Logistics

Meetings and classes

• On Tuesdays, your team will meet with your assigned mentor.
  We will assign your team to one of the Tuesday sections. Show up at
  the assigned time and await your mentor meeting.

• Wednesdays will be used for a variety of purposes. Most
  Wednesdays will feature lectures or your team presentations.
  When teams present, we will use two rooms; otherwise, we will
  use one room for all.

• In addition to the official Tuesday/Wednesday times, you
  should meet with your team at least once during the week.

Teams

• You must meet with your team at least once a week, and everyone
  in a team must commit to that common time.
  
• Group dynamics in a team can sometimes turn sour, in which case
  you first try and resolve the issue within the team, and then
  approach your mentor. You need to approach your mentor soon
  after the problem occurs. We will not save doomed teams late in
  the game.

Trello and Git

(Fall and Spring)

We will use Trello
and Github throughout this course
in both semesters.

• Trello is a time-and-task management tool that helps coordinate
  within a team, and also allows continual updating and editing of
  tasks.

• Github is a code repo system that makes it convenient for teams
  to share code and keep code up to date.

• Please view tutorials on both and learn how to use these tools
  yourself. Each team will have a single trello account, and a single
  Github repo. We will expect you to have this set up by the end
  of the second week.

• Your Trello screen should have three columns:
  • The first column (initially empty) will have "Completed
    tasks". This will contain all the cards for tasks that have
    been completed.

  • The second column will feature "Currently working on"
    tasks, typically for the current month.

  • The third column will feature "Future tasks". Ideas for the
    future will come up in discussions and during mentor meetings.
    These should first go into "Future tasks". Then, once you
    deliberately pick on a task for the current month, move that
    card to the "Currently working on" column.
• Every task should have a start-date, projected end-date,
  and a clear description of what the outcome will be.

• Tasks can be quite small, as in: "install and test OpenCV".
  Generally, it's preferable to break tasks into small ones.

Writing assignments

(Fall)

Our alumni are always telling us "require more writing and oral
presentations" and "clear writing is essential to success in the
workplace".

Accordingly, this course will feature several writing assignments
in which the content is rather straightforward but where you will
have an opportunity to practice writing clearly. All writing
assignments will be due in the Fall.

See the Writing Assignments
for more details.

Presentations

(both Fall and Spring)

One way by which you can have striking impact and work your
way towards leadership is to give effective presentations.
Many of our alumni have rated the presentation training
in senior design as one of its most important non-negotiable features.
We often hear of alumni stories where, in a workplace
room full of ivy-leaguer, our alumni stand out because they
are able to give an excellent presentation.

Accordingly, in this course, we will show you how to
blow an audience away with a strong, forceful presentation.

See the Presentation Requirements for more details.

Design, and design homeworks

(Fall)

Chris Toombs will be teaching you about software engineering and
design. How exactly do you go about building a large project?
What is a systematic way to plan ahead, think through pieces of the
project so that the process is manageable? What are best practices
in design? These questions and others will be the focus on his
lectures.

Your goal is to apply design principles to your project. First,
you will use your project as the basis for completing homeworks
assigned by Chris. Second, you will apply sound design principles
as you proceed with your project, with the understanding that you will
have to explain how these design principles were applied.

HCI, and HCI homeworks

(Fall)

Elyse Nicholas will be teaching you about HCI and front-end design.
What makes an interface easy-to-use and intuitive?
What principles can one distill from years of HCI experience with
actual users? How do you apply these to your project?
These questions and others will be the focus of her lectures.

The application of these principles to your project greatly
depends on the project. Some projects have a rich user interface.
Others (like a systems project) might have less of an interface.
In any case, you will complete homeworks, applying as much to your
project as possible.

Demos

(Spring)

To demonstrate progress on your project throughout the year,
we will schedule demos that indicate the expected level of progress:

• Bootcamp. The "bootcamp" phase of your project
  is the beginning phase where you are exploring various tools
  and APIs. You need to show that you've installed the tools,
  are able to get the "helloworld" in each tools/API working,
  and are able to integrate these in your project.
  At this stage, your project remains "undesigned" and somewhat
  haphazard. That's OK, because you are exploring the underlying
  technologies or solving small issues, such as getting some hardware
  to work, or getting a phone to talk to a server, and so on.

