Present and Challenge

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Overview

The Present and Challenge activity is a new course format. Teams will present papers in Modules 1-3 and their own proposed reinforcement learning projects in Module 4, according to the schedule in the syllabus. The format is built around interactions among three roles:

• Presenter teams will select a paper or propose a project, as specified on the module page. They will explain the research problem, main method, and contribution, and conduct their own investigation, using numerical experiments or other appropriate approaches, to evaluate the method.
• Challengers are students who ask substantive questions to probe the presenters’ understanding or request clarification of important concepts. Any student may also serve as a challenger.
• Evaluators are all students who submit the required evaluations of presenter teams and challenger contributions and provide constructive feedback.

Every student will submit the required evaluations in every session, including a session in which the student is also presenting. Presenters will evaluate the other teams and challenger contributions, but not their own team. Students who present will receive presentation credit in addition to their regular session participation credit.

This activity will be managed through the Popping website, developed by the instructor. We will have a brief introduction to the platform during the first week.

Session Logistics

Presentations are organized into three full rounds:

• Round 1, Module 1: All teams will present.
• Round 2, Modules 2 and 3: Half of the teams will present in Module 2, and the other half will present in Module 3. Each team will present once across these two modules. The presentation schedules will be announced later.
• Round 3, Module 4: All teams will present.

Each student is therefore required to present three times during the semester. The number of teams in each session may vary. Each team may use up to 12 minutes for its presentation and up to 3-5 minutes for Q&A. These are maximum times. The instructor will announce the specific time allocation for each session based on the number of presenting teams.

Scoring System

This is the first semester in which this system is being implemented, so the required points emphasize consistent participation. The point breakdown is:

• Participation, evaluation, and challenge: 35%. This will be evenly distributed across all presentation sessions.

• Team presentations: 15%. Each student is required to present three times during the semester. Each team presentation is worth 5% of the course grade, earned based on the evaluations received on these two items:

  1. Did the team explain the research problem, main method, and contribution accurately and clearly?
  2. Did the team conduct a convincing investigation, using numerical experiments or other appropriate approaches, to evaluate the method?

• Students who present in a session can earn both the regular session participation credit and the separate presentation credit.

• Bonus points: In each full round of presentations (Module 1, Modules 2 and 3 combined, and Module 4), the top three presenting teams will each earn an additional 0.5 percentage points toward each team member’s total course grade. The top three individual challengers in each round will each earn an additional 0.5 percentage points toward their total course grade. These ratings will combine peer feedback with the instructor’s assessment.

Overall, the Present and Challenge activities account for 50% of the course grade: 15% for the three presentations and 35% for participation, evaluation, and challenge. Bonus points are added separately.

Potential Changes

Because this is a new course format, the procedures may be refined during the semester. Any changes will be announced in class and posted on this website.