News
Response to Student Questions
Written on 23.04.2020 16:50 by Nico Döttling
We have received questions via the feedback option and during the office hour session, and since this is of importance to all of you we would like to provide answers and clarifications here. In a nutshell, you should consider everything that happens before 04.05.2020 as a test-run, as we do not have any prior experience in online teaching.
We rephrased the most common questions.
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Q: Do I have to watch the video lectures as they come out? Even before the official start of the semester on 04.05.2020? Will I have a disadvantage from not watching the videos before the official start of the semester?
A: No. Everything that happens until 04.05.2020 is absolutely voluntary and you will be at no disadvantage if you ignore this lecture until then. Everything that happens until then should be considered a service from us to you (and a test-run for us at the same time). We will set up a calendar with suggested viewing dates for the videos, I.e. when and which lectures you should watch starting from the 04.05. We hoped that our first news board post made it clear that everything which happens before the 04.05 is non-mandatory, but we stress it here once more.
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Q: At which pace will lectures and exercise sheets be uploaded? In the course Nebenläufige Programmierung all recorded lectures from last year were already made available online.
A: We do not have pre-recorded lectures from last year, and right now we are essentially putting the Chapters online once we are finished recording and editing them. The intention is that anyone who wants to watch them can watch them, in the same way as you can watch any other online lectures. But this comes at no obligation for you to watch them as they come out. Regarding the exercise sheets, note that working on exercise sheets is entirely voluntary and the “scheduled” hand-in date (if you want feedback on your solutions) for the first sheet is the 08.05.
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Q: What is my workload going to be for this lecture?
A: In a normal semester there would be 2 lectures per week, i.e. 3h of lecture per week. This year the summer semester will be 11 weeks (04.05-17.07). However, due to the different format of the lecture this year we will try to keep the amount of video lectures for you to watch at or below 2h per week and count on you participating the weekly 1h Q&A session, which takes place on Mondays at 1pm. Apart from that, we offer exercise sheets and the weekly office hour (Thursdays from 1pm to 5pm) which replaces the tutorials. As we are still receiving feedback, the times might be subject to change, but any changes will be announced.
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Q: Can you announce on the news board when new lectures go online?
A: We made an announcement when the first set of recorded lectures went online, but abstained from announcing the following lectures as we didn’t want to convey the impression that it is mandatory to watch them. Unless people start complaining about too much spam we will announce new recordings from now on.
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Q: How much material will the midterm exams cover?
A: A preliminary (non-binding) date for the first mid-term is 04.06, the preliminary date for the second one is 02.07. So both mid-terms cover around 4 weeks of material, or 8-9h of video and 4 exercise sheets if you want so. But whether the mid-terms happen at all depends on the development of the Coronavirus situation.
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All this said, would also like to ask for your understanding that these are difficult times for us as well.