Pedagogical Portfolio Elad Michael Schiller May 4, 2010

Pedagogical PortfolioElad Michael Schiller

May 4, 2010

1 TEACHING AT UNDERGRADUATE AND GRADUATE LEVELSSummary of Predoctoral Teaching ExperienceBetween 1998 to 2004, I worked at the Computer Science Department of Ben-Gurion Universityof the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel. In Ben-Gurion University, courses are 12 weeks long. In eachweek, there are four hours of lectures and two hours of recitations by the teacher assistance. At theComputer Science Department, it is common that during the recitations supplementary materielis thought (rather than solving exercises as in tutorials). A detailed description of the followingteaching activities also appears in Section 5.

Undergraduate Studies

Year Designation Assessment Teaching type Students

————— —————————— —————– —————— ———2004 Database Systems Final exam +

assignmentsCo-Teaching,Assignments

30a

————— —————————— —————– —————— ———2003 Operating Systems Final exam +

assignmentsTutoringb 5×30

————— —————————— —————– —————— ———2003 System Programming Lan-

guagesFinal exam +assignments

Co-Lecturing,Teaching Mate-rial Development

90c

————— —————————— —————– —————— ———2002 Topics in Group Communi-

cationFinal exam +assignments

Project orga-nized teaching

10

————— —————————— —————– —————— ———

aThere were 30 students in my class and 70 in the class of the senior teacher. We shared teaching materials andhad the same exam.

bThree weeks substituting of the tutor.cThe course had three teachers; one of them was a senior lecture and the other was a Ph.D. student like me.

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Pedagogical Portfolio Elad Michael Schiller May 4, 2010

Undergraduate Studies (Cont.)

Year Designation Assessment Teaching type Students

————— —————————— —————– —————— ———2001 Cryptography Final exam +

assignmentsGrading 30

————— —————————— —————– —————— ———1998-2001 System Programming Lan-

guagesFinal exam +assignments

Tutoring, Teach-ing Material De-velopment

7×30a

————— —————————— —————– —————— ———

aThe course had 250 to 300 students

Graduate Studies

Year Designation Assessment Teaching type Students

————— —————————— —————– —————— ———2000–2001,2002–2003

Distributed Algorithms andComputer Communication

Final exam +assignments

Co-Lecturing,Teaching Mate-rial Development

2×30

————— —————————— —————– —————— ———

Links to the course web pages

• Database Systems (no course home page). A similar course that was concurrently taught isDatabase Administrationhttp://www.cs.bgu.ac.il/˜dbm041/The applicant did not have write access permission to this website, such as the course syl-labus, which the applicant did not write.

• Operating Systems (three weeks substituting of the tutor)http://www.cs.bgu.ac.il/˜os032/

• Cryptography (current version of the home page)http://www.cs.bgu.ac.il/˜crp101/MainThe applicant did not have write access permission to this website, such as the course syl-labus, which the applicant did not write.

• System Programming Languages

2003 http://www.cs.bgu.ac.il/˜spl031/The applicant did not have write access permission to this website, such as the coursesyllabus, which the applicant did not write.

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Pedagogical Portfolio Elad Michael Schiller May 4, 2010

2002 http://www.cs.bgu.ac.il/˜spl021/The applicant did not have write access permission to this website, such as the coursesyllabus, which the applicant did not write.

2001 http://www.cs.bgu.ac.il/˜spl001/The applicant did not have write access permission to this website, such as the coursesyllabus, which the applicant did not write.

• Distributed Algorithms and Computer Communication (current version of the home page)http://www.cs.bgu.ac.il/˜ccda101/MainThe applicant did not have write access permission to this website, such as the course syl-labus, which the applicant did not write.

Summary of Postdoctoral Teaching ExperienceSince February 2006, I have been working at Chalmers University of Technology at the departmentof computer science and engineering. A detailed description of the following teaching activitiesalso appears in Section 5.

Undergraduate Studies

Year Designation Assessment Teaching type Students

————— —————————— —————– —————— ———2010 Remote Pair Programming

in Visual StudioBachelor The-sis Project

Project orga-nized teaching,Responsible

6

————— —————————— —————– —————— ———2006–2009 Data Communication Final exam +

assignmentsLecturing 60

————— —————————— —————– —————— ———2008 Media access in Sensor Net-

worksBachelor The-sis Project

Project orga-nized teaching,Responsible

5

————— —————————— —————– —————— ———2006-2008 Operating Systems Final exam +

assignmentsLecturing 40

————— —————————— —————– —————— ———2007 System Programming in C Final exam +

assignmentsLecturing,Teaching Mate-rial Development

40

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Pedagogical Portfolio Elad Michael Schiller May 4, 2010

Graduate Studies

Year Designation Assessment Teaching type Students

————— —————————— —————– —————— ———2010 Internet Technology Final exam +

assignmentsLecturing,Examining,Syllabus writing,Responsiblea

60

————— —————————— —————– —————— ———2010 Distributed Fault-Tolerance

Distributed AlgorithmsPh.D. Semi-nar

Responsible 14

————— —————————— —————– —————— ———2009 Algorithms for Sensor and

Ad Hoc NetworksPh.D. Semi-nar

Responsible 8

————— —————————— —————– —————— ———2008–2010 Advanced topics in net-

works and distributed sys-tems

Final exam +assignments

Lecturing,Examining,Coordinating,Syllabus writing,Responsibleb

60

————— —————————— —————– —————— ———2007 Self-Stabilization Ph.D. Semi-

narResponsible 6

————— —————————— —————– —————— ———

aFuture plans for period one.bThis responsibility included the applicant own lectures, the grading of assignments/exam and communicating with

the students. The applicant was not responsible for the syllabus and course administration, e.g., exam date.

Links to the course web pages

• Remote Pair Programming in Visual Studiohttp://tinyurl.com/remote-pair-programmingThe applicant did not have write access permission to this website, such as the course syl-labus, which the applicant did not write.

• Data Communicationhttp://www.cse.chalmers.se/EDU/dkom/The applicant did not have write access permission to this website, such as the course syl-labus, which the applicant did not write.

• Media access in Sensor Networkshttp://tinyurl.com/MediaAccess1The applicant did not have write access permission to this website, such as the course syl-labus, which the applicant did not write.

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Pedagogical Portfolio Elad Michael Schiller May 4, 2010

http://tinyurl.com/MediaAccess2The applicant did not have write access permission to this website, such as the course syl-labus, which the applicant did not write.http://tinyurl.com/MediaAccess3The applicant did not have write access permission to this website, such as the course syl-labus, which the applicant did not write.http://tinyurl.com/MediaAccess4The applicant did not have write access permission to this website, such as the course syl-labus, which the applicant did not write.http://www.cs.chalmers.se/Cs/Grundutb/Kurser/DATX01/Redovisning1/The applicant did not have write access permission to this website, such as the course syl-labus, which the applicant did not write.http://www.cs.chalmers.se/Cs/Grundutb/Kurser/DATX01/Redovisning2/The applicant did not have write access permission to this website, such as the course syl-labus, which the applicant did not write.http://www.cs.chalmers.se/Cs/Grundutb/Kurser/DATX01/Grupper/The applicant did not have write access permission to this website, such as the course syl-labus, which the applicant did not write.http://web.student.chalmers.se/groups/datx01-15/The applicant did not have write access permission to this website, such as the course syl-labus, which the applicant did not write.http://www.cs.chalmers.se/˜dcs/bpc.htmlThe applicant did not have write access permission to this website, such as the course syl-labus, which the applicant did not write.

• Operating Systems (current version of the home page)http://www.cse.chalmers.se/edu/year/2010/course/EDA092/The applicant did not have write access permission to this website, such as the course syl-labus, which the applicant did not write.

