552, Fall 2020: Computer Networks Assessments

Assessments

Your final grade for the course will be based on the following weights:

There will be no written exams. All material is submitted over hotCRP and Sakai.

Course Project (40%)

The semester-long programming project is a significant component of this course. The project could be an open-ended research project, a reproduction of empirical results from a paper you've read (within or outside the syllabus), a reimplementation of an existing system to a new platform, a new tool that makes further research possible or easy, or anything else of your choosing that is relevant to the course material. The instructor will put out a list of ideas that could be interesting course projects, but you are free to work on an idea of your own that is relevant to the class material. You must work in teams of 2 or more. Concretely, you will (1) submit a 1-page project proposal on Tuesday September 15th, 2020 at 8 pm ET (the exact formatting and requirements will be announced); (2) meet frequently with the instructor during posted office hours or by appointment; (3) record and submit a final presentation and demo of your project by Thursday December 10th, 2020 at 8 pm ET; and (4) submit a final 6-page report by Tuesday December 15th, 2020 by 8 pm ET (the exact formatting and requirements will be announced). Projects will be assessed on the amount of programming effort involved, intellectual insights, creativity, utility/importance of the problem solved, quality of the experimental evaluation, and quality of the program source code.

hotCRP conference-style paper reviews and discussions (40%)

Students will perform conference-committee-style reviewing through the hotCRP system (details to be announced). You will answer specific questions about a technical paper you read for the class, one per week, with the exception of weeks when project requirements or programming homeworks are due. When a review is assigned for a given week, the review will be due the Tuesday of the week. The first review will be due Tuesday September 8th at 8 pm ET. Once you submit your review, you will be able to see everyone else's reviews for that paper, and be able to conduct an online discussion about the paper (note that all your peers will see the review you wrote, as well). The instructor will moderate the online discussion on the hotCRP platform. Your participation both in reviewing and discussion are required and graded. Grades are assigned based on the clarity, intellectual depth, and constructive virtues of the technical discussion and the arguments you make. As a class, we will openly and deeply discuss the strengths, weaknesses, areas to improve, and ways to build atop each paper. The discussion period will close on Fridays at 8 pm ET each week. There will be 8 paper reviews in total. Note that the last review alone has a different day schedule due to the Thanksgiving recess.

You may find it helpful to read Timothy Roscoe's writeup on how to review a systems paper and Mike Mitzenmacher's helpful notes on critically reading papers.

Programming homeworks (15% + 10% extra credit)

The course will have two mandatory programming homeworks (worth 15% together) and an optional extra credit programming homework (worth 10%). Specific requirements for these homeworks will be announced when the homeworks are released. See the syllabus page to know when homeworks are due.

Office hour participation (5%)

The instructor's office hours are listed on the course home page. If none of the listed hours work for you, you may set up time with the instructor over email. During the office hour, you are free to bring any technical questions on the materials in this class, from lecture, a research paper, or regarding the homeworks and projects. To receive credit for this section of the course, you must participate in at least three office hours/instructor meetings over the semester. Of course, meeting more frequently, e.g. every week, is welcome and encouraged. Office hours are fruitful venues to interact synchronously with the instructor, e.g., to report your progress on the course project, talk through obstacles in programming, work through questions and discuss research papers and ideas, etc.

Course plagiarism and integrity policy

You must abide by the Rutgers New Brunswick academic integrity policy and also the Rutgers CS policy.

In general, in this course, open discussions and collaborations are welcome and encouraged. However, all written work and software must be your own. If you used a library software you found on the Internet for a programming assignment or a project, you must reference and credit the source appropriately. If you discussed a paper with your friend, you must mention who you worked with in your paper review. Violations of these policies will be taken very seriously. Ignorance of these policies will not be considered excusable if you are found in violation.

Late policy

You may submit the two mandatory programming homeworks up to a week late without any penalty. You may submit the course project proposal a week late without penalty. Please inform the instructor if you intend to submit late. Unfortunately, due to the synchronous nature of the online paper reviews and discussions, there will be no extensions or late days for your paper reviews and discussion contributions. Further, University's grading deadlines for the Fall semester require timely submission of final student work by the end of the semester, hence there may be penalties for delayed submission of project demos/presentations and final reports.


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