Optional activities will consist of 2h workshops, covering either useful background material, or topics that go beyond the standard course material.
The activities are worth 5% of the grade, and are graded on participation only. Students can attend any number, although only one will be required for full credit.
Each group activity will require students to submit a short writeup (about 1–2 pages).
Each activity will have an corresponding assignment on the course Canvas page where writeup and code can be submitted. There will be three tries to submit in total. The teaching staff may reject a submitted writeup and provide feedback if the writeup is incomplete or incorrect, after which students can resubmit.
The writeup deadline for the first submission will be set to 5pm CT twelve days after the live workshop time. If the deadline is missed, this will count as an incomplete first submission. Second and third submissions can submitted up until the final project deadline date, although we encourage that subsequent tries are submitted promptly. There is no extension to these deadlines.
Activities will be recorded and posted on Canvas, but in-person participation is strongly encouraged—these sessions provide a useful venue for meeting classmates.
Slides and documents from the workshops will be uploaded to the course website. Associated code will appear in the Math/CS 714 optional activities GitHub repository. Edited recordings of the live workshops will be uploaded to Canvas and will be available to students only.
If a student completes n > 1 activities, a bonus credit of 2(n − 1)% will be awarded, and the final project grade percentage will be reduced by 2(n − 1)%. This bonus will be applied manually by the teaching staff when the final project grade is calculated.