NAME:

INTENT:

• From the instructor’s perspective: there is a need to structure a course of lectures, or the chapters of the manuscript that go with it, in order to maintain thematic coherency.
• From the learner’s perspective: there is a need to comprehend a manifold subject matter in its entirety.

IDEA:

MOTIVATION:

• to add variety to your lectures;
• to take account of all important aspects;
• to arrange lectures along a common thread in order to support cohesive learning;
• to widen the learner’s perspective to interdisciplinary aspects.

INDICATIONS:

• the subject matter involves a paradigm [1], that is (1) a "higher principle" or way of thinking, typical of a certain discipline, but which cannot be clearly formulated and which manifests itself by examples, and (2) a "disciplinary matrix" of opinions and values holding together a scientific community;
• you want to hold an introductory course, i.e. you don’t intent to go into details.

CONTRAINDICATIONS:

• From the instructor’s perspective: by favouring "breadth over depth", ETHOS could lead into a mode whereby abstracting and generalising the subject into key concepts has the side-effect of over-simplifying a rich and deep technology full of subtleties.
• From the learner’s perspective: this could lead to underestimating the intellectual effort needed to master the concepts.

  To avoid this risk, you may confront the learner with a MISSION IMPOSSIBLE that will intentionally ”shock” him or her inter deeper thinking about the subject and provoke further questioning, exploration, and self-study.

STRUCTURE:

If several topics apply to the same aspect, subdivide the structure’s individual elements by indexing, e.g. T1, T2 ,..., Tn (see EXAMPLE INSTANCES).

CONSEQUENCES:

From the instructor’s perspective:

ETHOS allows kaleidoscopic lectures, i.e. being arranged in a colourful succession, each one a self-contained unit within a wide spectrum;

it favours breadth over depth, general knowledge over specialised knowledge;

it provides a general framework into which new topics (current developments, etc.) can easily be integrated without changing the course’s basic structure;

the lecturer has to familiarise him-/herself with all facets of the subject, this could mean a major change of mind: from a specialist’s to a generalist’s view.

From the learner’s perspective:

ETHOS supports cohesive learning: it helps to see what’s what, and guards against becoming a narrow-gauged specialist;

changing perspective on the same subject refreshes one’s memory;

it permits continuous learning: even if some lectures have been missed, the student can follow the others, thus, ETHOS helps to encapsulate a lecture as a learning unit; with the manuscript being similarly structured, the congruence between lecture and manuscript will be hold, i.e. arbitrary cuts and context switches can be avoided;

as a breadth-over-depth approach, ETHOS might lull the learner into a false sense of competence. Hands-on experiences and pragmatic subtleties of the subject could be easily underestimated (see CONTRAINDICATIONS).

ISSUES TO CONSIDER:

• From the instructor’s perspective: ETHOS presupposes a deep analysis of both the subject matter and its didactic; the importance of and relationship between individual ETHOS aspects have to be made explicit. Try to visualise the ETHOS pattern with the help of typography and layout. Integrate the ETHOS aspects into the general structure of your course, do not let them stand for their own. For a concrete example, topics and contents of a course on object-oriented systems design are given in Known Uses.

  Note: it is important to use striking teaching vehicles in the lectures such as ACQUAINTANCE EXAMPLES [6], COLOURFUL ANALOGY [6], and PHYSICAL ANALOGY, otherwise the individual ETHOS aspects might remain abstract and hard to remember.

• From the learner’s perspective: the nature of ETHOS is to structure the wide spectrum of a subject in order not to lose an important aspect. Any full-scale education or training in a broad subject like object technology, for example, will require follow-up courses, accompanying lab-based exercises, group projects, etc.

CULTURAL DEPENDENCIES:

None.

RESOURCES NEEDED:

None.

EXAMPLE INSTANCES OF THIS PATTERN:

Albert Thiele first recommended the ETHOS pattern in his textbook on presentation techniques [4].
Inspired by its usefulness, I followed this pattern to condense the range of benefits of design patterns in an introductory article for a scientific journal [2].

