Teaching and learning
Empirical Modelling is represented in teaching in CS at Warwick in several different ways. Undergraduate students can do third year projects in EM, and there is a 20 lecture / 10 seminar fourth year module CS405: Introduction to EM on the MEngCS programme that is 50% assessed by coursework and 50% by examination. The SQLEDDI interpreter, developed using EM tools, has also been used in database modules in years 2 and 3. Practical work with EM tools forms a significant component of graduate work in EM.
It is convenient to view EM teaching resources as relating to three different levels of experience and understanding that respectively relate to:
The first two of these topics were originally addressed by the one week module EM for Concurrent Systems (EMfCS) that was taught from 1992-9. This material still forms the core of the current CS405 module, first taught in 2002-3, where it is supplemented by specific discussion of areas of application that draws heavily on the research work done by the cohort of research students who studied with the group between 1997 and 2004. A third year project student may need to study ideas associated with all three of the above components, typically with a special area of application firmly in mind.
The ideas behind EM can be appreciated only to a limited extent with reference to these webpages alone. The accessible material includes most of the lecture notes for EMfCS, and some general information about those EM models that have been placed in the EM archive. For a fuller appreciation of EM, it is necessary to interact with existing EM models, and ideally to build models of your own. The resources required for this purpose are available for download.
See also:
• "EM for Concurrent Systems" (EMfCS) MSc module S4 (1992-99)
• EM projects for 2002‑03
• The Warwick Electronic Bulletin on EM
Previous workshops:
• Constructionist learning by computing for construal, Constructionism 2010, Paris, August 2010
• Dependency Workshop, Naresuan University, Thailand, January 2010
The Sudoku Experience, July 2008