Fall 2018
Interactive Computational Media
Frequently Asked Questions
R: Yes! You will not get much from the lecture slides alone. The course is aimed to be highly interactive, with hands-in activities planned for each lecture where you will be directly practicing the material learned. Further, class participation counts toward your final grade (see Grading scheme), so missing lectures will result in you losing marks.
Q: Should I attend the tutorials (i.e., studios)?R: Yes! Tutorials are designed for your group to share their progress to the class, and receive feedback. You will learn a lot from the critique sessions, that will help you identify mistakes and areas for improvements in your work, help you gain insight on the course material through a better understanding of the strenghts and weaknesses of your and others' work, which will ultimately guide future steps of your project. Further, participating to class and presenting in-class assignments count toward your final grade (see Grading Scheme), so missing tutorials will result in you loosing marks.
Q: How is my participation grade calculated?R: Class participation grade comprises of engagement in class, and in-class assignments. Details can be found on the Grading scheme page.
Q: What if I miss a class? And/or I missed a class because I was not feeling good or I injured myself. Will my participation grade be affected?R: We will drop your two lowest individual class grades (i.e., participation + in-class assignment), and pro-rate the remaining marks, regardless of the reasons. This policy takes into account illness and/or personal reasons that may affect your ability to attend class on any given date.
Q: I enrolled in this class late. How can I make up my missed assignments?R: We will drop your two lowest individual class grades (i.e., participation + in-class assignment), and pro-rate the remaining marks.
Q: I have enrolled in a course that conflicts with lecture and/or tutorial time...R: You are required to attend classes and tutorials in this course. Please work out something with the instructor(s) of the course conflicting with this course lecture time, or consider dropping one of the two courses.
Q: I would like to form a group with people in the other section. Is it possible?R: No. Groups must be formed with students within the same section and attend their studios together.
Q: We don't have enough team members. What's going to happen to our group?R: If you have trouble hiring enough members in your team, consider splitting and looking for groups who are looking for people. If by the group forming deadline, you are still short in people, we will re-assign all of you to existing groups.
Q: It's not working well in my group. Can I join another group?R: No. You are given several weeks to form groups, which gives you plenty of time to choose your teammates wisely. If you still happen to run into conflicts within your group, consult these resources for improved workload balancing and group communication.
Q: Someone is not working enough in my group. What can I do?R: If someone is not fulfilling their obligations in your group, consider relying on techniques in these resources for improved workload balancing and group communication. Further, at the end of the term, you will be given the opportunity to rate all of the members of your group, which will count toward their individual grade.
Q: I submitted just 1 minute late. Will the penalty still apply?R: Yes. The deadline to submit your assignments is strict. MarkUs will apply a penalty automatically. No exception will be made. You should always secure an early submission several hours prior to the hard deadline to prevent from last minute issues.
Q: MarkUs was very slow close to the deadline causing a late submission. Will the late penalty apply?R: Yes. The deadline to submit your assignments is strict. MarkUs will apply a penalty automatically. No exception will be made. You should always secure an early submission at least one hour prior to the hard deadline to prevent from last minute issues.
Q: I/we realize that I/we did not submit the latest version of my documents. What can I/we do?R: You are responsible for checking the submitted material prior to the submission deadline. We will grade the documents available on MarkUs: no exception will be made. If you request a newer version to be graded, then you can submit on MarkUs, and the corresponding late penalty will apply.
Q: My/our documents are corrupt on MarkUs. What can I/we do?R: You are responsible for checking the submitted material prior to the submission deadline. We will grade the documents available on MarkUs. If the a file is corrupt or missing, it will not be accepted and this component will earn a mark of 0. No exception will be made. If you request a newer version to be graded, then you can submit on MarkUs, and the corresponding late penalty will apply.
Q: My documents are too big and take forever to upload on MarkUs. What can I do?R: You are responsible for planning for a successful submission of your material well prior to the submission deadline. In particular, be careful when your files are large. In this case, you must allow for time to upload your material so that your documents are uploaded prior to the deadline. Make sure you compress pictures (to a reasonable resolution) when saving to PDF. Aim for files that do not exceed 5MB in general.
Q: I think there is a mistake with my grade. What can I do?R: You can request re-marking of an assignment by submitting detailed reasons in writing within 2 weeks after receiving the grade. Note that adjustments in marks will be rare and could equally result in a lowering or raising of the mark.