Basics
We meet on Mondays and Wednesdays, from 3 to 4:30, in Towne 313.
The course web page is
http://www.cis.upenn.edu/ bcpierce/courses/dd.
Participation
The bulk of the work in the class will be reading, discussing, and
presenting papers.
The ``admission ticket'' to each class session will be a one-page summary
of the assigned reading(s) for that day, including two or three questions
for discussion. These summaries do not need to be carefully polished
prose, but they should reflect a thorough reading and some thought about
the paper's main points.
(Participants that do not wish to register for course credit are welcome,
but will be expected to prepare one-page summaries and questions and to
lead discussions in rotation with everybody else.)
Presentations
Each student will make several presentations in class.
These will involve
-
reading the assigned paper(s), plus at least one other related
paper from the listed ``Supplemental Readings''
- presenting the papers in class and leading the ensuing discussion.
Exactly how many papers each participant presents will depend on how
many participants we have when the dust settles.
Some advice on presentations can be found here.
Course Projects
The other major portion of the work for the course will be a major
project. These projects can involve further reading in some area, design
work, hacking, or combinations of the above. They should take roughly
20-30 hours from start to finish. (Warning: aim low!)
We will discuss projects in more detail in a few weeks.
Grading
For those taking the course for credit, grades will be assigned as
follows:
-
One-page summaries and (especially) discussion questions (20%).
These will be graded on a three-level scale --- poor / OK / good.
- Presentations (50%).
- Project (30%).