• System Programming in Chttp://www.cs.chalmers.se/ComputingScience/Education/Courses/sysc/The applicant did not have write access permission to this website, such as the course syl-labus, which the applicant did not write.

• Internet Technology (future plans)http://www.ce.chalmers.se/edu/course/EDA386/The applicant did not have write access permission to this website, such as the course syl-labus, which the applicant did not write.

• Distributed Fault-Tolerance Distributed Algorithmshttp://tinyurl.com/advanced-fault-tolerantThe applicant did not have write access permission to this website, such as the course syl-labus, which the applicant did not write.

• Algorithms for Sensor and Ad Hoc Networkshttp://tinyurl.com/seminar-on-algorithms

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Pedagogical Portfolio Elad Michael Schiller May 4, 2010

The applicant did not have write access permission to this website, such as the course syl-labus, which the applicant did not write.

• Advanced topics in networks and distributed systems

2009 http://www.student.chalmers.se/hp/hp?hp_id=6024The applicant did not had write access permission to the external part of this website,such as the course syllabus, which the applicant did not write. The internal part ofthis website requires read access permissions, which the evaluator might not have. Theinternal part of the website includes teaching materials, schedule and other materialthat assist the students.

2008 http://www.student.chalmers.se/hp/hp?hp_id=4930The applicant did not had write access permission to the external part of this website,such as the course syllabus, which the applicant did not write. The internal part ofthis website requires read access permissions, which the evaluator might not have. Theinternal part of the website includes teaching materials, schedule and other materialthat assist the students.

• Seminar on Self-Stabilizationhttp://www.cs.chalmers.se/˜elad/teaching/SelfStabSem/

1.1 Candidates for post-graduate degrees

I advised on the following projects (master level exjobs – sole supervisor).

Masters studentsJun/07 Supervisor of Lei Nie, “Robust software infrastructure for mobile ad hoc network – virtual

stationary automata.” First job at China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation.

I have defined the project and assistant the student in understanding its implementation. Ihave assisted the student in preparing the dissertation and its presentation.

Jun/07 Supervisor of Wei Li, “Robust software infrastructure for mobile ad hoc network – au-tonomous virtual mobile nodes.”

I have defined the project and assistant the student in understanding its implementation. Ihave assisted the student in preparing the dissertation and its presentation.

Feb/08 Supervisor of Zahid Iqbal, “Self-stabilizing media access in wireless sensor networks”.http://tinyurl.com/ZahidIqbal

I have defined the project and assistant the student in understanding its implementation.I have extensively assistant the student with developing its innovative contribution to theproject. I have assisted the student in preparing the dissertation and its presentation.

First employment after graduation with Bjorn Andersson at CISTER (Real-Time ComputingSystems Research Centre). This is a top-ranked Portuguese Research Unit based at theSchool of Engineering (ISEP) of the Polytechnic Institute of Porto (IPP). Now a visiting

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Pedagogical Portfolio Elad Michael Schiller May 4, 2010

researcher at the Department of Computer and Information Science, Linkopings Universitetwith Simin Nadjm-Tehrani (Real-Time Systems Lab).

Sep/09 Supervisor of Yang Yang and Xiaochu Wang, “Forecasting short term traffic conditionsusing vehicular ad-hoc network”.

I have defined the project and assistant the students in understanding its implementation. Ihave assisted the students in preparing the dissertation.

Sep/09 Supervisor of Ilhan Uludag, “Validating reservation-base MAC algorithms for vehicularad-hoc network”.

I have defined the project and assistant the student in understanding its implementation. Ihave assisted the student in preparing the dissertation.

March/10 Ning He, “Validating relocation analysis of MAC algorithms”.

I have defined the project and assistant the student in understanding its implementation.I have extensively assistant the student with developing its innovative contribution to theproject. I have assisted the student in preparing the dissertation and its presentation.

March/10 Gongxi Zhu, “Evaluating new MAC algorithms for mobile ad hoc networks”.

I have defined the project and assistant the student in understanding its implementation.I have extensively assistant the student with developing its innovative contribution to theproject. I have assisted the student in preparing the dissertation and its presentation.

2 PEDAGOGICAL STUDIES AND DEVELOPMENT PROJECTSA description of teaching activities that have advanced my teaching competence before comingto Chalmers University of Technology appears in Section 5. My teaching philosophy is stronglyinfluenced by a series of pedagogical training classes I have attended in Chalmers’ Center forcompetence and knowledge building in Higher Education for which I have received a Diploma ofHigher Education (http://www.cs.chalmers.se/˜elad/reprints/AP001.pdf).

• TLC101: Pedagogical project (2009/2010).http://www.cs.chalmers.se/˜elad/reprints/AP002.pdf

• TLC102: Teaching, learning and evaluation (Autumn 2009).http://www.cs.chalmers.se/˜elad/reprints/AP003.pdf

• TLE202: Supervision of Research: Principles, Models and Issues (Spring 2009).http://www.cs.chalmers.se/˜elad/reprints/AP004.pdf

• TLE204: Theory and practice of science (2010).http://www.cs.chalmers.se/˜elad/reprints/AP005.pdf

The first course considers the implementation of a pedagogical project: “Effective and Effi-cient Assessment of Programming Assignments in Computer-related Education”. A preprint ofthe project is available viahttp://www.cs.chalmers.se/˜elad/reprints/pedprog.pdf

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Pedagogical Portfolio Elad Michael Schiller May 4, 2010

3 TEACHING ACTIVITY OUTSIDE THE UNIVERSITYMy lecturing experience outside the university can be found in Portfolio of Professional Qualifica-tions that can also be accessed viahttp://www.cs.chalmers.se/˜elad/reprints/PPQ.pdf

I.e., the list of presentations at conferences, scientific meetings, seminars and colloquiumsappears in Section 1.2.3.

4 ASSESSMENT OF TEACHING CONTRIBUTIONSMy reputation as a teacher, according to feedback from my colleagues and students, was that Iensured the success of my students through supportive and friendly guidance. Yet, I am firm,interesting, clear, and knowledgeable.

4.1 Reference of my teaching before coming to Chalmers.Former Director of Studies for Software Engineering Ehud Gudes:

Full Professor of Computer Science,Ben-Gurion University of the Negev,Beer-Sheva, 84105 Israel.Tel: +972-8-6461626FAX: +972-8-6472909Email: ehud@cs.bgu.ac.ilURL: http://www.cs.bgu.ac.il/˜ehud/.

The letter: http://www.cs.chalmers.se/˜elad/reprints/RIT001.pdf

“Elad’s performance as a teacher was excellent”.“Students in Elad’s class performed very well in the home assignments and finalexam”.“I found Elad to be a well spoken, passionate, and highly motivated educator, whosincerely desires to better himself in order to better serve his students. As an ed-ucator, Elad offers a high standard of professionalism, a dedication to developingstudents learning and engagement through well-planned lessons, and a genuinedesire to help all students find success. Furthermore, Elad brings community andrespect to the forefront of the learning environment with individual attention tostudents and uptake of student voice and opinion. He is confident and engaged,friendly and helpful, and willing to take on challenges and seek out feedback.”

Former Chair of Computer Science Shlomi Dolev:Full Professor of Computer Science,Ben-Gurion University of the Negev,Beer-Sheva, 84105 Israel.Tel: +972-8-6472715/6428119 or +972-52-5793087FAX: +972-8-6477650Email: dolev@cs.bgu.ac.ilURL: http://www.cs.bgu.ac.il/˜dolev/.

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Pedagogical Portfolio Elad Michael Schiller May 4, 2010

The letter: http://www.cs.chalmers.se/˜elad/reprints/RIT002.pdf

“He offers a rich background in a variety of educational settings, which will sig-nificantly enhance curriculum and course offerings. His talent and knowledgeabout computer communications allows him to intuitively explain complex tech-nical issues. His students were very found of him considering the fact that notonly he knew how to develop interactively approach but created warm, friendlyand beneficial connection among his students. He excels in preparing teachingmaterials and insightful exam questions and has the ability to create efficient,supportive, and motivational relationships with students.”

