Present and Challenge

Overview

The Present and Challenge activity is a new course format. During the final instructional week of each module, selected teams will present papers closely related to the module. The format is built around interactions among three roles:

Presenter teams will select a paper closely related to the current module. They will explain its fundamental idea and provide their own computational implementation and comparison to demonstrate the advantages and limitations of 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

Each module will have two presentation sessions. Depending on enrollment and team assignments, six to eight teams will present across the two sessions. With the current enrollment, we expect eight teams per module so that each student is required to present twice 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 10 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:

There are eight presentation sessions, with two sessions for each of the four modules. Registering the required evaluation scores through Popping in each session earns 5% of the course grade, for a total of 40%.
Each student is required to present twice during the semester. Each team presentation is worth 5% of the course grade, for a total of 10%.
Students who present in a session can earn both the regular 5% session participation credit and the separate presentation credit.
Highly rated presentation teams and challengers may receive bonus points. These ratings will combine peer feedback with the instructor’s assessment. The detailed bonus rule will be announced before the first presentation week.

Overall, the Present and Challenge activities account for 50% of the course grade, with any announced bonus points 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.