Faculty Excellence at UMUC

Interviewer:

Please tell us about yourself—what made you decide to teach at UMUC? What kind of work do you do when you are not teaching at UMUC? Are there any life experiences that have influenced your teaching at UMUC? If so, please share one story.

Duane J. Jarc:

Looking back to the beginning of my career, I doubt I would have predicted that I would have spent most of my career teaching. For the first fifteen years, I worked as a software developer, which I enjoyed, yet in the mid 1980s I began to recognize that there was something missing. I longed for a career to which I could be truly devoted. After several years of "soul-searching" I realized that teaching might be such a career. After teaching part-time for a few semesters at UMUC, I soon realized that I had found my true vocation and was fortunate enough to be offered a full-time teaching position at UMUC.

I currently am a full-time professor at UMUC and have been teaching full-time for more than twenty years now, mostly at UMUC, although I did teach full-time at two community colleges a while back and part-time at some other universities. As I mentioned earlier, before I began teaching, I worked in software development, so I do have considerable industry experience in the field that I teach.

Although I was as a traditional student during my undergraduate degree, I completed both of my graduate degrees as an adult student, completing my doctoral degree almost thirty years after my bachelor's degree. Consequently, I understand the challenges facing adult students since I had to cope with many of those same challenges myself. I also recognize the benefit of earning a degree even late in life and so I can assure students that their efforts will be rewarded based on my own experience.

Interviewer:

How would you describe your teaching style or philosophy? What experiences or person(s) have influenced your style or philosophy?

Duane J. Jarc:

There are two guiding principles that are the core of my teaching philosophy. The first is to find techniques to help make difficult concepts easier to understand for my students. Helping students learn is the key responsibility of anyone who teaches and in technical fields, grasping difficult concepts can sometimes be a challenge to even the brightest students. My second guiding principle is to have a sincere interest in the progress of my students. Ultimately I regard my success as being measured by the success of my students. Although I certainly strive to make my classes enjoyable to students, doing whatever I can to ensure that they master the material is my most important goal.

I believe my teaching style has been influenced by the teachers that I have had during my academic career, particularly those that I most admired. One that still stands out in my mind is one of my high school math teachers, the one from whom I first learned programming. I find myself even today imitating some of the techniques that he used in the classroom.

Interviewer:

Please explain if you do something special or unique in your teaching and what made you develop this.

Duane J. Jarc:

One tool that I developed some time ago that I continue to use in my data structure courses is courseware that animates the execution of a variety of data structure algorithms. For understanding difficult algorithms, there is no substitute for the use of animation. In addition to allowing students to watch the animations, it allows students to test their understanding by using a companion exercise mode. Because this courseware is on the Web, it can be used by both my face-to-face and online students.

Interviewer:

What do you think it is about your teaching style that appeals to students?

Duane J. Jarc:

Based one what students have told me I would say that what appeals to students is my ability to clearly explain difficult topics. Being a technical discipline, computer science can be challenging to learn by reading a textbook, so having someone who can explain the more difficult aspects of the subject is something students appreciate.

Interviewer:

Do you teach face-to-face, online, or both? Do you have a preference between teaching face-to-face and online? If so, please explain.

Duane J. Jarc:

I teach both online and face-to-face classes, usually about half and half.

I still prefer teaching face-to-face and perhaps I always will. There is a process that transpires in a classroom that is hard to duplicate online. As technology improves, perhaps that will change somewhat. Although the online format has certainly grown in popularity during the past decade, I suspect that there will always be some students who will prefer to take some of their classes face-to-face.

Interviewer:

Please tell us about your chosen discipline-i.e., what made you interested in the area initially? What do you do to stay current in your discipline? What do you like best about teaching in your discipline?

Duane J. Jarc:

I first learned programming as a junior in high school. I was immediately fascinated by programming. When I attended college in the late 1960s, computer science was not yet offered as a major, so I chose mathematics. My first job after college involved computing as has every job since. Although I enjoyed working as a practitioner in the computing field, I have enjoyed teaching that subject even more.

Because the computing field changes so rapidly, keeping up with all facets can be a challenge so I concentrate on the areas in which I have specialized. A few years back I devoted time to familiarizing myself with a new programming paradigm 3--4 aspect-oriented programming, one which has yet to take hold. Also in recent years, I have explored some new programming languages including C#, Python and Ruby. During the past summer, I studied Web database development in Java and developed a system for generating exams from a database of questions.

I enjoy teaching computer science because I find computer science to be a fascinating subject. I felt that way when I first learned to program more than forty years ago and that fascination has stayed with me to this day. I doubt I could foster enthusiasm in my students for a subject if I did not feel it myself. I believe that inspiring such a passion for a subject is essential to the teaching process.

Interviewer:

What is the most challenging to you in teaching in this area? What teaching strategy do you use when you encounter the challenge? Are there any special challenges to teaching your discipline online?

Duane J. Jarc:

There are many topics in computer science that can not be adequately explained with words only. They require some visualization and often animation. Earlier I discussed the Web-based courseware that I developed for my data structure classes. In addition, I have written a number of course modules for the online courses. One technique that I used in many of those course modules is to use step diagrams that visually illustrate the various steps of some algorithm. Such step diagrams provide a level of interactivity that is difficult to duplicate in a textbook and is one of the great strengths of our course modules for computing courses.

Yes, I believe that mathematics and the sciences tend to be more difficult to teach and for students to learn in the online format. The online format is designed to promote discussion, which is less well-suited to technical disciplines. Taught in the classroom, such subjects require explanation and discussion is far less helpful. I am hopeful that in the future when most students have broadband access, we will more often include lectures or mini-lectures as a part of the course modules. What would also be beneficial would be occasional synchronous meeting times, when students could ask questions in real-time.

Interviewer:

What suggestion would you give to students who are interested in majoring or working in your discipline?

Duane J. Jarc:

Because computing is a part of every aspect of our lives today, most computing jobs involve computing applied to some other field. What can give computer science graduates a competitive edge is having selected a subject as a minor that might be the field of application for their computing knowledge. With such a dual background they would become far more attractive candidates to prospective employers.

Interviewer:

In your opinion, what makes UMUC the college of choice for students?

Duane J. Jarc:

UMUC has always been the college of choice for adult students because serving adult students has been our mission from the beginning. With evening and weekend face-to-face classes and the online format, it makes completing an education a possibility for adult students who most often hold a full-time job. The fact that UMUC is a part of a well-respected university system offers a degree to students that will be regarded favorably by prospective employers, perhaps more so than one from our for-profit competitors.

Interviewer:

In your opinion, what makes UMUC the employer of choice for future faculty members?

Duane J. Jarc:

For part-time faculty, UMUC offers the opportunity teach in the same area that they work. For those of us who are fortunate enough to teach at UMUC full-time, it is offers an opportunity to focus on teaching without the demands of research. Moreover it provides a student body that is mature and has a sincere interest in learning, which is very rewarding.

Interviewer:

What suggestion would you give to new faculty who are interested in teaching in your discipline at UMUC?

Duane J. Jarc:

Looking back to when I began teaching, perhaps the most important thing to me was ensuring that I was well prepared for each classroom meeting. For those new to teaching, I still believe preparation is essential. Students certainly expect and deserve thoughtful preparation. Although the necessary preparation for teaching online is somewhat different from what is required for the classroom, it is still vital. Equally important, however, is to be understanding. Adult students have many competing demands in their lives, and they can seldom afford to make their coursework their first priority, so a willingness to accommodate the needs of adult students is an important key to successful teaching at UMUC.