John Greiner

I am an Assistant Teaching Professor in Rice's online Master's of Computer Science program. I've taught a wide variety of computer science courses over more than twenty years at Rice. I've been involved with online teaching since 2012. This includes

Rice's first MOOC (massive open online course)
our department's first online course, and
our department's first "flipped" course, combining online videos with in-person active learning.

Current teaching

I am currently focused on our online Master's in Computer Science. I regularly teach

COMP 621: Systems
COMP 630: Databases

I am also part of the following top-rated Coursera MOOC:

An Introduction to Interactive Programming in Python

Additionally, much of my academic service has been devoted to the curriculum and advising.

Past teaching

COMP 100: Introduction to Computing and Information Systems
COMP 130: Elements of Algorithms and Computation
COMP 140: Computational Thinking
COMP 160: Introduction to Computer Gaming
COMP 182: Algorithmic Thinking
COMP 200: Elements of Computer Science
COMP 210: Principles of Computing & Programming
COMP 212: Intermediate Programming
COMP 280: The Mathematics of Computation
COMP 320: Introduction to Computer Systems
COMP 380: Practical Problem-Solving
COMP 382: Reasoning about Algorithms
COMP 400: Technical Communication in Computer Science
COMP 430: Introduction to Database Systems
COMP 481: Automata, Formal Languages, & Computability
COMP 482 / ELEC 420: Design & Analysis of Algorithms
COMP 600: Graduate Research Seminar
COMP 607: Automated Program Verification
COMP 610: Software Construction
COMP 614: Programming for Data Science
COMP 621: System Software
COMP 630: Databases
COMP 682: Algorithms
ELEC 220: Fundamentals of Computer Engineering

I have also been involved with the following courses.

COMP 322: Fundamentals of Parallel Programming
ENGI 120: Introduction to Engineering Design
ENGI 330: Engineering Practicum

Teaching Communication Skills

It is critically important to incorporate communication skills throughout the curriculum. This can take many forms: explaining solutions, project meetings, technical talks, video presentations, research reports, etc. I have used many of these approaches in my courses. At a minimum, all teachers, regardless of discipline, should expect two things of their students. First, students should be able to explain their solutions. Second, any sort of prose answer should be well-written.

Curricular Publishing

For the last decade, few of my courses have had a textbook. Instead, either I or a team has developed original content, often including video-based lectures. As a whole, many Rice CS courses have moved away from using traditional textbooks.