Teaching

Quick links for the summer term 2021:

Classes

Information Security

Our information security education in the Master program spans several classes and semesters.

A typical student attends Information Security I (theoretical security) in the first winter semester of the Master program and continues with Information Security II (practical security, strategy, and privacy) in the following summer term. Students who want to specialize in security are invited to also participate in our Master seminar in the summer term and, if possible, continue with a security specialization module (e.g., forensics, privacy-enhancing technologies, game theory for security, usable security and privacy) in the winter term of the second year. This succession of classes puts you in an excellent position to write a Master thesis in security or privacy.

In the current curriculum, Information Security I (10 CP, winter term) is mapped to the following classes:

Please register for all classes and exams.

Information Security II (10 CP, summer term) is mapped to the following classes:

All Information Security lectures are graded in oral exams. We offer appointments for exams roughly in January, June, and September every year. You can take a 25 minutes exam on Information Security I or a 40 minutes exam on Information Security I+II combined. The proseminars are graded by assignments and exercises to be completed in class.

Computer Architectures (Rechnerarchitektur)

Rechnerarchitektur is taught in German in the winter semester. It consists of a lecture (VO/2, 3 CP) and an associated proseminar (PS/1, 2 CP) with optional tutorials. The target group are Bachelor students of computer science in their first semester. The lecture concludes with a written exam and the proseminar is graded based on quizzes and homework.

Blockchain Systems: Principles, Development, Analysis (Blockchain-Systeme: Prinzipien, Entwicklung und Analyse)

Due to popular demand for a fundamental introduction to blockchain systems targeted at third-year undergraduate students in computer science, we designed an elective module consisting of a lecture and accompanying labs. Both classes are taught in German by an international team. They contain interdisciplinary elements in order to study the economic and societal implications of widely adopted blockchain systems.

As we are not aware of a public source of German teaching material on blockchain systems, we make the lecture slides from the summer term 2020 available here.

The material is partly based on the referenced sources. All errors and omissions are our own. We appreciate comments and feedback to improve future versions. Permission is granted to use parts of the material for non-commercial purposes provided that the source is mentioned.

Frequently Asked Questions

Participation

I am a student of [any subject]. May I attend your classes?

Our classes are targeted at undergraduate and graduate students in computer science.

However, motivated students of other subjects are very welcome in all classes where it makes sense to collaborate across disciplines. This particularly applies to students of math, physic, economics, information systems, and management. A substantial share of the laboratory’s research staff has a primary degree in one of these fields. In the past, we also had very good experience with students in law and psychology taking selected parts of our courses.

I am (still) a Bachelor student. May I attend classes of the Master program?

All lectures (VO) are generally public. However, students must be formally enrolled in the Master program to take part in proseminars (PS) or to take exams.

Exams

How can I take an exam?

You must register for each exam you plan to take. This often requires that you are subscribed to the class. Regular attendance and completion of homework and assignments may be required for specific classes (i.e., classes with “immanenter Prüfungscharakter”). It is not a prerequisite for our regular lectures, but strongly recommended.

Where do I find authoritative information on examination dates, times, locations, permitted tools, and registration dates?

The LFU:online database is the only authoritative source of information concerning examinations. We try to include valid information in our course material, but we cannot guarantee to keep it updated.

Do you have general examination principles?

Administrating exams is almost as unpleasant as taking them. But exams are essential to measure and document learning outcomes. We spend quite some thought on striving for meaningful, fair, and efficient exams.

These three principles guide our design of exams:

  1. We want to test your ability to apply knowledge rather than measure the capacity of your short-term memory.
  2. We respect that students set priorities. If you cannot prepare all contents, focus on depth to the level that you can explain some core concepts rather than breadth on a superficial level (smattering).
  3. Know your knowledge and its limits: wrong answers are worse than no answer.
How do these principles materialize in your exams?

Capacity permitting, we prefer oral over written exams, and presence over online exams.

In oral exams, candidates may exclude parts of the lecture and can choose their favorite topic to start with. In return, we expect that you demonstrate a profound understanding and the ability to lead a structured discussion on the remaining topics.