Since 1994 I have successfully applied the ETHOS pattern to a half-year introductory course on "Object-Oriented Systems Design" annually given at the University of Siegen, Germany. The lecture is accompanied by lab-based exercises and a student project team. Topics and manuscript of the course comply with ETHOS, see the following tables:

Topics of Lectures [5]

1.		Overview: ECBS "Engineering of Computer-Based Systems"
2.		Paradigms of Design in Computer Science
3.		Complexity of Designing
4.		Mastering Design Complexity
5.	E	Industrialised Software
6.	T1	OOX: Abstracting – Partitioning – Communicating
7.	T2	OOAD: Foundations of Analysis and Design Methods
8.	T3	OOP: Defining and Categorising Object-Oriented Programming Languages
9.	H1	Cognitive Aspects: Designing as Human Problem Solving
10.	H2	On the Object's Trinity: Structure – Behaviour – Constraints
11.	O	Management Aspects: Technology Transfer and Project Organisation
12.	S	A Science of Design
13.		Looking Back: FAQ and Course Evaluation

Contents of Manuscript [3]

1. Paradigm Shifts in Computer Science
   • Paradigm Shifts in the Large: Kuhn’s Thesis.
   • Paradigm Shifts in the Small: A Time without a Method o The Art of Programming vs. Software Engineering o The Human Factor o SA/SD vs. OOX.
   • Object-Oriented World Models: Executable Models o Scenario of Object-Oriented Designing.
2. The Problem: Mastering Design Complexity
   • "No Silver Bullet": The Descriptive Nature of Complexity o Complexity and its Dimensions o Design Complexity.
   • "Hopes for the Silver": The Magical Number Seven o The Architecture of Complexity o Divide and Conquer.
   ETHOS Aspects of the Object Paradigm
3. E for Economic
   • On the Way to Industrialised Software: The Principle of Locality o Software Reuse o Standard Class Libraries.
   • Competitive Pressure: Productive Software Development o Software Quality.
4. T for Technical
   • Object-Oriented Concepts: Abstracting o Partitioning o Communicating.
   • Object-Oriented Applications: Analysis and Design o Programming Languages.
5. H for Human
   • On the Psychology of Object-Oriented Concepts: Designing as Human Problem Solving o Cognitive Structures o Scheme and Correction o The Contribution of the Object Paradigm.
   • On the Philosophy of Object-Oriented Concepts: The World of Ontology o An Ontological Object Model.
6. O for Organisational
   • Technology Transfer: Questions about the Technology o Questions about the Interface between Client and Designer o Questions about the Design Process o Questions about Project Control o Questions about Staff Management.
   • Aspects of Management: Homomorphism between Process and Product o Lean Management o Object Management.
7. S for Social
   • "The Science of Design": Creating the Artificial o Curriculum of a Science of Design o The Contribution of the Object Paradigm.
   • Architectural Designing: Ideals of a Generalised Discipline of Design o Good Designing from an Architectural Perspective o The Contribution of The Object Paradigm.
   • An Ontology of Design: Deep Structure: States – Events – Laws o Good Designing from an Ontological Perspective o The Contribution of the Object Paradigm.

1. Excursions: Imagery o Classification o Inheritance vs. Encapsulation o "The Treaty of Orlando" o
2. The Terminology of the Object Management Group.
3. The Object-Oriented Method by Example: Analysis o Design o Programming.
4. Tables: Literature o Persons o Glossary o Abbreviations o Index.

RELATED PATTERNS:

The acronym SWOT could stand for a similar pattern for structuring a wide-ranging topic: Strengths – Weaknesses – Opportunities – Threats. I have seen it work several times as a structuring vehicle for a presentation. However, if SWOT addresses a pattern, it is still waiting to be written.

REFERENCES:

• [1] Kuhn, Thomas S.: The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. University of Chicago 1970.
• [2] Quibeldey-Cirkel, Klaus: Hot Topic: Design Patterns. Informatik-Spektrum 19 (1996), pp. 326-327. (in German)
• [3] Quibeldey-Cirkel, Klaus: The Object Paradigm in Computer Science. Stuttgart: Teubner 1994. (in German)
• [4] Thiele, Albert: Presenting Successfully: Presentation Techniques for Managers. Düsseldorf: VDI 1991. (in German)
• [5] Home page of the author's course on Object-Oriented Systems Design:
  http://www.ti.et-inf.uni-siegen.de/courses/oos/oos.html
• [6] Anthony, Dana L. G.: Patterns for Classroom Education. Pattern Languages of Program Design 2. Reading: Addison-Wesley 1996.

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