As Stat 133 gets larger and larger every year, running the course as smoothly as possible becomes more challenging. Please take some time to carefully read all the course policies. They should let you know what the game rules are, the do's and dont's, and what to expect. Especially important, keep in mind that grades and penalties aren't the purpose of this course. We really just want you to learn.
While writing the course policies, I've tried to be as comprehensive and clear as possible, leaving little room for misinterpretation. In case of doubt, contact me or any member of the GSI staff.
- Labs
- Homework
- Assignments Grading
- Piazza
- Tests
- Oral Evaluation
- Learning Cooperatively
- Academic Honesty
- Email Policy
- Special Accommodations
- Incomplete Grade
- Safe and Inclusive Environment
- Fine Print
- Weekly labs are a required part of the course and they are meant to supplement lecture.
- You must attend the discussion group you are officially registered in.
- Do not take the class if you cannot attend the discussion you are registered in (we won't allow students to switch lab sections).
- You will be encouraged to problem solve individually or in groups.
- Each person must submit each lab independently to bCourses and their github repository, but you are welcome to collaborate with other students in your lab room.
- To receive credit, you must attend lab, work on the lab assignment until you're finished or the lab period is over, and get checked off by a course staff member.
- Lab exercises are graded on completion and understanding. To receive credit, you must make good progress and submit your work. It is not required that you complete all problems to receive credit.
- If you finish the lab early, we encourage you to help others with their lab.
- From Feb-05, if you miss
- one lab, you get 100% lab credit (10% of total grade).
- two labs, you get 70% lab credit (7% of total grade).
- three labs, you get 50% lab credit (5% of total grade).
- four labs or more, you get no lab credit (0% of total grade).
- To receive full credit, you must be present for the entire time of the lab (partial credit for partial attendance).
- Two labs with partial credit account as one lab absence.
- During lab, we will look at your work (e.g. how you code, what you are doing, how you approach problems), and we will take notes that will be used to assess part of your performance in the course.
- Homework assignments will be assigned almost every two weeks.
- The first two assignments will not be part of your grade. These are "warm-up" assignments.
- You will submit your homework to your private Github repository.
- You should also submit the github's link of your assignment to bCourses.
- Don't wait until the last hour to do an assignment. Plan ahead and pace yourself.
- Don't wait until the last minute to push your commits.
- If you want to receive some credit for an assignment that you will turn in after the deadline, you must ask your GSI before the deadline. Otherwise, late homework will not be accepted.
- In case of arranging a late submission, the assignment will be accepted for half credit.
- Extensions will only be offered in advance of the deadline and for exceptional circumstances.
- We offer no guarantee that we will approve/accept your request for late submission.
- If you collaborate with other students when working on a HW assignment, please include the names of those students in your submission.
- You must write your own answers (using your own words). Copy and plagiarism will not be tolerated (see Academic Honesty policy).
- Learning programming is frustrating, but it can be fun.
- Homework assignments are NOT eligible for regrades.
- The primary way that the homework will be graded is by yourselves.
- Usually, you need to "turn in" (via github) both your code and outputs in the form of an
.Rmdfile and the corresponding knitted file (.mdor.pdfformat), or any other required files. - Any homework submissions without both the
.Rmdfile and the knitted file (or any other required output file), will receive a zero. - You should grade the work as it appears in the status of the closest commit before the deadline, of your github repository.
- No late submission: you should NOT grade any pushed commits after 11:59 PM of the HW deadline.
- After the HW deadline, a rubric with the solutions will be posted on bCourses (in the Files section). You will then be expected to read them and enter your own scores and comments for (every part) of every problem in the homework on a simple coarse scale:
- 0 = Didn't attempt or very very wrong,
- 2 = Got started and made some progress, but went off in the wrong direction or with no clear direction,
- 5 = Right direction and got half-way there,
- 8 = Mostly right but a minor thing missing or wrong,
- 10 = 100% correct.
