By popular request we have devoted a web page to one of the less popular staff members at Monash. Yes, she just had to have one, she�s just such a lousy lecturer. Let�s hear it for Dianne Hagen.

The other week I was eagerly attending an interview for a programming job. I rocked up dressed neatly in my suit and tie, with my resume under my arm and a few floppy disks full of some of my sample programs. I walked in to the interview, shook hands and sat as the potential employer read through my resume.

I was almost run off my feet as the fellow rapidly pushed me out of the room. An isolated incident? No. Mention the name to other people and it always prompts adverse reactions. I was over at Chadstone buying a computer game and mentioned I was studying at Monash to the salesman. He immediately said he studies a B. Computing at Monash but "hated the programming bit because Dianne Hagen screwed it all up"

Warning! The image below may cause some stress and mental anguish to some students so we have attempted to make it a little bit easier on the eye to view.

Why is Dianne Hagen such a bad lecturer? Had the �You�re such idiots!� rant yet or �This is just baby stuff, you�re just doing baby stuff� rant or the �That door is reserved for lecturers! Can�t you read you idiots!� Or perhaps a few other insults.

Then there is the wonderful recommended reading books she chooses for the subject. By far they are normally the most expensive book on the subject. They invariably contain whole pages of code followed by two or three lines of explanation. The books will contain little or no useful examples of code. I mean code you can really use in your assignments.

Our advice. NEVER buy any book recommended as suggested reading by Dianne Hagen. Go for something simpler like �Java for Dummies / Idiots� or �Teach yourself Java in 28 days�. Try to borrow books from the library before you purchase them in the shops. Often these books are in the library, some on reserve. At the very least, read through the book before purchasing it to make sure it will suit your learning style.

And why does she decide that she will tell students what they need to know the week after they need to know it? We�re just not buying that "We�ll teach you the hard way to do things first" crap. Just because she had to be taught old outdated coding back in the sixties (of was that fifties, maybe thirties) does not mean that she must make modern day students suffer for her past. The �I�ve suffered for my coding and now it�s your turn� practice she has adopted should have seen her fired years ago.

What is it with the hand outs? How about a clear explanation of the code syntax that we will need with the assignments instead of the utter crap that is served up. We pay good money for that crap. Sure, it�s great for experienced programmers I am sure, but not for students. Far too many of the hands outs make no sense.

So why is it that a so called forward thinking university like Monash does allow some one like Dianne Hagen to remain in employment. Many theories make the rounds throughout the university. Some of the most popular are:

The university deliberately wants to fail students who will then be required to pay upwards of $1,300 to repeat the subject. Thus the more students that fail a subject, the more money Monash makes. If more students are failed in first year this does not look so bad on Monash�es overall academic record.

In addition this �designed to fail� course weeds out students who are not suited to aural learning (learning by listening) and thus ensures that the university retains those students likely to gain higher marks in later years.

Get rid of the goat!

Come off it, we all pay upwards of $4,500 to attend Monash, we want value for money. We don�t want to be taught by a prehistoric goat who just does not realise that her style of teaching went out with the last of the Cobal programmers. .

Monash - open your wallet, not your mind