Computer Science and Software Engineering
A Canterbury lecturer who fell in love with computers almost sixty years ago and has been riding the technology wave ever since, has been recognised with a national teaching excellence award. Richard Lobb, 74, will receive the Ako Aotearoa Tertiary Teaching Excellence Award at a ceremony in September.
He has been lecturing in Computer Science at the University of Canterbury since 2004 when he moved to Christchurch from Auckland with retirement and South Island tramping trips in his sights. Instead, he was offered a part-time, temporary contract to teach a new programming course at the University of Canterbury in the Computer Science and Software Engineering Department. He is still working at the University nearly 18 years later and says that’s because he loves what he does.
“I focus on teaching, on the students, and on sharing my enthusiasm for programming. It’s a great place to be.”
He says he is excited about the recognition, but also “a little embarrassed” to receive such a prestigious award 18 years into what was meant to be retirement.
“I enjoy my work so much that I don’t even think of it as work. It’s my life. I’ve grown up with computers, I’m a computer geek. I was one of the early adopters and I worked as a programmer here and overseas. It has been a fun ride and it’s still going.
Dr Lobb’s first encounter with computers happened in the late 1960s. He was a Masters student in Auckland University’s Radio Research Centre and the machine was the first mini-computer in the Southern Hemisphere, funded by NASA. He discovered a love for computers and computer programming that has continued for the rest of his career.
His teaching philosophy revolves around transferring that enthusiasm to his students. He likes to think outside the box and has been instrumental in revamping teaching and assessment of courses, including quickly adapting a first-year Computer Science course to remote learning during last year’s Covid-19 lockdown and setting up a help-line service called LiveZilla to give students easier access to tutors.
He is also known internationally in programming circles for developing CodeRunner, a ground-breaking teaching and assessment tool that is now used by hundreds of thousands of students at universities around the world.
Dr Lobb designed and built the free, open-source system to give students immediate feedback on their efforts in a gamified way.
“My online teaching and my in-person teaching are guided by the same principles. Students learn by doing and they learn faster if they get fast, motivating feedback,” he says.