4.2 Reference of my teaching after coming to Chalmers.Director of Undergraduate Studies Christer Carlsson:

Vice Head of Department at the Department of Computing Science and Engineering,Chalmers University of Technology,S-412 96 Goteborg, Sweden.Phone: +46 31 772 1038.Fax: +46 31 772 5413.Email: carlsson@chalmers.se.URL: http://www.cs.chalmers.se/˜carlsson/.

The letter: http://www.cs.chalmers.se/˜elad/reprints/RST001.pdf

“Han har fatt mycket bra vitsord i kursutvrderingar bade fran studenter och lararkollegor.”“Elad har stor social kompetens och ar mycket trivsam att samarbeta med. Han arempatisk gentemot studenterna och bryr sig om deras behov. Jag ser att han kanfa en framtida nyckelroll i vidareutvecklingen av vara masterprogram.”

Graduate Studies Director ((Nov. 2004 – Dec. 2007) Philippas Tsigas:Professor (Full) at the Department of Computing Science and Engineering,Chalmers University of Technology,S-412 96 Goteborg, Sweden.Phone: +46 31 772 3663.Fax: +46 31 772 5413.Email: tsigas@chalmers.se.URL: http://www.cs.chalmers.se/˜tsigas/.

The letter: http://www.cs.chalmers.se/˜elad/reprints/RST002.pdf

“Elad taught and helped us in all educational activities without any hesitationand with a great enthusiasm and zeal. . . Our division is very happy that Elad hadstepped forward and did this outstanding job in developing this course.”“Elad has been very active helping us with the coordination of our master’s program. . .He is playing a significant role in the successful development of our program.”

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Pedagogical Portfolio Elad Michael Schiller May 4, 2010

“I was very impressed by Elad’s ability to step in the course on a very short notice,prepare the teaching materials from scratch and successfully deliver his classes.He did an excellent job and the students were very happy with his lectures. . . Itwas a great to have him on board on this course and I am sure that the coursewould have been no worse with him as the single teacher.”“From discussions that I had during this time with the students, on my capacityas a graduate director, I received a very positive feedback.”“I find his teaching activities are important for our department and of excellentquality.”

Co-teacher Marina Papatriantafilou:Associate Professor (Docent) at the Department of Computing Science and Engineering,Chalmers University of Technology,S-412 96 Goteborg, Sweden.Phone: +46 31 772 5409.Fax: +46 31 772 5413.Email: ptrianta@chalmers.se.URL: http://www.cs.chalmers.se/˜ptrianta/.

The letter: http://www.cs.chalmers.se/˜elad/reprints/RST003.pdf

“Elad managed very successfully, partly due to that, he had experience from ear-lier teaching, as well as due to his interactiveness in class and enthusiasm in hiscommunication with the students. I have heard very positive comments by thestudents regarding Elad’s support in the course as a teacher both for the lecturesand lab-parts.”“Elad is working very hard for it, does an outstanding job and his initiatives andactions are appreciated by both teachers and students.”“His approach combines technical support and stimulation, with social interac-tions; this helps the students stay motivated, learn and work better. It is worthmentioning that the outcome of some of these projects has also contributed to ourresearch efforts and resulted in scientific publications.”“Elad is a true teacher-researcher, studying his practice and devising new ways toincorporate discussion and enhance the learning of his students. He is organized,motivated, and seeks out feedback in order to improve his teaching practice fromthe students and teaching assistants. Moreover, he has a pipeline full with newprojects and ideas in education and its overlap with research.”

Director of Studies for Networks and Distributed Systems (master program) Tomas Olovsson:Universitetslektor at the Department of Computing Science and Engineering,Chalmers University of Technology,S-412 96 Goteborg, Sweden.Phone: +46 31 772 1688.Fax: +46 31 772 5413.

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Pedagogical Portfolio Elad Michael Schiller May 4, 2010

Email: tomas.olovsson@chalmers.se.URL: http://www.chalmers.se/cse/EN/people/olovsson-tomas.

The letter: http://www.cs.chalmers.se/˜elad/reprints/RST004.pdf

Jag har bara goda erfarenheter av hans engagemang och han har alltid haft am-bitionen att stalla eleven i centrum, hitta metoder for att underlatta for elevernaoch oka deras intresse och kunskaper i de amnen han undervisar i. Han har aldrigtvekat att lagga ner eget arbete om det pa nagot satt underlattat for studenternaaven om det inte kravts av honom.Resultatet blev en popular kurs som fatt bra omdome av elever och dar forelasningarfran manga larare pa institutionen involverats. Elads engagemang har skapat enny kurs som lyfter fram problembaserat larande genom att pa ett bra satt blandaforelasningar med projektarbeten. Han har utnyttjat webben flitigt dar elever kanlamna in uppgifter och fa kontinuerlig feedback pa sina arbeten. Han har alltidsatt elevens inlarning i forsta rummet aven om det medfort betydande arbete forhonom sjalv.Detta visar ater igen pa hans engagemang och vilja att lara ut aven om det kostaregen tid och arbete.Det har inte pa nagot satt funnits nagra krav pa Elad att sjalv arbeta med en sadanprocess utan arbetet har gjorts pa eget initiativ och visar ater igen att han ar my-cket engagerad i utbildning och pedagogiska fragor och gor sitt yttersta for attmaximera resultatet fran vara utbildningar.Aterigen ett bevis for hans att hans engagemang stracker sig utanfor vad somkravs av den traditionella lararrollen.Elad Schiller har visat stort engagemang i utbildningsfragor, fatt bra vitsord avelever och han har engagerat sig mer an vad som formellt kravts av rollen somlarare.

4.3 Course evaluation reports by students• Single teacher of “Remote Pair Programming in Visual Studio – Bachelor Thesis Project”

(2010).

The letter: http://www.cs.chalmers.se/˜elad/reprints/RSA001.pdf

• Single teacher of “Distributed Fault-Tolerance Distributed Algorithms – Ph.D. Seminar”(2010).

The letter: http://www.cs.chalmers.se/˜elad/reprints/RSA002.pdf

• Co-teacher/responsable of “Advanced topics in networks and distributed systems – GraduateCourse” (2010).

The letter: http://www.cs.chalmers.se/˜elad/reprints/RSA003.pdf

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Pedagogical Portfolio Elad Michael Schiller May 4, 2010

• “Advanced topics in networks and distributed systems – Graduate Course” (2009).

The letter: http://www.cs.chalmers.se/˜elad/reprints/RSA004.pdf

4.4 Reference letters from students• “Media access in Sensor Networks – Bachelor Thesis Project” (2008), Tommy Salenlid.

Email: salenlid@student.chalmers.se.

The letter: http://www.cs.chalmers.se/˜elad/reprints/RSS001.pdf

“Elad has an exceptional ability to transfer his academic knowledge to students. . .By always teaching engaged and motivational, he created intellectual curiosityamong the group, we were always eager to learn more. Besides this, Elad is verypersonable. . . This was very appreciated during the course, since it helped meobtain long-term understanding.”“Considering Elad’s good communication skills and teaching qualities, it was adistinct pleasure having him as my supervisor.”

• “Media access in Sensor Networks – Bachelor Thesis Project” (2008), Predrag Trninic.Email: ptrninic@student.chalmers.se.

