6.041/6.431  Probabilistic Systems Analysis

hi folks,

before you wander away for the holidays, i want to ask for a favor.

from each recitation section i need a student who took good notes not only in lecture but also in recitation.  i did a lot of things on the fly during the semester, and i'd love to have a written record of them so i can improve the presentation next time around.  i also want a good record of what went on in each recitation.  different instructors have different styles, and i was intrigued just hearing about the exciting things each of your instructors did in class.  a written transcript of it all would be great.

you need not have attended every lecture or recitation.  i just need an overall good set of notes that captured the lectures and each of the recitation sections.

would you be willing to share your notes with me?  if so, please send me an e-mail: babak@mit.edu

i can scan your pages myself, or, if you prefer to do it yourself, you can feel free to scan and share with me the pdf file (dropbox link is just fine, and i'm open to other routes as well).

i'm flying out to california on 23 december, so it would be wonderful if get the notes from you this week (unless you can scan your notes yourself, in which case you can do it later, as long as you don't forget).

cheers, and many many thanks.

babak.

Hi folks,

Earlier today your Midterm 3 scores were released.  Assuming I have clicked the correct buttons on Stellar and Gradebook, you should now be able to see your grades.

Please make sure you read the document whose file name is "6041-F13-Final-Grade-Announcement.pdf" before you write to any of us; it's filed in the General section of the Resources folder on Stellar.  That document outlines the options before you, and it includes a grade histogram. There is a document already there from last spring.  Be sure to read the file that has F13 in its filename.

Cheers,

Babak.

Cheers,

TIME-SENSITIVE: Action Required by 11:59pm TODAY, 11 December 2013

Last spam on the subject.  See my e-mail below about filling out the course evaluations.  Please don't leave this to the last minute. 

Also, I encourage those of you who are listeners to fill in the surveys as well.  So far, only 1 out of 15 listeners has filled in the course evaluation for 6.041/6.431.  Surely we can do MUCH better than this statistic indicates. 

Thanks a bunch.

Babak.

-----The following message was sent yesterday-----

Hi folks,

We will add 5 points to the lower of your last two midterm scores if you complete the online course evaluation survey for 6.041/6.431 (whichever one applies to your registration status). 

This is honor system driven.  We do not have even an iota of desire to police this. 

We ask of you the following.

(a) That you NOT go on a "clicking spree" to complete the survey;

(b) That you give each question on the survey due consideration and provide answers to the best of your knowledge; and

(c) That you provide as much freestyle answers and comments on the survey as you are able to and to not let the radio buttons or multiple choice answers suffice.  These freestyle comments provide the most valuable feedback to us.  Last spring we got fantastic feedback from our students in 6.041/6.431.

To be unequivocal, please know that you should feel free to discuss the beautiful, the good, the neutral, the bad, and the ugly aspects of the course.

We give you the 5 points because your opinion matters to us.  It's as simple as that, really. 

In particular, your feedback will help me run this course better next spring if I'm still around---and the counterpart for this course back at Berkeley at some future date.  Your well-thought-out responses will also be invaluable to your recitation instructors and TAs. 

Great teaching is a process of continual refinement, and it cannot happen without feedback.  You're singularly positioned to provide the essential feedback that we need to improve and fine-tune our teaching.

For your convenience, here's the link to the online MIT course survey.

http://web.mit.edu/subjectevaluation

To claim your 5 points, you must to send us an e-mail---by no later than 11:59pm this Wednesday, 11 December 2013, affirming that you have completed the survey.  Needless to say, you may only send us an e-mail AFTER you have completed the survey.  It is NOT sufficient that you merely INTEND to complete the survey.

If you have already completed the survey, thank you.  Please follow the instructions below to clinch the five points for yourself.

After , and only after, you've completed the MIT course survey for 6.041/6.431, please click on one of the following links to send us an e-mail indicating that you have completed it.

If you are registered for 6.041, click here .

If you are registered for 6.431, click here.

Please be sure to complete the subject line with your first and last names, in that order; do not leave the subject line devoid of your official name as it appears on your school records (no nicknames please). 

For example, if you're a 6.041 student and your name is John Doe, then your subject line should be

[6041-F13-Course-Survey]  John Doe

If you're a 6.431 student and your name is Jackie Johnson, then your subect line should read

[6431-F13-Course-Survey]  Jackie Johnson

The body of your message must contain the following (if you use the hyperlinks above, this content should automatically appear in the body of your e-mail):

On my honor, I affirm that

(a) I have submitted an online course evaluation for 6.041/6.431 for fall 2013; and

(b) I have given each question due consideration and filled out the survey to the best of my knowledge. I understand that giving "due consideration" did not, in any way, restrict how favorable or unfavorable my overall review was for the course.