In written exams, we pose many small problems covering the contents of the entire lecture. It is not catastrophic to skip a few problems. This reduces the risk of getting caught on the wrong foot. We value short and precise answers and discourage “fact dumps”. We are aware of the difficulty of posing problems unambiguously. If you need to make additional assumptions to solve a problem, then state them. We will consider such parts of the response in all question types including multiple choice.

Online exams replace other exams during the Covid pandemic. Unfortunately, the ways of interactions and the degrees of freedom in student responses are severely constrained. Multiple choice questions are the norm rather than the exception.

What is the best strategy to succeed in exams?

Attend and actively participate in class.

If this is impossible (due to scheduling conflicts or if you don’t like our style), then prepare with a textbook and the original literature using the keywords from the slide deck as pointers to relevant topics. The slide deck is made to support the presentation. It is not self-contained enough to be the single source for learning all relevant contents.

Shall I take a written exam at the first opportunity or rather wait and see?

We offer three exams for each lecture within a time frame of one year after the beginning of the lecture.

We tend to include easier questions in the first exam and keep more advanced ones for later. This is an attempt to nudge our students towards taking exams early on. Contents are still fresh in memory whereas procrastination leads to more stress at a later point in time. Moreover, subsequent classes can be more elaborate if all students have completed the preparatory classes.

Can we make an appointment to discuss open questions for the exam?

We offer a Q&A session towards the end of each class. Please make use of this opportunity. This is not only more efficient, but also fairer because everyone receives the same information.

The registration deadline for an exam has passed. Can you still enroll or unsubscribe me?

No. We set a deadline to plan seat assignments and print personalized exam sheets.

How are scores converted to marks?

Unless otherwise stated we use the following mapping:

Mark 1 (very good) 2 (good)  3 (satisfactory) 4 (sufficient) 5 (fail)
% > 87 75–87 62–75 50–62 < 50

If the mark is composed of several components, we aggregate possibly weighted sub-scores without rounding. Zero in one sub-score implies failure unless otherwise stated.

I forgot my exam ID. Can you still tell me my score?

No. We keep personal information separate from the score sheet and merge IDs with names only when we transfer the final marks to the examination office.

If I fail, can you discard my exam? If I don’t pass with “very good”, can you make me fail?

No.

I have attended the lecture X semesters ago. Can I still take an exam on the contents of that lecture?

Exams always test the contents of the last iteration of a lecture. While the fundamentals of a field change slowly, we may set different priorities and update or replace around 10–20 % of the contents each year.

I want to inspect my exam (Klausureinsicht) but am unavailable at the scheduled date or time. Can I get a custom appointment?

We organize inspections in batches only and require prior registration. But you may register a delegate with written procuration. Alternatively, you may register for any inspection date of any exam administrated by our group within six months after the exam. In this case, please mention exactly which exam you want to inspect. The secretariat is the only point of contact for matters concerning exam inspections. Emails to lecturers may remain unanswered.

I study for a teaching degree (Lehramt) and need examiners for the first diploma exam.

Your single point of contact is our teaching coordinator Anna Maria Scheiring. She will help you to find a commission and make appropriate appointments.

Professor Böhme is on the committee of my first diploma exam (Lehramt). What kind of questions will he ask?

We focus on topics of Computer Architectures (Rechnerarchitektur), but the questions will be more general than in the written exam of this lecture. A typical question could be “How would you explain the von-Neumann architecture to your students?” We expect you to solve one or two such questions on the blackboard and discuss it further, e. g., by asking “Which aspects would you emphasize? How would you best illustrate these aspects? Which homework would you assign?”. (This oral exam will be in German.)

Theses

Do you supervise Bachelor theses?

We offer topics for Bachelor theses and supervise B.Sc. candidates in the context of the class Seminar mit Bachelorarbeit. Please follow the general instructions for writing a Bachelor thesis at the Department of Computer Science. A list of available topics is here. This page also contains general information about the Bachelor thesis process in our research group.

Do you supervise Master theses?

We supervise Master theses. Please approach us after completing our basic information security classes and attend our Master Seminar in the summer term.