The letter: http://www.cs.chalmers.se/˜elad/reprints/RSS002.pdf

“This has allowed me to see how a great teacher stands out from a good one, andElad is one of those great ones.”“His approach to teaching enabled students to get the most out of these sessions.He explains the exercises in a way that was easy to follow and supplied the exer-cises on paper to enable students to learn more effectively.”“He was always available to aid us if we needed it, which helped a lot when weencountered a problem. This was because he took the time to thoroughly explainthe problem so we understood it. His engagement to be there for us if we neededit really made it easier to finish the project. The outcome of the project was good.”

• “Advanced topics in networks and distributed systems – graduate course” (2009) and aproject for master thesis (2009), Gongxi Zhu. Email: gongxi@student.chalmers.se.

The letter: http://www.cs.chalmers.se/˜elad/reprints/RSS003.pdf

“Elad showed his vast professional knowledge, excellent teaching and communi-cation skills. As a knowledgeable and skillful teacher, Elad also paid much atten-tion to train students and develop their potentials, like skill of scientific writing,etc.”“Elad paid lots of efforts on this project. When we worked together, he pro-vided numerous creative ideas and brilliant proposals. And most importantly, heis always able to guide the project quickly and effectively. Apart from that, Elad

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Pedagogical Portfolio Elad Michael Schiller May 4, 2010

never refused to give me his selfless help: he provides technical suggestions tohelp me solve implementation problems; and he always answers my questionswith patience. Moreover, thanks to his attention and efforts paid on developingmy professional abilities.”

• “A project for master thesis (2008), Zahid Iqbal. Email: zahid.iqbal@gmail.com.

The letter: http://www.cs.chalmers.se/˜elad/reprints/RSS004.pdf

“Elad was always available for discussions and other technical support over thecourse of the project. . . Such discussions provided me with the needed momentumfor project work.”“The thing that I liked the most about him was that he would be consistently intouch regarding the status of the work. This helped improving the productivityand keeping the goals in focus. His response was very positive to the problemsfaced on the project. He would discuss it through, and on some occasions, wewent through the code together to find the problem. Such discussions were almostalways fruitful, and we were able to troubleshoot or form a different strategy. Inthis regard, he always welcomed the ideas or suggestions. I liked his approachof starting with a small thing and then gradually building the project from there.Working on this approach, I was able to successfully complete my thesis projectthat appeared as a difficult task in the beginning.”“Learning outcome was thus not only limited to the main project area, because Ihave also learned about the aforementioned skills in the process.”

• “A project for master thesis (2008), Farnaz Moradi. Email: moradi@chalmers.se.

The letter: http://www.cs.chalmers.se/˜elad/reprints/RSS005.pdf

“He always motivates students and is caring for them. The students are warmlywelcomed to drop in any time to ask questions and he spends efforts beyond thenormally expected to help them to succeed. He is highly respected, as both aperson and a professional, by his colleagues and his students.”

• “System Programming Languages” (1998) and “Distributed Algorithms and Computer Com-munication” (2003), Lior Malka. Email: lior34@gmail.com.

The letter: http://www.cs.chalmers.se/˜elad/reprints/RIS001.pdf

“Elad was very friendly with the students. . . The tutorials were well paced andthe presentation clear and concise. More than anything else I remember Elad’spersonal attention to each and every student. We all felt that he genuinely caredthat everyone understands the material.”“I enjoyed the tutorials very much and was impressed by Elad’s theoretical skillsand technical knowledge. Elad encouraged students to approach him not onlyduring office hours, but also after class and via e-mail.”

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Pedagogical Portfolio Elad Michael Schiller May 4, 2010

“Elad has endless patience. What distinguishes him from other instructors is thathe really cares about the students and always happy to help them.”“Elad is an excellent instructor.”

• “System Programming Languages” (2000) and “An honour-Bachelor thesis” (2003), Nir Al-fasi. Email: alfasin@plimus.com.

The letter: http://www.cs.chalmers.se/˜elad/reprints/RIS002.pdf

“I was impressed by his technical skills and knowledge in C and C++. Elad’stutorials were very clear and his office was always open to students that neededassistance.”“Elad’s great knowledge and experience as well as his personal approach guidedand helped me through difficulties during this project more than once, and aftermany efforts, we achieved our goals.”“Without Elad’s mentoring, I don’t believe I would have gotten through each andevery one of the phases of the project: from the background preparations thatincluded reading more articles and the planning of the project, to the advice andhelp I got from him while I built the project and conducted the experiments. . .working with him was a great privilege and pleasure!”

5 DESCRIPTION OF AND REFLECTIONS ON THE PEDAGOGICALACTIVITIES

Looking back at my teaching activities, I would say that there were three major transitions thatallowed me to be come an independent (yet collaborative) teacher.

From a student to a teacher assistant1998 to 2000, 75% teacher assistant employment (Ben-Gurion University of the Negev)

Tasks: I was a new graduate student with a fresh B.Sc. in Mathematics and Computer Sci-ence. I was responsible for the “practical sessions” in an undergraduate course and a graduatecourse. I had to teach 7×2 hours per week (in a semester that is 12 weeks long) and 2×2 hoursper week (in a semester that is 13 weeks long). I had to prepare the syllabus for my part of thecourse. I had to prepare home assignments and to grade them. I had to prepare some of thequestions and to grade these questions. Some of these courses had 250−300 students.

Challenges: It was difficult to teach for so many hours. (I lost my voice a couple of times.)Most of the students were older than me and some of them were my class mates. There was a lotof materiel to teach and many after-class hours spent on assisting the students.

Lessons learned: Be prepared and attentive; master the topic, make a plan, prepare teachingmateriel and listen to the student needs. Speak to the students as equals, but keep your distance.Help the students learn!

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Pedagogical Portfolio Elad Michael Schiller May 4, 2010

From a teacher assistant to a co-teacher2000 to 2004, 75% associate teacher employment (Ben-Gurion University of the Negev)

Tasks: I became a Ph.D. candidate in computer science. I was lecturing in undergraduatecourses under the supervision of a senior lecture. Moreover, I was teaching “practical sessions” ina graduate course. I had to prepare the syllabus for my part of the course. I had to prepare homeassignments and to grade them. I prepared the exam together with the supervising senior lecture,answer questions during the exam, and we had to grade the exam together.

Challenges: Many of the students were older than me and I was no longer their class mate. Ihad a lot more responsibility; I had to be careful with what I say, write or do. It was my responsi-bility that the students are prepared for the exam. Student ethics sometimes was an issue; I had todeal with cheaters. Also, I had to plan the learning actions in a way that would be fare to studentsthat come from different academic backgrounds.

Lessons learned: Make sure that the students understand what is expected of them in orderto pass the exam and prepare the assignments. Base the lecture and class assignments on thestudents’ high-level cognitive skills. Expect the students to draw their own conclusions, provethem, generalize them, hypothesize implications, and suggest applications.

Be clear, friendly, moderate and firm in your statements and requirements. Make sure that thesame rules apply to all students and that they are fair. When a conflict occurs, make sure that youunderstand the student and that the student understand you.

From a co-teacher to a course responsible2006 to 2010, 25% teaching employment (Chalmers University of Technology)

Tasks: I was responsible of a new master student level course in a new international masterprogram. This responsibility requires coordinating between me and three other senior lectures.I had to update the syllabus, lecture, write the exam/assignments, check exam/assignments andcommunicate with the student representatives.

I was expected to initiate my own Ph.D. courses. I was co-lecturing in a couple of coursesthat were already organized by the course responsible. Moreover, I am been handed over theresponsibility for an additional mandatory at the Master’s level course.

Challenges: I had to design a new master level course. The teachers had different approachesto teaching. I had to diplomatically create a shared view of the course. For me, Chalmers was anew environment and Sweden was a new culture. The courses include student from very differentacademic backgrounds.

Lessons learned: Let student know and feel that you are the address to any problem with thecourse. Be a good planner and a problem solver. Before any learning activity, clearly inform thestudent about the learning objectives of the activity. Present the course learning activities on thefirst lecture and on the course home page.