TypeYourNameHere

IMPORTANT: Please do NOT show us the content of your survey selections and comments.  We insist that the content of your online course survey submissions be anonymous to us.

Please do NOT mix this task with your self-evaluation e-mail.  They should be two separate e-mails. We can't keep track otherwise.

Also, please note that to receive the five-point credit you must do this by the deadline we've given above.  We need time to incorporate the points into the Excel file that we'll use for our final grading session on Thursday morning. So, even though MIT allows you to fill out the course surveys until next week, if you do this beyond OUR deadline, you will miss out on the five points.  Please get to it.

Last spring we had a whopping 93% response yield for 6.041/6.431's course surveys.  And the comments were fabulously helpful, including those that were critiques.  Make us proud. Let's get an even higher yield this fall.

Cheers,

Babak.

TIME-SENSITIVE: Action Required by 11:59pm this Wednesday, 11 December 2013

Spamming you again to remind you of the following e-mail about the course surveys.  Please don't leave it to the last minute. 

Thx. 

Babak.

-----The following message was sent yesterday-----

Hi folks,

We will add 5 points to the lower of your last two midterm scores if you complete the online course evaluation survey for 6.041/6.431 (whichever one applies to your registration status). 

This is honor system driven.  We do not have even an iota of desire to police this. 

We ask of you the following.

(a) That you NOT go on a "clicking spree" to complete the survey;

(b) That you give each question on the survey due consideration and provide answers to the best of your knowledge; and

(c) That you provide as much freestyle answers and comments on the survey as you are able to and to not let the radio buttons or multiple choice answers suffice.  These freestyle comments provide the most valuable feedback to us.  Last spring we got fantastic feedback from our students in 6.041/6.431.

To be unequivocal, please know that you should feel free to discuss the beautiful, the good, the neutral, the bad, and the ugly aspects of the course.

We give you the 5 points because your opinion matters to us.  It's as simple as that, really. 

In particular, your feedback will help me run this course better next spring if I'm still around---and the counterpart for this course back at Berkeley at some future date.  Your well-thought-out responses will also be invaluable to your recitation instructors and TAs. 

Great teaching is a process of continual refinement, and it cannot happen without feedback.  You're singularly positioned to provide the essential feedback that we need to improve and fine-tune our teaching.

For your convenience, here's the link to the online MIT course survey.

http://web.mit.edu/subjectevaluation

To claim your 5 points, you must to send us an e-mail---by no later than 11:59pm this Wednesday, 11 December 2013, affirming that you have completed the survey.  Needless to say, you may only send us an e-mail AFTER you have completed the survey.  It is NOT sufficient that you merely INTEND to complete the survey.

If you have already completed the survey, thank you.  Please follow the instructions below to clinch the five points for yourself.

After , and only after, you've completed the MIT course survey for 6.041/6.431, please click on one of the following links to send us an e-mail indicating that you have completed it.

If you are registered for 6.041, click here .

If you are registered for 6.431, click here.

Please be sure to complete the subject line with your first and last names, in that order; do not leave the subject line devoid of your official name as it appears on your school records (no nicknames please). 

For example, if you're a 6.041 student and your name is John Doe, then your subject line should be

[6041-F13-Course-Survey]  John Doe

If you're a 6.431 student and your name is Jackie Johnson, then your subect line should read

[6431-F13-Course-Survey]  Jackie Johnson

The body of your message must contain the following (if you use the hyperlinks above, this content should automatically appear in the body of your e-mail):

On my honor, I affirm that

(a) I have submitted an online course evaluation for 6.041/6.431 for fall 2013; and

(b) I have given each question due consideration and filled out the survey to the best of my knowledge. I understand that giving "due consideration" did not, in any way, restrict how favorable or unfavorable my overall review was for the course.

TypeYourNameHere

IMPORTANT: Please do NOT show us the content of your survey selections and comments.  We insist that the content of your online course survey submissions be anonymous to us.

Please do NOT mix this task with your self-evaluation e-mail.  They should be two separate e-mails. We can't keep track otherwise.

Also, please note that to receive the five-point credit you must do this by the deadline we've given above.  We need time to incorporate the points into the Excel file that we'll use for our final grading session on Thursday morning. So, even though MIT allows you to fill out the course surveys until next week, if you do this beyond OUR deadline, you will miss out on the five points.  Please get to it.

Last spring we had a whopping 93% response yield for 6.041/6.431's course surveys.  And the comments were fabulously helpful, including those that were critiques.  Make us proud. Let's get an even higher yield this fall.

Cheers,

Babak.