exam, 2 versions
• is there a paper shredder?
• Surprise student composition
• Surprise quiet office hours

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• 157.762 Software Quality and Reliability
• Block course is a new format
• mix of activities tests, labs, lectures
• tea breaks (and tea vouchers!) thank you Nikki
  Luke!
• 14 students, wide variety of backgrounds
• Material is new
• Holodeck, Eclipse
• Facilities are unfamiliar
• Printery and copy room (can the copier staple?)
• Laptop (thank you James Chai!)
• IIMS Lab 1 (thank you Samir Bishay!)
• Many different rooms

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• Collaboration
• Guan Yue Hong
• advice about everything
• Hossein Sarrafzadeh
• tutoring experiment
• expert systems postgrad project
• Ken Hawick
• compare AI classes
• Alison Young Unitec
• laboratory setup
• Tony Clear AUT
• writing to learn

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• Cultural Observations
• Maori Culture
• Sports
• Rugby American Football
• Cricket Baseball
• Netball Basketball
• Café culture
• flat white
• short and tall black
• fluffy
• Food its not just British fare!
• New Zealand people are very friendly!

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• Travel
• Rotorua
• Wellington
• Northland
• Christchurch
• Dunedin
• Milford Sound
• Queenstown / Arrowtown
• Thanks to Megan Richardson, Tony Richardson,
  Peter Kay and many others for some wonderful
  advice!

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• Advice to Visitors
• Bring a laptop
• Buy/rent a car
• For a longer stay, think carefully about
  accommodations
• Advance preparation is helpful
• Can some compensation come in the form of
  airfare or accommodation?

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• Discussion
• What other types of collaboration are possible
  both during and after the visit?
• Could there be a one semester faculty exchange
  between Massey and Montana State?
• Thank you!!