General

General #

Attendance #

Our class will be offered on campus for both Undergrad (4641) and Grad (7641). Lectures might be recorded IF class has the recording system. Any class that I am able to record [which sometimes does not work even if we have the recording system in place], I will make it available to all students (both undergrad and grad) by the end of the day. The attendance is required for both undergrad and grad. Having students in the class helps me and my students A LOT work with each other for a better environment to facilitate learning. Trust me it will be fun and you will give me a lot of energy to teach better. The fact that you need to listen to the lectures without fast-forwarding me can help you learn the materials much better and you will have the chance to ask questions if you are confused anywhere in the lectures. Also, the class attendance will be counted toward your class participation at the end of semester.

Class Deliverables #

All class deliverables will be handled via Gradescope except quizzes which will be on Canvas. The time span offered to complete the course objectives is plentiful and deadlines will not be extended under any circumstances. To ensure the class is fair for all students, you will receive zero credit for work submitted after the deadline. Regrade requests should be submitted directly on Gradescope within a defined period after grade publication (we will inform you on that; we only provide a 3 day for the regrade request). Should you find yourself in an impasse with the TA responsible for your grading, feel free to contact the head TA or course instructor on Edstem.

Edstem #

Edstem will be the main and only place for the course discussions and announcements. If you have questions, please ask it on Edstem first because 1) other students may have the same question; 2) you will get help much faster.

  • For public homework specific questions, PLEASE use the appropriate TA created mega threads instead of creating a new individual thread.
  • If it’s something you do not like to discuss publicly on Edstem, you can create a private post on Edstem.
  • If the issue you want to discuss is sensitive or you are not comfortable discussing with the whole teaching team in a private post, please create a private post asking us to create a private chat. Either Mahdi or one of the Head TAs will create a private chat for you.
  • Edstem GOOD questions:
    • “I don’t understand this part of the lecture, can you explain it to me?”
    • “This certain part of the hw is not clear to me, would it be possible to explain that more?”
    • “I have a question about the project …”
    • “I found an issue on the website, hw or the lectures, can you clarify …”
    • “Any feedback, suggestions, … would be greatly appreciated.”
    • Historically, most of the questions were good!
  • Edstem BAD questions:
    • “Can you debug my code?”
    • “Can you find where the problem is in my code?”
    • Our team will not do that. You need to be specific about your question

Exceptional Circumstances #

Any request for exceptions to these policies should be made in advance when at all possible. Requests should be due to incapacitating illness, personal emergencies, or similarly serious events. Your request MUST be accompanied by a supporting letter issued by the Dean of Students before contacting us. Once you acquired the letter, please go this Ed Discussion post and fill out the form and ping us on Ed Discussion using a private post that you filled out the form.