Discussion Sessions

Access Popping, review discussion questions, and read participation and privacy policies.

We will use Popping during Tuesday’s in-class discussion sessions. The site organizes selected questions, Group Discussion, Present and Challenge, and participation actions. Review Discussion Questions: Procedures and Rules before the first session.

Sign in to Popping

Open Popping when the instructor asks you to join the discussion session.

Open Popping Review discussion question procedures and rules

Weekly question pools and results

Choose a week to review its question pool and any posted discussion results.

  1. Week 1

    Week 1 question pool

    Fourteen questions on statistical foundations, AI verification, reproducibility, agent design, Git, ethics, and learning with AI.

  2. Week 2

    Week 2 question pool

    Eleven questions on model selection, prediction error, cross-validation, prediction intervals, and specific AI workflow issues. Discussion results and weekly honors are available.

  3. Week 3

    Week 3 question pool

    Eleven questions on ridge geometry, shrinkage, bias and variance, cross-validation, optimization, and AI skills. Discussion results and weekly honors are available.

  4. Week 4

    Week 4 question pool

    Ten questions on lasso selection, prediction stability, penalty geometry, elastic net, standardization, validation, and coordinate descent.

Additional weekly pools will appear here as they are published.

Participation and credit

The classroom discussion component makes up 25% of the course grade and is based entirely on participation during the Tuesday sessions.

Weekly GitHub question submissions are graded separately.

Discussion sessions meet weekly through Tuesday, November 17, 2026. Each session covers the topic taught on the previous Thursday and usually lasts 50 to 60 minutes. A short lecture may follow if time permits. On quiz Tuesdays, the 30-minute quiz takes place before the discussion.

You may miss up to one discussion session without losing participation credit. Additional absences reduce this component.

To receive full participation credit for a session, complete both required actions:

Group Discussion phase
Give a thumbs-up to at least one teammate.
Present and Challenge phase
Rate every presenting team and every challenger.

Weekly bonus points

Each week, every member of the highest-rated presenting team and the highest-rated challenger will receive bonus points. The point values, tie rules, and other details will be announced later.

Privacy and Other Issues

Teams and voting privacy

For each activity, the instructor may assign teams randomly or allow students to form their own teams.

Your individual voting record will remain private and will never be released. The instructor may share aggregate results with the class, including the top-rated individuals or teams.

Network or technical issues

If an in-class network or technical problem prevents you from signing in or completing a required action, tell the instructor during class. You will receive full participation credit for that session.