- In case there is a cascading error, you don't need to penalize multiple times. Just indicate the source of the error, and then give full credit for the other dependent parts as long as your work and code are consistent.
- To submit your grade, use the Assignment Comments section (associated to the corresponding assignment on bCourses) to enter the grade for each part justified with a comment, and a total score. Here's screenshot example of the grading comments:
- Note: If you are really confused about how to grade a particular problem, you should post on Piazza. This is not supposed to be a stressful process.
- Your self-grades will be due three days after the homework deadline at 11:59 PM sharp.
- If you don't enter a proper grade by this deadline, you are giving yourself a zero on that assignment.
- We will review your grade and adjust it if necessary.
- Merely doing the homework is not enough, you must do the homework; submit it in on time; read the solutions; do the self-grade; and turn it in on time. Unless all of these steps are done, you will get a zero for that assignment.
- We will use Piazza as a Q&A forum (and for some official announcements).
- To join the class on Piazza, follow this link piazza.com/berkeley/spring2018/stat133
- If you have questions about anything related to the course, please post them on Piazza rather than emailing the instructor or GSIs.
- Please do not post anything resembling a solution to a homework problem before it's due. If in doubt, you should make your post private (visible to instructors only).
- See the Piazza Etiquette section for more on using Piazza.
- There will be one 50-minute in-class midterm, and one 3-hour final exam.
- The midterm exam will be held in class (during lecture period). Tentative date on Friday, March 9.
- The final exam will be held from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. on Monday May 7, as scheduled by the university, in a room to be announced.
- If you do not take the final, you will NOT pass the class.
- Unless you have accommodations as determined by the university, you must take the midterm and the final at the dates and times provided here.
- Please check your course schedule and make sure that you have no conflicts with these exams.There will be no early or makeup exams.
- Do not take the class if you are not available at these dates and times.
- Please don't cheat. It's not worth it.
- If I see you doing something that looks like cheating (e.g. moving your lips, talking, looking at someone else's paper, acting suspiciously), I will take it AS cheating and give you a zero (No questions asked).
- We will use gradescope to grade the tests.
- You will have one week after grades are published on gradescope to request a regrade for the midterm. The final test is NOT eligible for regrades.
- Please only ask for regrades if you see an error in the grading rather than a dispute with the rubric.
- During the regrading process you can lose points, even for questions you did not ask to be regraded.
- Regrades are based on what you actually wrote, not on what you were thinking, or what you meant to say, or what you assumed or failed to assume.
- After the regrade deadline, no requests will be considered, even if there was an error in the grading.
- I reserve the right to have a meeting with you and evaluate your understanding of the material in person (oral examination, whiteboard coding, and live coding).
- Testing in person can happen haphazardly (most of the time), but it can also occur based on special circumstances (e.g. grad students, strong programming background, allegedly cheating/plagiarism, unusual low or high performance).
- Oral evaluations may be comprehensive.
- The purpose of this evaluation is for me to have a more direct way of assessing your entire work (e.g. knowledge, skills, thinking process, problem solving).
Grades will be assigned using the following weighted components:
| Concept | Weight |
|---|---|
| Lab | 10% |
| Homework | 50% |
| Midterm | 10% |
| Final | 30% |
| Oral evaluation | ?% |
- No individual letter grades will be given for midterm, or final.
- You will get a letter grade for the course that is based on your overall score.
- The course will not be curved, but details of grading criteria will not be announced in advance.
- In theory, it is certainly possible for all students to receive high grades in this course if all of you show mastery of the material on exams and complete all assignments.
With the obvious exception of exams, we encourage you to discuss all of the course activities with your friends and classmates as you are working on them. You will definitely learn more in this class if you work with others than if you do not. Ask questions, answer questions, and share ideas liberally.
Cooperation has a limit, however. You should not share your code or answers directly with other students. Doing so doesn't help them; it just sets them up for trouble on exams. Feel free to discuss the problems with others beforehand, but not the solutions. Please complete your own work and keep it to yourself. If you suspect other people may be plagiarizing you, let us know ASAP. For more information please read the Honor Code Guide for Syllabi.
