Project

Each person in the class will be responsible for a group project. The project must consist of 2 people – 1 person teams are not allowed. If you’d like to be a team of 3 please reach out with an explanation of why the work you want to do requires more than 2 people. Use this form to inform me you made a team or note that you didn’t, but tell what your interests are. On Oct 15, I’ll pair everyone who has not formed a team yet.

On Oct 18, you will need to frame your project well and have a solid gameplan, because a month later, on Nov 22, you will need to have a user study setup that your peers will participate in, i.e., you will need to have a trained model, its predictions, explanations of its predictions, and an interface where your peers will evaluate the explanations. We plan to have 5 in-person class group activities on projects and in-person poster presentations. Attendance in person is mandatory.

The project component has multiple tasks that are categorized into a few components:

Project proposal

Each group will meet in class on Oct 18 and use the given guidelines to frame their project. The instructor will go from group to group to check what is the current framing and give feedback. A portion of the class will be used to fill in a copy of the document above which will be a proposal draft. The draft must be submitted to Gradescope by the end of the class (5:55 PM). You can earn max. 25 points by attending the class, participating in the group activity, and submitting a proposal with your group. In-class attendance is mandatory.

Intermediate reports

This component consists of the two tasks: (1) submitting a 2-week report (12.5 points) and (2) peer feedback and submitting a report of changes (12.5 points).

Two-week report. This refers to two weeks after submitting the proposal. Each group will submit to Gradescope their two-week report following a given document. Add the two-week report part to your proposal and submit the pdf to Gradescope. Your two-week reports will be read by some of your peers during the next in-class group session when they will provide you feedback.

Peer feedback & report of changes. On Mon, Nov 6, will host a peer project review session. Here is what will be happening: Before the class, the instructor will send each group the corresponding two reports for peer review and discussion. The first part of the class will be used so that everyone reads assigned reports, i.e., you don’t need to read them before the class. The next portion of the class will be used for discussion and providing feedback. The final portion of the class will be used for each project group to fill in a given document (TBD) where it will be documented what kind of feedback they received and what changes they plan to integrate (if any). This document must be submitted by the end of the class (5:55 PM) on Gradescope. In-class attendance is mandatory.

Project poster

The class will have a poster session where each group will present their projects. This will be open to a general audience. Each group is responsible for one poster.

The poster component of the project grade consists of 4 tasks: (1) submitting the first version of the poster (12.5 points), (2) polishing the poster in class, submitting the final version, and presenting it (25 points), and (3) submitting the questionnaire (5 points).

The poster size MUST be 24 x 36 inches.
A poster pdf (MUST be <5 MB) should be uploaded to Gradescope.
If you have never made a scientific poster, review this tutorial carefully: https://www.calliechappell.com/blog/scientific-posterLinks to an external site.
The department requests that you avoid full-color (e.g., black or blue) backgrounds with white text – this makes the posters hard to print. Some colors or using of fun design elements are great and encouraged, but if it does not make a difference, choose a white background.
Have in mind that all students will vote for one of their top posters (judged by project accomplishments and quality of poster presentation) in a questionniare that must be submitted after poster presentations by the end of Dec 7. They cannot vote for their own. The top vote-getter will earn a bonus 10 points, and the second top vote-getter will earn a bonus 5 points.
You cannot use one of your free late passes for the poster draft.

Polishing posters. By the end of the class (5:55 PM), with the instructor’s final approval, you will submit the poster pdf to Gradescope and this version will be printed for you. During class (in person or virtual) attendance is mandatory

Poster questionnaire. Everyone is going to be assigned to a project. After the poster presentation,you will answer in Gradescope questions about the project (see below) and vote for your top project(among all projects). Responding to the questionnaire should take up to 20 minutes and we expect your response by 11:59 PM on the day after the presentaiton. We will look at whether you have a basic understanding of what was done in those two assigned projects. You will be given a chance to get 5 extra points in the questionnaire if you answer an additional question. If there are no presenters at the poster you were assigned to you should tell that to the instructor during the poster presentation. If a poster has no presenters present, the corresponding group will get a penalty and students assigned to that project will be re-assigned on the spot.

After visiting the two projects you are assigned to, you should visit as many posters as possible because you are going to vote for your top poster. The top vote-getter will earn a bonus 10 points, and the second top vote-getter will earn a bonus 5 points.

For this to work, you must coordinate with your teammates who will be at your poster when. If you know or suspect you might be presenting alone, then reach out to me.