UpDate - Vol. 14, No. 11, Page 3
November 10, 1994
Award recipient; Chairperson notes father's influence on career
Two things drew Errol Lloyd to the University of Delaware: He
said he felt the quality of teaching was on a higher level than that
found at most other research universities and he was impressed by the
research and the teaching of faculty in the Department of Computer and
Information Sciences.
While Lloyd's research and courses involve design and analysis of
algorithms, he also teaches a course in C++ programming. This computer
language is used to develop computer software, he said, that is used
in a wide range of applications, from making chemical analyses, to
processing travel reservation systems, to executing air traffic
control operations.
According to the chairperson of computer and information sciences
and a 1994 recipient of the Univesity's excellence-in-teaching award,
Lloyd said his students in his courses must learn both the programming
language itself and how to write programs in that language. But, Lloyd
said, they don't learn the latter by listening to him lecture or by
reading textbooks.
"They learn by working and struggling and coming in to the office
to discuss their problems and fixing their errors," he said.
A Baltimore native, Lloyd went to Pennsylvania State University
where he earned his undergraduate degree. He received his master's and
doctoral degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He
still resides in Baltimore with his wife, Isabel, who teaches in the
College of Engineering at the University of Maryland at College Park.
Lloyd said his father, who died a few years ago, was a high
school math teacher for 32 years. It was the exposure to the elder
Lloyd's hard work and dedication that was influential in the college
professor's decision to enter teaching.
"My dad was considered an excellent teacher," Lloyd said. "I
learned a lot from him. He said a good teacher was always prepared and
was dedicated to what he had to do. I remember my dad in the den,
every night, preparing lesson plans for the next day, even though he
had been teaching for 25 years. I don't think he ever went into a
class unprepared. And he took interest in his students.
"There's something else that was true of my dad's classes, and it
is true of mine: We both are very demanding of our students. I think
students need to do a lot of work to learn how to program and how to
do problem solving."
Students in Lloyd's classes are not treated to the sit-back-and-
take-notes lecture routine. He presents questions and together, as a
group, they develop solutions, starting with the obvious and,
eventually, making the outcome better through refinement and group
input.
"On the first day of every class," Lloyd said, "I tell them the
thing I enjoy the least is lecturing for one hour and 20 minutes
nonstop. I hate to be in a class where I'm the only one saying
anything.
"I try to ask a lot of questions of the class, and I encourage
them to ask a lot of questions of me. Since I ask them to do a lot, I
have to be prepared to motivate my classes to want to work hard, and I
have to be there when they need assistance."
Lloyd said his greatest satisfaction is seeing students in class
resolve questions and situations by using problem-solving techniques.
When asked for his reaction to his selection as one of the
University's outstanding teachers, Lloyd replied, "I think it's fair
to say that this is the highlight of my career at this point. I got a
thrill when I received the letter announcing this recognition. I had
been recommended for a similar award at the University of Pittsburgh
twice in the nine years I was there, but I never received it.
"I enjoy my research very much, but I love to teach. If there was
not a teaching aspect here, I wouldn't be here."
-Ed Okonowicz
Editor's note: This story is one of a series of articles featuring the
1994 recipients of the University's excellence-in-teaching and
excellence-in-advising awards.