ICS 443 Fall 2017 Assessment (Grading)


The grade in the course will consist of the following components:

Scribing

Rationale. Taking notes in lecture helps you remember the material later. Scribing (typing up the notes in more details) allows you process the information you heard in more detail and identify the parts that you might have missed or misunderstood. In the past, students have mentioned that they learned the material they scribed a lot better than if they simply took notes in class.

Group selection. The scribe notes for each lecture will be the responsibility of a group of 2-3 students. Each student must scribe 5 lecture notes as part of some group throughout the semester. You do not have to be part of the same group each time. The groups will be chosen in the first week of classes. You are free to select your own teammates and may distribute the responsibility in any way you like. However, everyone in the group will receive the same grade for the notes their group is responsible for. (I recommend everyone being involved in typing up every set of notes they are assigned to.)

Content. Your scribed notes should cover all the material covered during the relevant lecture. Your notes should be understandable to someone who has not been to the lecture. You should write in full sentences where appropriate; point form (like I write on the board) is often too terse to follow without a sound track (though occasionally it is appropriate). Use numbered sections, subsections, etc. to organize the material hierarchically and with meaningful titles. If you feel it is appropriate, use nested bullets to organize material hierarchically even deeper. Try to preserve the motivation, difficulties, solution ideas, failed attempts, and partial results obtained along the way in the actual lecture. For an example of scribe notes, you can look at the past offering of a similar graduate course here.

Format. Write your notes using LaTeX, with figures in Encapsulated PostScript or PDF (generated from ipe, xfig, Adobe Illustrator or whatever you want). Start from the Latex template, which sets the style. As the final document, you should submit the Latex source files, images, and the PDF. I recommend using some type of version control, e.g. GIT or SVN, to work on the lecture notes. Bitbucket works very well for private group projects.

Due times and dates. The scribed notes will be due at 9am on the sixth day after the lecture (i.e., the following Sunday for the Monday lectures and the following Tuesday for the Wednesday lectures). However, you will save a lot of time for yourself if you try to write a draft of the lecture notes on the same day as the class while the material is still fresh in your mind. Moreover, if you get me a draft by 6pm on the next day after the lecture, I'll give you feedback on your writeup that you will be free to incorporate into your final document. The scribe notes will be graded on the correctness and clarity of the final document. Please submit the PDF and all files needed to recreate it (Latex source, images, etc). The PDF of the notes will be posted in Laulima.

Homeworks

There will be 6 homeworks (once every 2 weeks) throughout the semester. You may collaborate with anyone on the homeworks, but you must write up your own solutions. You must write the names of everyone you discussed the solution with in your homework write-up. Ideally, the homework will be typed up, but hand-written homeworks are acceptable as long as you write legibly. If I can't understand your handwriting, I cannot grade it. It will be due at the beginning of the lecture and can be either submitted in person in lecture (preferred) or emailed to me before the class.

Late Homeworks. Homeworks will be due in lecture, at the beginning of the corresponding class. Homeworks will be accepted till the end of the lecture, at a 10% penalty. Late homeworks may be submitted up to 24 hours late at a penalty of 30% of the grade either in person or via email. Extenuating circumstances do arise, therefore, a single homework will be accepted up to 24 hours late without any penalty.