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Pedagogical Portfolio Elad Michael Schiller May 4, 2010

Cooperate, coordinate, build atop existing infrastructure and change moderately when needed.Gradually modernize the courses you teach and keep them up-to-date. Try to learn what otherteachers have done before you. Try it first and then, if a change is needed, make sure that allinvolved people are informed before actions or decisions are taken.

Identify the department’s educational needs, and suggest that you would respond to them (whenappropriate). Make sure that your course syllabus is inline with the program learning objectives.

5.1 Summary of the fundamental features in your development as a teacherHave you changed over time as a teacher? At the beginning, I was a new teacher that

had to master the micro-teaching techniques and basic course planning. Then, I became muchmore aware of the teacher responsibilities. For example, I had to aim for the students’ high-levelcognitive skills and the creation of complementary professional skills, such as constructive andethical social interaction. A series of pedagogical training classes had strongly influenced myteaching philosophy. I now understand better the needs to collaborate with other teachers and tobuild atop existing infrastructure.

Have you altered your teaching methods? I became a better course planner after I under-stood that before any learning activity, we should clearly inform the student about the learningobjectives of the activity. I have improved my teaching efficiency by collaborating with otherteachers and using existing infrastructure.

Has your view of teaching changed? Every year I find teaching to be more and more excit-ing. I very much enjoy the interaction with young minds and I feel that it is an important activitythat makes me a better and a happier person.

Have you changed your view about what is important in teaching and what the studentsneed? It is important to understand that knowledge cannot be delivered in the same manner wedeliver information. The teacher can only facilitate the creation of knowledge in the students’minds. However, the teacher is obligated to encourage and support students in their process ofknowledge creation.

Teaching helped me to develop a deep understanding that I should teach all students that wishto learn. In order to professionally do that, I must see students as individuals that have differ-ent priorities, as well as academic backgrounds. This is why it is important to use pedagogicalmethodologies, such as constructive alignment and a variety of knowledge assessment techniques.

5.2 Detailed description of how you worked with a specific defined aspect ofteaching

My area of teaching is computer science. In this area, students are required to have a mathemat-ically oriented development, as well as, training in the construction of good software. Naturally,these abilities cannot be developed solely by passively listening to lectures. Thus, home assign-ments are imperative.

My teaching philosophy is strongly influenced by a series of pedagogical training classes Ihave attended in recent years. This training, as well as my personal experience, has taught me thatdeep understanding of class material requires students to use their own reason to analyze problems

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Pedagogical Portfolio Elad Michael Schiller May 4, 2010

in order to compare them and relate them to existing knowledge. Thus, I base class assignmentson the students’ high-level cognitive skills; I expect students to draw their own conclusions, provethem, generalize them, hypothesize implications, and suggest applications. In addition, studentsare asked to write code that numerically validates their theorems.

Knowledge and intellect are not appreciated without complementary professional skills. I shareresponsibility in creating an environment in which social interaction is ethical and constructive.In order to take these issues into account, I often ask the students to explain their programs tothe assignment grader. This way, the grader is able to verify that the students indeed wrote thesubmitted assignment and that they can explain it well. The ethical behavior is encouraged, becausestudents a priori known that such questions are going to be asked.

In my pedagogical project, “Effective and Efficient Assessment of Programming Assignmentsin Computer-related Education”, I am considering a new scheme for grading home assignments.This scheme uses software that allows the grader to automatically detect code cloning. The de-tection works in the presence of modifications, e.g., changes to the names of the variables. Thescheme facilitates peer-code-reviewing that would improve the students’ programming skills.

6 PRODUCTION OF TEACHING MATERIALS6.1 Predoctoral Teaching

• Database Systems – preparing exam questions (joint work).

• Operating Systems – no production.

• Cryptography – no production.

• System Programming Languages – preparing lectures slides, preparing materials for thepractical sessions, and preparing exam questions (shared). (Some of these materials arestill available in the course home pages.)

• Distributed Algorithms and Computer Communication – preparing the home assignments,preparing materials for the practical sessions, and preparing exam questions (joint work).

6.2 Postdoctoral Teaching• Remote Pair Programming in Visual Studio – no production.

• Data Communication – preparing exam questions (joint work).

• Media access in Sensor Networks – no production.

• Operating Systems – preparing exam questions (joint work).

• System Programming in C – preparing lectures slides (5×2 hours).

• Internet Technology (future plans) – no production yet.

• Distributed Fault-Tolerance Distributed Algorithms – no production (other an course an-nouncement and schedule).

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Pedagogical Portfolio Elad Michael Schiller May 4, 2010

• Algorithms for Sensor and Ad Hoc Networks – no production (other an course announce-ment and schedule).

• Advanced topics in networks and distributed systems – preparing lectures slides, preparinghomework assignments, and preparing exam questions (joint work). (These materials arestill available in the internal part of the course home pages.)

• Seminar on Self-Stabilization – preparing the homework assignments. (These materials arestill available in the course home pages.)

7 ADMINISTRATION AND LEADERSHIP OF CURRICULUM PLAN-NING

During the years 2007 to 2010 I held a key role in the student admission committee for the in-ternational master student program of Network and Distributed Systems. This year I had lead ateam that is responsible for all the Master’s Degree Programmes at the department of computerscience and engineering. For this project, I have developed a knowledge-base that facilitatedthe standardization of the acceptance criteria. I have contacted evaluators from the applicants’home countries and then presented their preliminary ranking to the master program coordinators.The outcome, I believe, is a scheme that not only accepts the the better applicants, but is alsomore coherent and fair. An example of one of the tools that I have developed can be found here:http://www.cs.chalmers.se/˜elad/reprints/Ex001.pdf.

I am leading the effort for restructuring the master programs in the department of computerscience and engineering.

I also take part of the curriculum planning of the master student program of Network andDistributed Systems. In particular, I am responsible of two courses in the program and the updateof their syllabi.

8 CURRENT KNOWLEDGE OF A FIELDI am a graduate of Computer Science (Ph.D., M.Sc. and B.Sc.). My expertise in Computer Sci-ence was recognized by Chalmers’ Department of Computer Science and engineering on January13, 2010 (cf. the oavlonad docent document). For a more complete description see Portfolio ofProfessional Qualifications; this can be accessed viahttp://www.cs.chalmers.se/˜elad/reprints/PPQ.pdf

18

Dept. of Computer Science המחלקה למדעי המחשב Faculty of Natural Sciences הפקולטה למדעי הטבע

P.O. Box 653, Beer-Sheva 84105 84105שבע - באר653. ד.תTel. 08-6472718, 6428123, Fax 972-8-6477650

E-Mail: csadmin@cs.bgu.ac.il

  Tenure Committee Chalmers University of Technology.   

April 25, 2010

 Dear Sirs   

It  is my pleasure  to  recommend  Elad Michael  Schiller  for  tenure position  In Chalmers University of Technology. I co‐taught an undergraduate course with Elad when he was a teacher associate in Ben‐Gurion University  of  the  Negev  and  I  have  being  following  his  career  development  since  (although  I  did  not supervise his Ph.D. thesis). Elad’s performance as a teacher was excellent.  

 I met Elad when he was an undergraduate student  in Ben‐Gurion University of  the Negev and  I had 

encouraged him to continue his studies. In 2004, we concurrently thought two courses: Database Systems for Computer Science (30 students) and Database Administration for Software Engineering (70 students). Elad was responsible for lecturing the Database Systems class, preparing the programming assignment and some questions  for  the exam. Elad also participated  in grading  the programming assignments  (since we had only one grader for the two courses). I would like to note that students in Elad’s class performed very well in the home assignments and final exam.   

