What if my travel to Vancouver is delayed?

If you will be late by a few weeks: don't panic! I will be posting recordings of the lectures to the Canvas page, and all of your coursework will be completed on our course server electronically, so you won't miss anything.

If you will be absent beyond Oct 8, please do not take this course. You are required to be present in Vancouver for this course. We hold our quizzes in-person (for all sections, online and in-person!), and attendance is mandatory. If you have concerns, contact science advising and talk to them about your options.

What if I get sick during the semester?

DO NOT COME TO CLASS.

I will continue recording and posting lecture videos on Canvas throughout the semester, so you will not miss anything.

You can complete all of your assignments electronically (and remotely).

I will drop the lowest worksheet and tutorial grade from the semester.

What if I get sick right before a quiz?

DO NOT COME TO THE QUIZ.

I will make alternate arrangements if you get sick right before/during a quiz. Please contact me as far in advance as possible, and fill out an academic concession form (available on the Canvas page).

What is the structure of the class?

Each week (starting on Thursday) will have the following pattern:

• I will release pre-lecture reading material a few days earlier (usually on Mon/Tues)

• In class on Thursday, I will begin with a brief lecture to introduce a new concept. Then you'll do a worksheet to practice the concept.

• Your lecture worksheet will be due Saturday at 11:59pm pacific time.

• Then you'll have until the next tutorial with no lecture/tutorial assignments due. Woohoo!

• In class on Tuesday, the TAs will run a tutorial to reinforce the concept we learned on Thursday. You'll do another worksheet to practice the concept. The tutorial worksheets are generally harder than the lecture worksheets.

• The tutorial worksheet will be due at the beginning of lecture on Thursday.

There will be 3 quizzes throughout the semester; the first two are held in class, and the last is during the exam period, but they'll all be the same format (unless otherwise notified).

There will be a class project, which you will complete with a randomly-assigned group.

How do I submit an assignment?

Lecture / Tutorial Worksheets: You must complete all of your lecture and tutorial worksheets on our JupyterHub server. Once you are done working, just go to File -> Save and Checkpoint, and make sure the checkpoint is "a few seconds ago" at the top of your screen. We will show you how to do this in class. You don't need to click "submit" anywhere -- our server will automatically take a snapshot of your assignment at the due date. Make sure you do not move / rename your assignment from where it originally was on the server.

Projects / other assignments: You will submit these on Canvas.

How do I get my assignment regraded?

Per the syllabus: ask the TA who graded the assignment to take a second look at it. You can post on Piazza using a private message to the teaching team and we will respond there.

Note: We will only regrade to correct mistakes that we made when grading. Please see the syllabus for our policy regarding autograding.

Where do I find due dates?

All due dates are listed on Canvas.

What if I registered late? When are things due?

Hi! Welcome to DSCI100 -- glad to have you on board. Since we have a new assignment in every class session, there are already a few assignments to catch up on:

If you registered after a class session already happened, then the assignment from that class session will be due exactly 1 week after your registration date & time.

If you registered before a class session happens, the assignment from that class is due at the normal time.

I'm going to be late / absent for a class! Who do I notify?

I do not need to be informed when you'll be absent from a regular class. I understand that, from time to time, you will not be able to attend the lecture/tutorial sessions. There are no marks assigned for attending class. I am hoping the flexibility of this course will allow you to access the learning materials wherever you are and whenever you need them.

If you are going to be absent from a quiz, you need to fill out a self-declared concession form in a timely manner prior to the quiz. See the course policies on the syllabus for details.

Do I satisfy the math requirement for this class?

Yes. There is no hard math prerequisite; MATH12 (or equivalent) is suggested but not required.

How do I get help in the course?

During Lectures & Tutorials: You can use lecture and tutorial time to ask questions, discuss and receive individual feedback regarding your worksheets, tutorials, or group project. Myself, the TAs and your fellow classmates will be available to help you work through the problems.

Office Hours: The TAs and I will hold office hours at various times throughout the week via Zoom. I encourage you to ask questions about the worksheets, tutorials, the project or any other questions about the course material.

Piazza Discussion Board: You can post on the Piazza Discussion board to ask your questions about the course material. You can also help your classmates by answering their questions.

Email: For questions about the course material, please post your questions on Piazza. If you have personal questions that do not pertain to the course material itself you can email me. Please note: I respond to emails M - F, and I try my best to answer you as promptly as possible. However, given the large class size I may take a few days to respond.

Do not send me email at my mail.ubc.ca or .ubc.ca account; I don't check those. Please send it to the email address listed on the syllabus.

How do I do well in this course?

Most importantly: complete the lecture and tutorial worksheets. These are intended to help you learn the concepts so you'll do well on the project and quizzes. The worksheets tend to be a bit easier and provide more guidance. The tutorials are more difficult and give you a good sense for how well you've learned the material. Students who make an effort to complete all of the worksheets and tutorials tend to perform well in the class.

For lecture/tutorial worksheets, you can collaborate with your peers (this is encouraged!) as discussing the material while you work on it will help you learn. But you are not allowed to simply copy another student's work. That is plagiarism, which is expressly forbidden in the course policy.

Time management is very important in this course. There are regular assessments every week to keep you on track, but we move quickly and cover a lot of ground.

Take an active role in the learning community that we will build together. Ask questions on Piazza when you have them, and try to answer each others' questions when you can.