• 30% demo.
  Discuss with your mentor what aspects, if completed, will constitute
  30% progress towards completion.
  Important: By this time, you will have attended lectures
  on design and thus, your 30% needs to start incorporating elements
  of design.

• 40% demo.
  A few more things demonstrably working beyond 30%. Also, at this
  stage, your project should feature considerably more design. You
  should be able to explain how components integrate and how
  you can test both individual components and the whole.
  There should be no "totally empty" component. Even if you haven't
  gone far with a component, you should at least have a "shell" of a
  component that does something as a placeholder.

• 70% demo.
  You will be at the 70% stage when your design is refined, and most
  components are at least partially working. It's quite possible
  that the algorithmic challenge remains or that you have yet to
  successfully train a machine-learning algorithm. We're looking
  for software completion as opposed to project success at
  this stage.

• 90% demo.
  At this stage, nearly everything is working and you only have
  finishing touches or a little more functionality to add.

• 100% demo. As the name implies.
• Final demo.
  The final demo is where we "kick the tires" and grade the project.
  You will bring
  everything you need to demo, demonstrate compilation, execution,
  and answer detailed questions about your implementation.

Winter break

(Spring)

Examine the due dates closely and you'll see the 40% demo
scheduled for December and the 70% for mid-January.
This is not a mistake: you should expect to develop a good deal
of your project over the winter break. Clearly, you'll want to also
rest and recover, but please plan on blocking off enough
time during the winter break to work on your project.

Why do we do this? We have scheduled your final presentations
in mid-April rather than May (during finals) to avoid panic over
whether project completion will hold up graduation. We would rather
you spend your last few weeks as a senior in a celebratory mood,
basking in nostalgia and excitement about graduation, rather than
nervously scrambling to pass the course.

Note that you always have the option of being ahead of schedule,
which will free up more of the winter break.

Project webpage

(Spring)

Create a single webpage for yourself and your project with the following elements:

• A clear picture of yourself.
• A short (one paragraph) biosketch that says a
  little about you, your interests, dreams etc.

• A screencast of your final presentation.
• Links to the following:
  • All writing assignments.
    
  • The project poster.

  • Instructions for follow-on projects.
    Write a detailed set of instructions for the next group of
    SD students who choose to build on your project:
    An explanation of your project (2 paragraphs).
    How to download and get the project working.
    What tools and libraries are needed.
    What works, what doesn’t, what to be aware of (pitfalls, issues).
    Ideas for next steps.

Final package

(Spring)

The final package must be submiited by noon, Tuesday May 5 as a zipfile
in your group's google drive folder (a replica should be in your team's
github account):

• Code.
  • The most recent working version of your project’s code.

  • A README file that explains how to install all libraries needed, what paths need to be set up etc to get your project running.
  • A simple test program that can be run at the command-line that will run only if everything is correctly installed.
• Equipment (if applicable).
  If your project involved equipment bought by the Department, please return the equipment before noon on Tuesday, May 5.

• Screencast.
  Create an 8-minute screencast using the slides in your final presentation where you talk as you go from slide to slide. Think of this as a record of your final presentation that anyone can view.

• Poster.
  Create a standard-sized poster (typically 9 slides) of your project. Create a PDF but await instructions about printing and making the poster itself.

Late policy

• Writing Assignment Late policy:
  Late writing assignments will lose 20% per 24-hour period (not pro-rated).

• Submission of all writing assignments must follow the submission
  rules above. All reports, presentations and such will be submitted
  via your project website AND via google drive. You must submit
  both a document and a PDF (which we will use for grading).

• Presentations and demos cannot be submitted late for credit as
  they are required in-class.

• The submission time will be determined by the upload time of the pdf on google drive.
• If you’re seeking an extension because you’ve been ill and have a letter from a doctor, please see us about it. Please remember that many deadlines for this class are known far in advance, so being sick for (for example) 5 days might not be reasonable justification for an extension.

Grade breakdown

Fall:

• 20% writing assignments
• 20% presentations
• 20% design homeworks
• 15% HCI homeworks
• 25% timely and continued progress towards project

Spring:

• 15% practice presentations
• 15% final presentation
• 20% timely and continued progress towards project
• 30% final demo
  
• 10% final package, website
  
• 10% attendance, enthusiastic participation