 I found Elad to be a well spoken, passionate, and highly motivated educator, who sincerely desires to 

better  himself  in  order  to  better  serve  his  students.  As  an  educator,  Elad  offers  a  high  standard  of professionalism,  a  dedication  to  developing  students’  learning  and  engagement  through  well‐planned lessons, and a genuine desire to help all students find success. Furthermore, Elad brings community and respect to the forefront of the  learning environment with  individual attention to students and uptake of student  voice  and  opinion.  He  is  confident  and  engaged,  friendly  and  helpful,  and willing  to  take  on challenges and seek out feedback. 

 As far as research, Elad Schiller is an internationally known expert in distributed algorithms and mobile 

and ad‐hoc networks and has published in the most prestigious conferences and journals in that area.  

BEN GURION UNIVERSITY P.O.B. 653 BEER-SHEVA, ISRAEL שבע-באר 653. ד.ת ת בן גוריון בנגב אוניברסיט

To summarize, Elad   will no doubt utilize his natural abilities, education, and experience  to meet his professional goals in the classroom. I highly recommend Elad for a tenure position. 

 Please do not hesitate to contact me at ehud@cs.bgu.ac.il  if I can be of any further assistance. 

    

Sincerely,  

 Prof. Ehud Gudes Dept. of Computer Science 

Midterm Course Evaluation - DATX02 - 2010 This document reports on the course DATx02; a Bachelor thesis work on the topic of remote programming. This project is one of many projects that are given in the course. We focus on our project and put special emphasis on the iteration with the group advisor, Elad Michael Schiller. The report is based on connotative measurements that are based in a survey (see Appendix). Overall Purpose of the Course In the candidate project, the students integrates, consolidate and develop their knowledge and skills in a limited area of the treated in the past conducted courses in the program. Bachelor's work also aims to provide knowledge and skills in engineering and scientific approach. During this course we have had some lectures about project leadership, project planning and also about how to find valid sources of information and how to refer to these. From the start, each group had to plan and manage their own time in order to meet the deadlines set in the course curriculum. Most importantly has been to prove a given concept, but the course also included doing a pilot of this concept. Project The purpose of this bachelor project has been to create a plug-in for Visual Studio that enables developers to collaborate remotely. The objective has been to enable several users to concurrently edit code in real time and support means of communication that is usually only possible when collaborating physically on one computer. This project have been challenging due to design and implementation of networking, integrating our solution into Visual Studio and the synchronization of text. The most challenging task has probably been the integration inside Visual Studio. We have been developing against a set of APIs that in large part decides the direction of our work. Since we did not have any past experience of these APIs it has been difficult to plan and distribute work. We accomplished to implement a proof of concept into Visual Studio. Our proof of concept along with the work done on product scenarios has resulted in potential business opportunities for virtual consultant and new means to teaching programming. Interaction During Meetings The meeting with our advisor are productive and interesting. We have had meetings about once a week. In the beginning the advisor ran the meetings and decided agenda but towards the middle of the course we were pushed to take control. Our advisor took the role as a customer. In the beginning it was challenging to realize his role, but it showed to be very helpful since we had to set up goals by our selves, which we were to present. At the place we are standing now we are getting a lot of help in what to think of when writing the report and what the reader expect, which is very helpful. The advisor was very keen right from the beginning to get into the group to set us at the right path. We were taught to aim as high as possible and to not settle with mediocre. Conclusions This course evaluation is done by the members of the bachelor thesis Remote Collaboration in Visual studio. The purpose of this thesis has been to produce the base of collaboration plug-in for Visual Studio to enable programmers to collaborate in real-time. We expect that we would be able to accomplish this and we realize that we have gained important experience during this project.

Appendix - Survey How many hours per week do you spend on the project? At most 15 hours - 2 Around 25 hours - 4 At least 35 hours How large part of the group meeting did you attend? 16%-35% 36%-55% 56%-75% 76%-100% - 6 To what extent is the interaction with the course advisor is helpful? Small extent Some extent - 1 Large extent - 4 Great extent - 1 How well has cooperation between you and your fellow students? Small extent Some extent Large extent Great extent - 6 What is your general impression of the course? Fair Adequate - 2 Good - 2 Excellent - 2 What did you like about the course? We got to work with a real project of decent size. We were able to spend our time as we found necessary. It was nice to work with something more modern than we usually do in Chalmers. It was also nice to work with something that could become a useful product in the software community. Good meetings with the advisor who really tries to get into the group. Motivated group with skilled members. What did you not like about the course? The report takes too large part in the course. It should be the means to show what and how we did our project, it shouldn’t be the most important part of the project.

PhD Course Mid‐term Evaluation      

“Advanced fault tolerant distributed systems and their algorithms” 

Friday, April 30, 2010  

 

Evaluation Committee  Georgios Georgiadis ‐ Student Course Representative Andreas Larsson ‐ Student Course Representative   Course topic and study method The  course  enables  PhD  students  to  study  advance  topics  of  fault  tolerant distributed systems and the associated algorithms. The class works as a study group, where every student has chosen a specific topic to present (from an array of selected topics),  given  relevant material,  i.e.,  related  papers  and  sometimes  presentation slides. Moreover, the students participate actively during and after the presentation. The course examiner acts as a coordinator by stimulating and guiding the discussion. 

In practice most of the discussion is being done during the presentations, in a way that doesn’t interfere with its smooth flow. At the end of the presentation there is usually a brief talk about points not discussed yet, as well as a brief summary of the presentation being done by  the audience, under  the supervision of  the course examiner.   Evaluation  Followed method  For the evaluation of the course we used a brief survey (8 questions) and interviews with PhD students. The survey was being done online in an anonymous way, and the interviews  were  being  conducted  independently,  outside  of  the  course  and  in  a confidential way. The questions of the survey were taken from standardized surveys in current use  in Chalmers that try to evaluate the quality of the meetings and the supplied material, as well as help participants  identify the best and worst elements of  the  course.  The  topic  of  the  interviews  was  freer,  centered  on  additional comments the participants might have and were not covered by the survey.   Of the 14 PhD students taking the course, 9 participated in the survey and 3 gave a brief interview.      

Survey results Preparation  Half of the participants had not presented yet, but of those who did 

the vast majority claimed to have used around 35 hours for preparation. 

Attendance  Two thirds of the participants attended at least 75% of the meetings offered so far. 

Course quality 

The vast majority (77%) had a positive view of the course (positive or very positive), saying that its structure helped them understand the material presented.  

Supplied materials quality 

The majority (55%) had a negative view of the supplied materials, saying that it helped them in a very small or small way to present their topic. Let it be noted here that all participants answered in some way (either positive or negative), even though half of them had not presented yet and could not have an opinion on the matter. In addition, it is not clear whether the answers were referring to the supplied paper or the optional presentation slides. 

General impression 

The vast majority (77%) has either good or very good impression of the course. 

Best element  Half of the students wrote their opinion, of which the vast majority liked best the discussion after each presentation and the way it was conducted. 

Worst element 

Two thirds of the students answered this question. Half of them believe that the study points of the course are not enough (only 1.5) and the other half believe the weakest element of the course was the quality of the supplied material. A proposed solution for the course point’s problem was to grant additional points by accepting additional workload, e.g. a brief summary of each presentation written afterwards, individually by each participant, or by acting as an opponent to presentations. These solutions were preliminarily accepted by the examiner and are going to be discussed further. 

   Interview results Of  the  three  interviewees,  two  had  taken  previously  other  courses  of  the  same examiner  and  related  their  experiences  to  these  courses  by  saying  that  they  got something different each time (be it more analytical thinking in a previous course, or deeper  understanding  through  discussion  on  this  one).  All  three  agree  that  the strong point of  the  course  is  the  interaction of  the  students during  and  after  the presentation,  and  that  it  helped  them  understand  the  topic  more  than  simple reading would. One  interviewee particularly  liked  the position of  the  examiner  as coordinator and his  timely  intervention when  the discussion was going off‐topic or wasn’t  progressing  as  fast  as  it  should.  Another  interviewee  commented  on  the quality  of  the  supplied material  and  how  it  helped  him  to  understand  the  topic before presenting it. 

