Martin Hell, Associate Professor

My teaching is mainly focused on three courses, namely computer security, web security and advanced web security.

Computer Security

I first took over this course in 2008 and I have had course responsibility and been lecturing the course since then. It deals with some fundamental aspects of computer security and covers a wide range of subjects such as encryption, authentication, access control, security models, security evaluations, key exchange protocols, software security and mobile security.

Web Security

I developed this course in 2008 when it was given for the first time. Since 2010, I am not lecturing the course though I still have course responsibility. I also update the lecture notes each year.The course content is focused on basic principles behind web applications and their security. The most important web application attacks and defenses are covered, as well as principles and security for email and DNS.

The first few years there were no lecture notes and the student only had lecture slides as course material. How well this worked was investigated through a survey performed in 2009. A report can be found here, which was also written for the course "The Good Lecture" (see below): Can Lecture Slides Replace a Course Book?

Advanced Web Security

I developed this course in 2012 and have been lecturing it since then.

The course can be viewed as having two parts. The first aims at understanding how cryptography can be used to solve certain problems, e.g., electronic payments, anonymity and electronic voting. Studying this will provide students with tools to understand and develop future security protocols. The second part aims at understanding how security information, e.g., asymmetric keys, certificates and signatures are actually represented and used in web based communication. ASN.1, XML encryption, XML signatures and WS-Security are some aspects that are treated.

The examination process in this course is not based on written exams. Instead home assignments are used as examination. The development of this process, as well as a motivation for it, is described in the report A System for Home Exercises addressing the SOLO Taxonomy, Fairness and Deep Learning.

Teaching and learning in higher education

I have taken several courses related to teaching and learning in higher education. All courses also included a project report where some specific aspect of education was treated.

Introduction to teaching and learning in higher education (2 weeks). Our project investigated why two student groups had very different success in completing a lab. The two labs were very similar in form but the instructions were tailored to fit the students' background in the subject. Report: Laboratory Instructions as a Cause of Student Dissonance. Conference version. Poster.

Ideas for teaching and learning in higher education (3 weeks). Our project discussed some possibilities for creating exercises and problems in such a way that they improved certain aspects of learning. Report: Exercise Problems that Facilitate Deep Approaches to Learning. Conference version. 

The Good Lecture (3 weeks). My project in this course was a study on how well a course book can be replaced by just the information given on the lecture slides. Report: Can Lecture Slides Replace a Course Book?

Readership Course (3 weeks). This course was part of my preparation for applying for the academic title "reader" (Docent in Swedish). Report: Perceived Roles of Assistant Supervisors in PhD Education.

Aspects of gender psychology in teaching - women, men and technology (3 weeks). In my project I investigated result differences between men and women in the courses. Report (swedish): Presterar kvinnor bättre än män på LTH, eller tvärtom, eller inget av det, eller både och?

Teaching award

In 2012 I was awarded the Golden Rod by the D-section at LTH, Lund University. I am very proud of this award as the winner is nominated by the students.