We expect that you to do your own work and to uphold the standards of intellectual integrity. Collaborating on homework is fine and we encourage you to work together---but copying is not, nor is having somebody else submit assignments for you. Cheating will not be tolerated. Anyone found cheating will receive an F and will be reported to the Center for the Student Conduct. If you are having trouble with an assignment or studying for an exam, or if you are uncertain about permissible and impermissible conduct or collaboration, please come see me with your questions.
Rather than copying someone else's work, ask for help. You are not alone in this course! The course staff is here to help you succeed. If you invest the time to learn the material and complete the projects, you won't need to copy any answers.
- You should try to use email as a tool to set up a one-on-one meeting with me if office hours conflict with your schedule.
- Use the subject line Stat 133 Meeting Request.
- Your message should include at least two times when you would like to meet and a brief (one-two sentence) description of the reason for the meeting.
- Do NOT expect me to reply right away (I may not reply on time).
- If you have an emergency, talk to me later during class or office hours.
- I strongly encourage you to ask questions about the syllabus, covered material, and assignments during class time, lab discussions, or in piazza.
- I prefer to have conversations in person rather than via email, thus allowing us to get to know each other better and fostering a more collegial learning atmosphere.
Students needing accommodations for any physical, psychological, or learning disability, should speak with me during the first two weeks of the semester, either after class or during office hours and see http://dsp.berkeley.edu to learn about Berkeley’s policy. If you are a DSP student, please contact me at least three weeks prior to a midterm or final so that we can work out acceptable accommodations via the DSP Office.
If you are an athlete or Cal band member, please check your calendar and come see me as soon as possible to OH during the first two weeks of the semester. Do not take the class if you are not available to take the midterm, final, and/or attend lab discussions. I won't be able to provide accommodations for a late exam. Since this is a hands-on programming-based class, I don't allow coaching staff proctoring.
Under emergency/special circumstances, students may petition me to receive an Incomplete grade. By University policy, for a student to get an Incomplete requires (i) that the student was performing passing-level work until the time that (ii) something happened that---through no fault of the student---prevented the student from completing the coursework. If you take the final, you completed the course, even if you took it while ill, exhausted, mourning, etc. The time to talk to me about incomplete grades is BEFORE you take the final (several weeks before), when the situation that prevents you from finishing the course presents itself. Please clearly state your reasoning in your comments to me.
It is your responsibility to develop good time management skills, good studying habits, know your limits, and learn to ask for professional help. Life happens. Social, family, cultural, scholar, and individual circumstances can affect your performance (both positive and negatively). If you find yourself in a situation that raises concerns about passing the course, please come see me as soon as possible.
Above all, please do not wait till the end of the semester to share your concerns about passing the course because it will be too late by then.
Whenever a faculty member, staff member, post-doc, or GSI is responsible for the supervision of a student, a personal relationship between them of a romantic or sexual nature, even if consensual, is against university policy. Any such relationship jeopardizes the integrity of the educational process.
Although faculty and staff can act as excellent resources for students, you should be aware that they are required to report any violations of this campus policy. If you wish to have a confidential discussion on matters related to this policy, you may contact the Confidential Care Advocates on campus for support related to counseling or sensitive issues. Appointments can be made by calling (510) 642-1988.
The classroom, lab, and work place should be safe and inclusive environments for everyone. The Office for the Prevention of Harassment and Discrimination (OPHD) is responsible for ensuring the University provides an environment for faculty, staff and students that is free from discrimination and harassment on the basis of categories including race, color, national origin, age, sex, gender, gender identity, and sexual orientation. Questions or concerns? Call (510) 643-7985, email [email protected], or go to http://survivorsupport.berkeley.edu/.
The course deadlines, assignments, exam times, material, and policies are subject to change at the whim of the professor.