Course evaluation report for DAT145 “Advanced Topic in Networks and

Distributed Systems” Provided by

Afshan Samani Guancheng Chen

Introduction This is a summary for course evaluation for DAT145 “Advanced topics in Networks and Distributed Systems”. There are two surveys for the course evaluation in which one of them was a mid term evaluation that 23 students participated and a final survey that 12 students took part in. However, there are 56 students that had registered this course in which 44 of them took the final exam. In this report we are going to present the students' opinions about the course with respect to the needed efforts, goals, teaching qualification and study climate.

1. Your Own Efforts Generally this course can be a high work loaded course for a period of study in which you may need to spend 25 hours (on average) a week to study it. Relatively, the students in midterm evaluation survey implied that the work load of this course is high.

In this course students were supposed to do six assignments while they were free to choose only four of them to register and submit as their home assignments. Normally, in each assignment there were two options for the students to choose from. Some of these assignments related to overview of some papers and some others involved with programming activities. There are two deadlines for each assignment; one soft and one hard deadline. However, in case of any extension, usually the teachers were flexible about it and students could extend the time they needed to do their assignments. Based on the surveys, students agreed with the deadline policies.

2. Goals and goal fulfilments According to the course syllabus, “This course examines current state of the art, research related topics in the fields of data communication, networks, distributed systems and the Internet. Covering a broad range of topics and based on mainly scientific papers, it is intended for students planning to carry out a thesis project in any of these areas or anyone interested in the contemporary research problems of this field.”

Actually most of the students admitted that the defined goals are reasonable. Teachers provided the topics that they are working on, in their research groups. They also introduced some thesis and ex-jobs about their fields. Moreover, there was a lunch seminar for the students in which some professors and some PHD students who had done their master thesis in the department participated. They talked about the field of their research, the possible thesis and ex-jobs and their experiences about doing master thesis in the department. Also, Tomas Olovsson and Elad Schiller spoke about the rules regarding registration in different master thesis. In addition, we had one presentation from industry about Server Virtualization. These seminars and presentations were helpful for the students

so that they recommended to preserve them for the next year.

However, students believe that although these course goals give guidance about the course, but they could be clearer.

3. Teaching and course administration Some students liked the style of the lectures since there were different topics with different teachers in this course. On the other hand, some students said that not all of the teachers provided a text book or a list of references for their topics. In order to avoid confusion, perhaps it would be better to provide the course literature as a complete list in the course website (rather than a separate list for each topic).

GU students were not able to access the website (Chalmers student portal) and they had to ask their classmates to send them the files. Also the date of the exam was on the first Saturday of the exam period. Student said that they wanted to have more time to study for the exam. We recommend solving these problems for next years.

4. Study Climates Students had enough opportunities to ask questions about the topics or the administrative issues. Elad as the examiner of the course showed up regularly and students could ask their questions. Moreover, teachers were available to answer questions about the assignments out of the class times. There were also some work group sessions for the topics that needed more supervisory. The examiner specified the topics that were included in the exam. Therefore students knew which materials they had to study. Accordingly, the result of the exam seemed to be reasonably good.

5. Summary This course comes up with nice presentations and introductions about different topics of the research groups in the department. Therefore, it can be a good opportunity for the students willing to get familiar with ex-jobs of Networks and Distributed Systems and learn about the possible ways to get their master thesis, to take this course. However, we think that students that take this course should be aware of the expected workload and they should carry out the work during the study period.

Advance Topics in Networks and Distributed Systems

Survey

This report summarizes a survey on the Advanced Topics in Networks and Distributed systems

(DAT145) course which was based on a set of lectures given by different lecturers on various topics.

The lectures' topics were categorized by the following subjects:

� Measurement and analysis of large-scale Internet traffic

� Deployable networks for surveillance applications

� Physical layer for beyond-3G systems

� Wireless networks and security

� Bluetooth and vehicle communications

� Parallel programming

� Overlay networks, P2P and ad-hoc networks

� Self-stabilization in dynamic systems

� Information on different projects for master thesis with networks and distributed systems.

To pass the course students should have done at least four of six assignments offered by lecturers on

their related topics and a written exam at the end of the course.

The report is categorized based on the following topics:

� Effort spent by students

� Goals and fulfilments

� Teaching and Administration

� Study climate

� Summarizing questions

Effort spent by students

Based on the questioner that was available on-line to the students, almost most of the students (76%)

spent between 15-20 hours per week on this course. Also statistics shows that half of the students

attended all lectures given during the course and more than 80% participated in most of the lectures.

Goals and fulfilments

Due to the described goal of the course, this course examines current state of the art, research-

related topics in the fields of data communication, networks, distributed systems, and the Internet.

Covering a broad range of topics and based on mainly scientific papers, it is intended for students

planning to carry out a thesis project in any of these areas or anyone interested in the contemporary

research problems of this field.

More than 92% of the students agreed that the goals give guidance on what they are supposed to

learn. All the participants in this survey agreed that the goals seem reasonable and 80% of them

found the course to helpful in understanding what kind of thesis project they would like to have. Some

student commented that they would like to see even more industrial projects. A very small number of

students found the course to be uninteresting.

1

Teaching and Administration

For this section around half of the participants (47%) have agreed to a large extent that the

assignments were helpful for understanding the offered thesis projects and two groups of participant

each one with the percentage of 23% have agreed on small and some extent.

There are also some comments regarding one (out of six) assignments that they required

summarizing available articles, and they believed that instead of those assignments, a small project

could be more interesting and helpful to cover the topics.

More than half agreed that course literatures and other materials have been helpful for understanding

the offered thesis projects. Most of the students were satisfied with course administration, web page

and handouts. Just a small comment on fire system where assignments were added after and they

had to reform groups.

Study climate

More than 81% of the students that there were very good opportunities for asking questions and

getting help and 64% of them claimed that there were a very well cooperation between them and their

fellow students. We note that 88% of the students had an adequate to high total workload in the study

period. However, the workload for this course was adequate for all students.

Summarizing questions

To sum up, most of the students (52%) had a good impression of the course and more than 21% of

them had excellent impression of the course.

Regarding this statistics there were also some comments as follow:

One claimed that although course is a good idea but some topics were too large to be presented in

two lectures (e.g., 3G, self-stabilization and P2P). Another claimed that the course could be more

structured.

In response to the question about what should definitely be preserved to next year there were

different ideas:

1. Assignments with modification.

2. Self-stabilizing theory, P2P, Wireless security and Parallel programming.

3. The combination of teachers and guest lecturers.

In response to the question about what should definitely be changed to next year different ideas were

presented:

1. A project instead of exam.

2. Assignments that ask the students to re-write articles and instead some small projects.

3. Moving the self-stabilization lectures to the beginning or middle of the quarter.

4. Breaking network flow measurement into tow lectures.

5. The communication system part because of its irrelevance to the students' field.

In conclusion, it was a helpful course for students to get familiar with different topics to guide them for

choosing master thesis, and just needs some modification for the next year.

2

To whom it may concern:

Elad Schiller was my teacher and supervisor during my Bachelor's thesis Media access in Sensor

Networks. The course required continuous knowledge transfer and guidance from Elad to my group,

consisting of five students.

Elad has an exceptional ability to transfer his academic knowledge to students. Not only did he supervise

us, but he also educated us about advanced topics, as well as concepts about how to successfully

organize our project. By always teaching engaged and motivational, he created intellectual curiosity

among the group, we were always eager to learn more.

