Distance Learning (starting from the week of 16th to 20th of March)

This page describes the new conditions for (the remainder of) the course, given the current corona virus pandemic. The University of Porto keeps a bulletin board of all important informations that you can check for official university level updates.

We will be moving towards a distance learning paradigm, since "face to face" classes are now suspended on all portuguese universities.

TL;DR (too long, didn't read)

Lectures will now be pre-recorded videos (on YouTube)
During the usual schedule (tuesdays 14:00-18:00) I'll be available online to answer to live questions (on Slack)
Instead of two homeorks and two tests, you will have three homeworks (updated)
You will still do one (group) project and one article presentation

(new) Resources

Besides the website, and the usual handouts page (with slides/lecture notes and auxiliary material) you will have the following new resources:

YouTube - pre-recorded videos of lectures (to be made available)
Slack (registration) Questions and Answers (for clarifying anything)

Lectures

The lectures are going to be pre-recorded by myself and I will make the videos available before the usual time for that particular class. The first video will made available before the lecture of 24th of March (the 17th of March class will be used for informing the students about the new learning situation, and for supporting the first homework)

(videos links are being sent by email)

Questions and Answers

In order to give you the possibility of asking questions we will be using Slack, which is an instant messaging platform (you should first register):

I will be online during the normal weekly schedule of the class (tuesdays 14:00-17:00). Outside of the class time I will do my best to answer any questions, but I cannot guarantee how regularly I can access and how quick my answers will be.

Slack allows me to create different channels for structuring the conversations, allows you to ask publicly or in private and to attach things like images or code, and it evens allows for direct conferencing with sound, if needed. It also gives persistence, so you that you can check any previous public messages from everyone, and any private conversation between you and myself. It is therefore a very good platform for our purposes and it will be our main channel of communication from now on.

Evaluation

The evaluation page has been updated (you can also check the old evaluation page).

Homeworks (50%)

The tests now canceled, so that we do not need to rely on you having to come physically to the university. You will now have three homeworks, each worth 1/3 of this part of the grade, with roughly three week for each. The deadlines are the following:

1st Homework - available: 07/03 | due: 23/03
2nd Homework - available: 31/03 | due: 20/04
3rd Homework - available: 08/05 | due: 29/05

Presenting an Article (10%)

This evaluation item is kept and you will present it (online) at the planned day (5th June), eventually using a videoconference platform (live) or pre-recording a video, if there are no conditions to do it at the university.

Project (40%)

The conditions are the same: you will make a project, the due date is 10th of July and you should present it by the 24th of July (you can present before if you deliver before).