Besides this, Elad is very personable. He is using organized pedagogical methods, such as not giving away

the solution right away, but instead encourage the students to think for themselves. This was very

appreciated during the course, since it helped me obtain long-term understanding.

Considering Elad's good communication skills and teaching qualities, it was a distinct pleasure having

him as my supervisor.

Sincerely,

Tommy Salenlid M.Sc. Student, Chalmers University of Technology salenlid@student.c halmers.se +46702006867

2010-04-29

To Whom it May Concern

It is a pleasure to provide this letter of recommendation for Elad Michael Schiller as a teacher and a research project advisor at your university.

I am currently Master's student at Chalmers University of Technology and I am doing my Master's Thesis. As a student I had several different courses during my education, which has allowed me to experience a large variety of teachers/supervisors. This has allowed me to see how a great teacher stands out from a good one, and Elad is one of those great ones.

I have had Elad in one course and in my Bachelor's Thesis project. The course was Computer Communication where he was a teacher assistant, this was during the autumn 2007. He held a few lectures and the practical sessions of the course where he went through exercises. His approach to teaching enabled students to get the most out of these sessions. He explain the exercises in a way that was easy to follow and supplied the exercises on paper to enable students to learn more effectively.

The Bachelor's Thesis project was about Media Access in Sensor Networks where I had Elad as a supervisor, this was during the spring 2008. He was always available to aid us if we needed it, which helped a lot when we encountered a problem. This was because he took the time to thoroughly explain the problem so we understood it. His engagement to be there for us if we needed it really made it easier to finish the project. The outcome of the project was good and was included in a journal paper to appear.

I highly recommend Elad as he is easy to work with and goes beyond of what he needs to do to assist students in their courses/projects.

If there are any further questions about my experience with Elad you can find my contact information below.

E-mail: ptrninic@student.chalmers.seM-Phone: +46 (0) 707884848

Sincerely,

Predrag Trninić

May 1st, 2010

To whom it may concern,

It is with great pleasure that I am writing in support of my supervisor, Elad Michael

Elad, to be a teacher and a research project advisor at your university.

I used to study in University of Gothenburg for over two years and graduated with

distinct grades. Elad was my master project supervisor. I worked together with

Elad for over one year, during which time I witnessed his persistence, intelligence and

diligence.

My first contact with Elad was in the summer of 2008, when I took my graduate

course in Chalmers University, “Advanced topics in networks and distributed systems”

of which Elad was the lecturer and lessons organizer. During this course, Elad

showed his vast professional knowledge, excellent teaching and communication skills.

As a knowledgeable and skillful teacher, Elad also paid much attention to train

students and develop their potentials, like skill of scientific writing, etc.

In 2009, I did my master project concerning wireless sensor networks under the

supervision by Elad. In this research project, a new MAC algorithm designed for

mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs) is evaluated and studied firstly, and then many

valuable improvements are made to this algorithm in order to reduce overheads and

make the algorithm more adaptive to the mobility characteristics of the environment.

To describe the outcomes of our project, Elad invited me to write a paper together with

him in October 2009. As a project manager and supervisor, Elad paid lots of efforts

on this project. When we worked together, he provided numerous creative ideas and

brilliant proposals. And most importantly, he is always able to guide the project

quickly and effectively. Apart from that, Elad never refused to give me his selfless

help: he provides technical suggestions to help me solve implementation problems;

and he always answers my questions with patience. Moreover, thanks to his

attention and efforts paid on developing my professional abilities.

Hence, I recommend Elad to your university with absolute confidence. His

diligence, energy, serious attitude towards work and sense of humor made working

with him a joy, and I am sure he will continue to do so in your university.

Please feel free to contact me directly if you would like additional information

regarding Elad’s competence. I hope my perspective will be helpful to you as you

evaluate this exceptional candidate.

Yours truly,

Gongxi Zhu

Phone: +86(0)15822687058

E-mail: gongxi@student.chalmers.se

To Whom It May Concern:

I came in contact with Elad Schiller in May 2007 when Distributed Systems Research Group at Chalmers was having a presentation on potential projects with the group. I sought to do my Master thesis in the area of Wireless Sensor Networks that afforded me the opportunity to work with Elad. My experience of working with Elad has been rewarding in terms of knowledge I gained and the competence I developed.

We started working on thesis project titled Self-Stabilizing Media Access in Sensor Networks in November 2007. Elad was always available for discussions and other technical support over the course of the project. During the initial phase of the project, my understanding about the project goals was unclear and I was not conversant with the development tools. Elad arranged meetings for tool help with a staff familiar with it, and for the project area, I had numerous meetings with him. Such discussions provided me with the needed momentum for project work.

The thing that I liked the most about him was that he would be consistently in touch regarding the status of the work. This helped improving the productivity and keeping the goals in focus. His response was very positive to the problems faced on the project. He would discuss it through, and on some occasions, we went through the code together to find the problem. Such discussions were almost always fruitful, and we were able to troubleshoot or form a different strategy. In this regard, he always welcomed the ideas or suggestions. I liked his approach of starting with a small thing and then gradually building the project from there. Working on this approach, I was able to successfully complete my thesis project that appeared as a difficult task in the beginning.

He helped me through all phases of the project, i.e., project understanding, the implementation, troubleshooting, results compilation, presentation of results, presentation format and finally the thesis report. Learning outcome was thus not only limited to the main project area, because I have also learned about the aforementioned skills in the process. During my thesis project, I provided technical help on the tool to a group of Bachelor students doing their thesis with Elad in the area of Sensor Networks. At this time, he supported all the teams with requisite help.

I find Elad as a dedicated person. He has a pleasant personality and I enjoyed working with him.

You are most welcome to contact me in case you have any questions.

Yours faithfully,

Zahid Iqbal

zahid.iqbal@gmail.com

Lior Malka, Ph.D. Postdoctoral Fellow Department of Computer Science University of Maryland A.V. Williams Building College Park, MD 20742, USA lior34@gmail.com, (1-202) 468-7521 Thursday, 29 April 2010

A Letter of Reference for Elad Michael Schiller To whom it may concern

I have known Elad for more than ten years now. He was my tutor at Ben Gurion University (Israel), both in my undergraduate and graduate courses. We share strong passion to research and education, and despite the distance, we managed to stay in touch. I am honoured and excited to write this letter of reference. I first got to know Elad in 1998. He was my tutor in the course System Programming Languages, which is a second year course in a three year undergraduate program in Mathematics and Computer Science given at Ben Gurion University, Israel. I well remember that Elad was very friendly with the students. He taught us how to code in C++ and Java. The tutorials were well paced and the presentation clear and concise. More than anything else I remember Elad’s personal attention to each and every student. We all felt that he genuinely cared that everyone understands the material. In 2003, when I did my graduate degree in Mathematics and Computer Science, Elad was my tutor in the graduate course Distributed Algorithms and Computer Communication. The tutorials were concerned with graph theory, proofs, and formalism, but we also had a chance to operate special network gear. I enjoyed the tutorials very much and was impressed by Elad’s theoretical skills and technical knowledge. Elad encouraged students to approach him not only during office hours, but also after class and via e-mail. It is not enough that an instructor know how to communicate material in a way that students understand. An instructor also needs to be sensitive to the needs of the students. Elad has endless patience. What distinguishes him from other instructors is that he really cares about the students and always happy to help them. It is this attitude that makes students appreciate instructors like Elad. Apart from the tutor-student relationship, Elad and I used to spend much time together. We would discuss research ideas, or I would ask his opinion on academic matters. I absolutely trust his judgement and am forever thankful for his mentorship. Elad is an excellent instructor and I recommend him without any reservations.

Sincerely, Lior Malka

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Awarded in Beer-Sheva, Israel, on the 21th day of June, 2006